The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word COLD FRAME
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
C
O
L
D
F
R
A
M
E
More clues leading to the result COLD FRAME
Buddy explains!

The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.