Greenhouse or cold frame for overwintering?

[Strugglingtodomybest]

I'm after some advice on what to buy to keep my pot plants in over winter. On even if I need anything really.

Like many others, I have spent much of lockdown pottering in the garden, and now I'm looking to how to care for my new plants over the winter.

Specifically, I have been planting out strawberry runners so that next year I don't have to buy strawberry plants (again), but I don't want them to die over winter.

Anyway, I'm waffling. Does anyone know which is best, greenhouse or cold frame, or are they just the same thing, only different sizes?!

It all depends on your budget and garden space. A greenhouse would allow you to overwinter large potted plants. But also you can go in to sow your seedings for later on.
A cold frame would be cheaper, but not have as much space. A small wooden or plastic upright cold frame would possibly be a compromise.
Also, I leave my strawberries out they do fine.

Thanks! That's interesting, that you leave your strawberries out. Whereabouts are you roughly, if you don't mind saying?

I’m in the Midlands, but also a home in Scotland, we’re I went after the 4 months lockdown. My strawberries were the best ever, despite being neglected.

Where*

Strawberries will be fine outside - we're in the north west. Less likely to get diseases as well.

I started with a cold frame, it's handy for getting stuff started and protecting over the winter. Perfectly adaquate and useful. I still use it when hardening things off.

Then got a greenhouse, it's a million times better. Gives you somewhere to potter round in bad weather and plant seeds earlier, grow tomatoes in, overwinter pots (not everything needs shelter over winter though). Stuff grew earlier. I could buy plug plants and bring them on. So do all the stuff you can do with a cold frame but on a bigger scale and in the dry.

Thanks everyone, I think I'll leave my strawberries out then, as I'm in Cornwall it should be safe enough it would appear.

My problem is that I don't have room for a full size greenhouse, and last year I had one of those plastic ones with shelves in, but it was totally destroyed in the high winds. I think I'll go for a cold frame that I can move around the garden, and peg down.

I leave my strawberries out, in Yorkshire.

Commercially, they used to be grown in open fields, before the advent of poly tunnels.

A proper cold frame is too heavy to be blown around. Traditionally, you'd make the solid sides of old bricks that were hanging around, or spare wood, and make the top from an old window. If you're thinking of something to move around and peg down, you're looking at a cloche.

In Cornwall, unless you're very exposed, most stuff will probably overwinter without much protection. I'm in Somerset, my garden is south facing and relatively sheltered and all sorts of stuff survives winter unaided that technically shouldn't!