Your garden: DIY IT: MAKE A COLD FRAME

IT'S easy to keep your summer bedding plants safe through the winter in a cold frame.

A traditional frame is simply a wooden box with glass lid, although you can buy more elaborate styles made entirely from glass or polycarbonate.

But it's easy - and also a lot cheaper - to make your own snug, frost-proof frame. And all you need is a saw and a pair of pliers if you use polystyrene sheets for the walls and a polycarbonate lid.

Two-inch thick polystyrene sheets are perfect. These are sold as cavity wall insulation material and are available from most builders' merchants.

Cut them to make a square or rectangular box and fix the corners together with pieces of strong wire. Next cut a sheet of polycarbonate to make the lid.

Use nylon string and tent pegs to anchor the frame in the ground in a sheltered spot out of the wind.

But you can give frost-tender plants even greater protection by putting the frame on a bench in the greenhouse.

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