Friday 4 January 2013

Our lovely new hot beds


We have established two hot beds using a technique popular with the Victorians.  

We created a brick border and filled this up with a mixture of fresh horse manure, hay and comfrey. This was allowed to rot down which generates heat. After about a fortnight we put a layer of soil on top so that the beds contained a ratio of 3 parts compost to 1 part soil. We then plant seedlings into this.  It is great for squashes, courgettes and salad veg.

For a period of 6 – 8 weeks they have generated a constant bed temperature of around 20 degrees compared to a ground temperature in the poly tunnel of 11 degrees c. 

The advantages are that it:
  • extends the growing season
  •  generates extra heat in the poly tunnels
  • makes compost and improves soil fertility.