And Hotbed Mates

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 14 (Supplement)

And Hotbed Mates

COR raising many varieties of * tender plants for early use, where one has not the convenience of a greenhouse, many a gardener could do with a wellprepared hotbed made of stable manure, fallen leaves or other fermenting material and covered with a frame. This would be a useful means of providing a moist, genial heat for raising s-ueh plants as cucumbers, marrows, melons, cape gooseberries, tomatoes, eggplants, kumaras and other tender subject's required for early planting. A well-made hotbed, too. is equally useful for raising seedlings and striking cuttings of flowering plants for beautifying outdoor beds and borders. In preparing the bed. fresh stable manure should be well mixed with a quantity of leaves. This should be turned over every other day for about a week, any dry portions"being watered. The bed should be built up according to the size and shape of the frame to be used, allowing a width of at least 18 inches all round the outside of the frame

Tread the material well to secure a uniform heat throughout, and to raise the height of the bed to three or three and a half feet above the surface on which it is- placed. After frame is placed, the glass liirht fnould be kept tilted for a few dttvs to allow steam to pass off before the vessels containing the seed are placed in the frame. -Stab!* manure by itself heats too violently and does not last long. Hence the desirability of incorporating a good proportion of leaves with the manure. With addition of the leaves, its heating properties are slower, but more lasting and better for or ptopagating plants. ° A layer of coconut fibre. leaf-mould or other suitable material should be placed over the surface of the bed in which the pots or boxes can be partlv plunged. In addition to the seeds mentioned a well-prepared hotbed will be found invaluable for striking cuttings of manv varieties of soft- wooded cuttings. Care must be taken after the cutting are sufficiently rooted to pot or box them Harden them gradually bv placing them in a cool frame and tin-aflv in the open m readiness for beddinir" out in bed-; or borders.