Q+A: Hotbed

With a hotbed, you're digging now, but adding manure and soil in march?

That’s right. I dig the hole now—and set aside some soil in a container (so I can bring it indoors to thaw in March for spreading atop the manure.)

Then, in March, I go to the stables and get a few bags of horse manure.

FOR THOSE OF YOU NEW TO HOTBEDS, I’LL BACK UP A BIT. You’re simply creating a heated space where you can get an early start in the garden.

A hotbed can be a simple wooden frame—like a cold frame—under which you dig a shallow pit (couple of feet deep) filled with unrotted manure (approximately a food in depth.) Then the manure is capped with soil.

As the manure decomposes, it gives off heat. A more “modern” method uses electric heating cables.

I start a hotbed in late February or early March—but the trick is to dig the pit now, before the ground freezes. I used to have old glass windows atop my cold frame. When the windows rotted, I made a simple wooden frame and stapled on clear construction plastic.

Steven Biggs
Gardener, Garden Writer, Garden Coach, Horticulturist

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