Hot bed

[LakeView]

I have a 4'wide raised bed (18" high) and am considering making a hotbed on part of it. Should I use cow or horse manure, and what depth and layers should I use? I have some old capillary matting that could be used too. I can put a 'cold frame' atop it so it would become a frame heated the old-fashioned way. Or, a put up a temporary cloche with hoops and polythene. All for keeping plants (in containers) frost-free later in the winter (we're supposed to have a cold winter). Any idea how long it would stay hot enough to keep the (4'x6'Access) frame frost-free? weeks? Any sage advice appreciated!

[Lyn]

Hi - I am intending to construct a hotbed this year, and found the following site when doing a search - there seems to be some useful information here:

www.holon.se/garden/howto/hotbed_en.shtml

I plan to use my homemade wooden-sided coldframe instead of the breeze blocks they use,, but imagine that the eventual results will be similar.

Best of luck with the project!
Cheers, Lyn.

[Deb P]

Thanks for the hotbed reference page, I'm now tempted to have a go!

[Tigger]

You might find the new HDRA site useful as there's a whole section on hot beds. There's a link to it from the Home page.