Jack First's hotbed course

[Noosner]

I've been thinking about doing this for a while. It sounds really interesting and would be great to have early harvests...We have a steady supply of fresh manure on site so it's just the structure around it...

Jack F makes the sides of his hotbed by just leaning old bits of fence/trellis/door up against each other and tying them together with string. Then he makes a cold frame to go on the top, with a light made out of plastic braced by battens.

Interesting about the plants growing tall, Penellype. I suppose you don't want them getting too tall before the weather gets warmer!

I am going to start my hotbed in a slatted compost bin just over 1m square. JF recommends 6' x 6' but I ain't got the room. He said okay to make it smaller now as it's later in the season, and to pile it high to make up for it not being as broad.

[Penellype]

I think mine is a bit small really but I was stuck for space so 4ft x 2ft had to do. I didn't expect it to get as hot as a bigger one, but it was certainly a good deal better than nothing. I'm thinking of rigging up some sort of cover over it this time, but my DIY skills are not great (I can bash nails into bits of wood but that's about my limit), so I'm not quite sure how I am going to do this. My experience with polythene/bubble wrap is that I can never get it tight enough not to sag into puddles when it rains.

[Penellype]

Just been to water the plants in the greenhouse and couldn't resist a peep at the soil thermometer I stuck in the hotbed yesterday. Currently it is just compacted, watered fresh manure, fresh out of the horse yesterday, covered with bubble wrap. Air temperature is around 10C and we had a white frost this morning. It was hard to read the exact temperature as it was nearly dark, but the reading was in the region of the 20C mark. I had to look twice to convince myself I was reading the marks correctly, as I wasn't expecting it to be that high so soon!

[Noosner]

Exciting stuff, Penellype, at 20 degrees C!! That sounds very promising. I am off to collect some fresh horse manure in the morning, so will keep you posted on mine too, which will end up probably about the same capacity as yours at 113 cm x 113cm.

JF stretched thick plastic over a frame, then rolled the ends of the plastic over battens to get an extra bit of stretch and nailed them to the frame. It gave a very tight finish but is definitely a 2 person job.

[alldigging]

A pile of grass clippings gets to 50-60'C in a few days - burns out quicker than a pile of muck though!

[KevinM67]

When's Jack's second hot bed course ??

[Noosner]

A pile of grass clippings gets to 50-60'C in a few days - burns out quicker than a pile of muck though!

Yes, apparently you have to prevent everything getting TOO hot as it kills the plants!

[Noosner]

When's Jack's second hot bed course ??

Have a look at the Cellar Trust website, Kev - he's doing some later this year. The Cellar Trust - Helping People Recovering From Mental Health Problems

p.s. you don't have to have mental health problems to attend!! Though perhaps it helps...

[Jack first]

Hi I have information about alternative materials for making hotbeds. Glad to advise.
Jack First

[burnie]

Not something I use personally, but welcome Jack to the forum

[Compostman2]

Very interesting post. I have hot beds on my plot using pallets as sides. Tried using a waterbutt in green house but could not get the heat up high enough.

I would be very interested in alternative materials Jack, where can I see them?

[Jack first]

I have had to find alternatives to horse manure which is in short supply where I live now but I am close to the sea so I gather seaweed which does heat up. Also daggings which are plentiful as I am surrounded by sheep farmers. There is a brewery nearby and they are happy to give away the spent hops. A bunch of onions goes a long way in gratitude.

[Jack first]

Hi Compostman. Just done a video on you tube a out alternative materials for use in hotbeds. Jack First..