A hot bed is simply a cold frame which has bottom heat incorporated into it. The old fashioned way is to use manure for the heat source. The recipe for this is about one third organic matter, such as straw or dried leaves to about two thirds fresh manure. This can be horse, sheep, cow, rabbit or fowl. It is best to dig a pit to put this mixture into. Do not use cat or dog manure as these can contain parasites. Mix this thoroughly, water well and leave to sit for a few days. Turn it, to mix in more air. By now, decomposition should be occurring and it should be putting off heat. Lay the cold frame over the manure pit. Then put about an inch of soil on top of the manure mix. You now have an old fashioned hot bed, or you should.

You can plant seedlings into the soil, or in bedding packs filled with potting soil. After germination, the seedlings can be transplanted and moved into a cold frame to grow further before setting out into the garden.

A more reliable heat source for the hot bed is specially made heating cables. These can be found in garden centers and greenhouse supply houses. They generally run off standard 110 volts, have a thermostat which is preset at seventy degrees. Dig a shallow pit about three inches deep. Lay the cables in the pit in a pattern which allows even heat over the entire hot bed. You can use landscape staples to fasten it down, or cut clothes hangers and bend into a staple shape. Do not allow the wires of the heat cable to cross, and make sure the outlet you use to plug it in has a ground fault circuit breaker installed in it. Cover this with about one inch of dirt, and then cover this with some fiberglass window screen. This is to prevent you from cutting the electric cable if you start digging in the hot bed with a trowel. Then cover the screen with about two inches of topsoil or potting soil. Again, you may plant directly in this, or in bedding packs.

The hot bed can be turned into a propagation chamber to root cuttings in midsummer.

A hot bed can be constructed the old fashioned way with fresh manure and organic matter, or with electric heating cables. Either way, it is an ideal structure to use to start seedlings in the spring and root cuttings in midsummer.

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