Start Growing Food in January (No Polytunnel or Electric Needed!)
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- Опубликовано: 21 дек 2023
- Do you miss sowing seeds? Do you want something to do over winter? I have good news! Hot beds!
The Self-Sufficiency Garden: geni.us/SelfSufficiencyGarden
Jack First's Course: abundanceacademy.online/p/hot...
Jack First's Book: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/hot-bed...
My module trays: containerwise.co.uk/product/h...
My original hot bed video: • This Ancient Gardening...
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#hotbeds #permaculture #kitchengarden 
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Great tips on winter gardening! Reminds me of my grandfather, and his father before him, who had Truck Farm (would now be called a Market Garden) in Indiana. He made "hot beds" every fall by digging down about 3' and filling with 2' of fresh manure and straw, then covering it with soil before putting the frame and lid over it. He grew vegetables all winter long in those beds. The next year he would dig out all of that composted manure and spread it on the garden beds, and then re-start the hot bed. He passed that knowledge down through the generations.
This sounds really interesting. By digging down I suppose he benefited from the thermal heat from the ground and protected from much of the frost?
@@goldenfd475 works in areas where there is little rainfall! That would just create a pond of mud here in Wales sadly!
Awesome to have that example!
My dad composted and gardened in dry central Oregon - took awhile for the pile to break down, but he always used what he could!
@@goldenfd475 That is possibly correct, but I think the main reason he dug holes rather than building 3' high frames was because of the number of beds he had, and the size of them. That part of Indiana is sandy loam, so water pooling would not be a concern.
Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia has been doing trench hot beds somewhat like this for a long time; they use brick liners to allow some air in and to let water drain away. I assume that a simple hole with no aeration would be pretty anaerobic for composting... maybe sandy soils let air in?
I live in a heavy clay region with high rainfall so I'm pondering a combined approach: the pallet cube (lots of air and lots of drainage for the compost) set partly down into a hole, with rotting logs laid out in the bottom (as for hugelkultur) to ensure the compost can drain and is possible to dig out again. I'll probably try a double length pallet rectangle so the digging out process is easier; I don't fancy the notion of trying to dig in just a pallet cube worth of space.
I haven't tried the Colonial Williamsburg style of hot bed yet because bricks are very expensive here. Logs and pallets are free, though! In fact maybe the whole box can just be logs, with the 'walls' made of upright log sections like a palisade. They can decompose while still letting air in around their sides... hmmm!
It won't be as tall a raised bed this way, set down partly into the ground, but it'll be very sheltered from our high winds, so it seems worth trying!
I saw the hotbed at the historic Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The gardener said that having a hotbed could give you political influence, in that you could have fresh peas when no one else did and the governor would accept your dinner invitation.
Now that is so fascinating! Never thought of that but it makes complete sense! Thank you so much for sharing
😆
Haha
Can you make a video "how to build a hotbed" step by step? 😊
My mom has always grown cucumbers in a hot bed. Every spring she'd get a load of fresh manure, build a bed using the manure to layer on the bottom and build up sides with it as well (so no wood was used) fill the indent in the middle with soil and sew cucumbers in it, she also put in metal hoops and cover the whole thing with plastic. At the end of the season she would simply distribute the composted manure throughout the garden
That's interesting. Can I ask when your mum started her seeds.
That is very efficient indeed. She worked very smart.
My first winter gardening, I used bagged soil/potting mix in a plastic storage bin turned upside down (like the cloche method you mentioned wanting to try) and grew salad/Asian greens and radish all winter long, and in the early spring, I transplanted all of the greens into the garden beds in my greenhouse, and those grew further till about June.
I’m in zone 7 (right on the line of 7a/7b) from what I gather, my growing zone is similar to you, but far less rainfall.
I think this method would be great to demonstrate with your audience for those who don’t have money for materials and give them hope that they CAN do this, as it did for me!
I've used this method as well! Thx for sharing!❤ HSTL Zone6
It's like he can read my mind when I'm thinking about new projects! Thanks, Huw!
Hahahah you're most welcome!!
I've only got garlic going in my garden at the moment but lots of maturing compost from the season. Depending on weather here in 6b we'll see if I can make anything happen.@@HuwRichards
Good news, you don’t have to wait until January for the days to start getting longer. Yesterday was the winter solstice, the first day of winter; that means today is the beginning of longer daylight hours.
Hooray!!! About time haha
My driveway cold frame bed has struggled because sometimes it's shaded by my car, but if I raised it with a hot bed it would get every bit of winter sun! 💡 Thank you Huw for giving me a great idea and helping us all make use of every inch of space we have 😊
I look forward to having land to do this and to grow more. This has been a passion my whole life, tomorrow I turn 58, I think I have been here long enough to have my dream!
Another piece of evidence that "compost piles" need not be turned to create great compost. Dowding turns his once only; these hot beds don't get turned at all (however I suspect you have to be careful to use partially decomposed inputs, or small fragments of fresh inputs). This video made me reconsider why I have my Fall compost bin way back behind the shed. Why not place it at the edge of my garden and create a Fall hotbed and then use it to expand my garden in the Spring?? Makes sense to me !
That's what I'm thinking too!
We have our hot bed in our polytunnel! It gives it another layer of protection. We live in Sweden and have a little more ruff cold, I think😊
Yes they work great in a polytunnel too!
Thank you Huw! I've tried this gardening method....filled an elevated cold frame with a bit of soil and grew the most beautiful abundance of bok choy and green onions in winter!
You've been such an inspiration to me during my gardening journey!
Your videos on Leeks and sunchokes were especially wonderful!!!! I've been enjoying the best homemade soups EVER!!!! (I made a creamy potato and sunchoke soup, froze numerous batches that are quickly disappearing!!!!.) Heavenly!
Wellness...one of my main goals!
I've never smoked cigarettes or anything else, never done drugs (disgusting) never had the flu or covid!!!! (Thank God!)
My health is EVERYTHING... So again I thank you for making these videos and sharing your knowledge about gardening. You're more valuable to me than any medical doctor on the planet.
Thank you!!!! HSTL Zone6 ❤️
This is a fantasticly timed reminder about hotbeds for me!! I've got a chunk of new space I want to dedicate to growing MORE next year and this will be perfect!! Time to get collecting materials! Cheers dude have a lovely xmas!
You are most welcome, hope you enjoy the process! Have a lovely one also :D
Hotbeds are such an intelligent way of doing an intense cultivation on a smaller area in the coldest months.
It's not as materiał (alas plastic) and doesn't require as much commitment as polytunnel or polycarbonate construction.
I found that i practically need sheltering only for seedlings or tender Greena in the spring
The rest is happy in the open ground.
Thanks Huw.
My compost in my outdoor bin wasn’t quite ready in the fall so I put a large plastic trash can in my unheated greenhouse and started a compost pile inside the greenhouse. My objective was to see if I could generate heat to warm the 10ft X 10ft greenhouse through winter. I also have a large black pail of water that I’m hoping will absorb heat during the day. After watching this video I’m going to place seed trays on top of the compost in the bin the greenhouse in March and see what happens. I’m really hoping Santa brings me a compost thermometer but if not there are always Boxing Day sales. 😀
Great to see ancient knowledge being shared by a young gardener. Superb
This will take my hot beds to a new level. I will try and upgrade my beds to this method this year. Keep making these great videos. Merry Christmas
Sounds exciting and best of luck to you! :)
Love this! Several years ago our Ø Waste group had materials and a little workshop on constructing hot beds/ cold frames - and our ReStore often has old windows and eccentric materials that could be used in gardens - love the idea of rotating where they are placed, for creating new beds!
I'm working on an allotment patch on the back of our lot - great way to start! And a friend keeps goats and has offered bedding ....
Just a thought; many old windows were painted with lead based paint. I'd definitely want to lead test those 're-store' windows before growing food in a frame made from them...
Ahhh awesome video idea Huw, I've just started preparing my first one in my polytunnel after being inspired by Jack First's book. Going to be trying a relatively small trench in the polytunnel bed with horse manure to get the heat going!
A very strange week! I'm in it right now🎅🥳 Thanks for your gardening advice!! I would love to start hotbeds now.
Its a game changer and totally worth it
The temps in these beds can soft boil an egg 😂
Or cook a potato! So fantastic!!
Very inspiring! I have a greenhouse and 2 large cold frames that enable me to grow greens in the winter (Michigan). But this method sounds fantastic! I want to learn more about this! I look forward to receiving your book and reading Jack' book too. Thanks for the inspiration!
This gets me psyched because I missed out on 2 months of gardening! Ready to embrace a winter gardening task and stay connected to all things earthy. Love the adaptability of this, as I don’t want to commit to a permanent location without thinking through my garden plan broadly.
Love the new direction you’ve gone, as after my first year of gardening, I learned I can’t let it take over my time, as fun as it is. Don’t want to miss out on life’s other joys, so practicality matters.
Have a wonderful holiday break and see ya in the New Year!
I learned a lot from this video, i'm in the desert, but i always struggled with my compost bin being cold, bc i'm always adding to it little bit every week from kitchen scraps and old dried bermuda grass, but the problem for me was that turning the compost is hard work , so the idea of a moving hot bed is attracive, to transform the compost pile into a raised bed directly is less work and is always welcome.
when you have move surface working around and moving compost and soil is extra work that can be prevented by smart planning.
Love this so much! We are making a hot bed in our green house this week and I stumbled onto your video. We are going to fix it up like yours and plant some seeds. Thanks so much!
I’m taking my decking up in the spring in my small ‘yarden’. I have been pondering what to do in the space afterwards. This idea would be great right outside my door. I have an allotment too but this is definitely giving me some positive ideas 🥬🥕🥒🌶🍆🫑thank you
Plus you will have wood yo use
Here in Norway it was usually dug a trench for as long the hot bed were to be. Filled in with horse manure and straw. But it went out of fashion due to the hard work that created, and the cost of wages. But I really think we should make good use of this idea again. Cost of electric and fuel has risen so much that it would be a great thing to do. Today we have -9°C, 25 cm of snow and the soil is frozen solid, so no hot beds for me this winter. Have a very Merry Christmas Huw, and all the best for you and your family. Greetings from Kenneth in Norway.
The benefits of Hot Beds are explained well here. Nice one Huw.
Thank you Jack for all your inspiration!!
I love your videos, even if I live in tropical drylands! They inspire me to invent more, to experiment more...PS- the week between Christmas and New Year really is weird especially for those of us living far from home. Thank you for the inspiration!
I want a garden like yours but will have to learn it all from the ground up!
I love it! Now I know my next gardening project!!
I thought that a hot bed was another name for a cold frame...
Now I know! Thank you!
You are most welcome!!
This is madness! And I can dig the whole concept! Great idea, and I will try this method on a smaller scale do to not having enough compost materials . But yeah , it's a beginning, right !?
Merry Christmas to you and your family 😊
Try collecting coffee grounds (over 10 gallons I'd guess for the size hot bed Huw has). Mix them with damp fallen leaves, newspaper or even cardboard. Over the years I've found it's always possible to hunt down materials for a new compost pile.
Note to self: Hot beds. See 8:45 to 9,57 = materials used. I may adapt to a lesser compost heap mound with clear perspex sides and lid. Leaves and place near M+S. Also a few mowing cuttings. Book = 14:51 + under 'more'. Consider giant cloches, eg old plastic clear storage boxes etc.
I took your class this past year, and all my browns and greens are banked up, ready to begin my hot beds! :D Thank you for teaching us so much!!
how do you bank up greens, and which greens do you bank up?
Bryan
If you cut them when green (grasses ex) they are still good for green compost materials, even if not green when you finally compost
Happy Christmas to you and your family also!
Huw, thank you for giving me another idea for the Learning Garden we are creating at the library next year! I hadn't thought about hotbeds, but your words resonated, "fill the hunger gap", and that is what our learning garden will be doing. We will be teaching people to do urban gardening in small spaces to help fill gaps that rising costs for groceries are creating. Terrific, thank you for another wonderful video, and have a wonderful Christmas time.
Great video!! But what I really want to know is how do you grow such lovely rosemary? Mine never survives the winter (clay soil in warwickshire uk) even in pots xx
Merry Christmas Hew, to you & yours! Love your hot beds video; excellent- as is all your content! I will check your content further with Jack's lessons. Thanks so much! Greetings from Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, where I apply permaculture & sustainability practices on my property along a salt marsh. ❤😊
Very helpful video. When winter comes, only a few vegetables can be grown and grow slowly. Worth learning.
I got jack's book a few years ago & it's my favourite way of gardening no slugs !! But last 2 years vermin have plagued my beds 😢 last year I tried sawdust & sheep fleece it produced long term heat really well .this year it's goat muck & hay & maybe a layer of fleece . My hot bed is burrier in the ground & think it would be better on top but we are very exposed so close to the ground it has to be . Love hot beds & really looking forward to sowing carrots beets onions & radishes then I grow squash in the finished bed so they get a sheltered early start 👍👍
Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday 🎄🎁🎉✨
Great video, thanks! I'm defo going to get onto making hotbeds and extending the growing season. Part of the reason I love growing garlic is seeing green shoots come up in December! Anyway Merry Christmas everyone, and thanks Huw for a another year of your advice. Your books and videos were what got me started.
Thank you for this Huw, some really great tips and advice there. I don't have the money for making the hot bed structure like yours, but I am going to make mine from cut bramble stems and other foraged sticks, and create wattle like fencing. Last year I made numerous wattle like, woven round baskets from bramble stems, with the uprights pushed into the ground, and grew my potatoes in those. I put in lots of chopped weeds at the base of each basket too. They worked really well and I'm going to do more again this year. An almost free way of creating some raised beds and hotbeds.
Very cool. Great content and editing!
And how about just embrace calling it the “secret garden”. You already can’t help it, and it sounds better anyway
Wow! This video was full of excellent ideas for these cold seasons when all of us gardeners are itching to do something. Winter sowing, now a compost/hotbed, then a small poly tunnel. Thank you!
I'm so curious to hear how your experiment with mini hotbeds in containers works! I may not be able to gather enough raw material to fill a regular-sized hotbed, but one of those hybrid hotbed containers could be a brilliant solution!
Same here!
See if you can find a livery yard or farm near you that would have bulk material you could take. Most are happy to give it away
Very best wishes to you and your loved ones! Thank you so much for sharing such useful information and for the tremendous inspiration. I can't wait to receive your new book.
Have a good rest! Wishing you a peaceful and joyful start to the new year.
Brilliant. I really want to try this on my allotment. Thank you for reminding me of this growing method. Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new gardening year 😃
Imagine how amazing Huws channel will be in 40 years time if it’s this good now …..
I’m so excited to try this! Thanks Huw 🙏
I am absolutely gonna start doing this. Thank you!!
Thanks so much for passing on your knowledge, much appreciated
A fantastic video Huw! So informative, getting me inspired for my garden plans in the new year 😊🌱👍 Happy New Year
Thank you so much Amir!! Happy New Year to you too!
The older generation has so much wisdom and experience to grow food. Thanks for sharing this older man’s knowledge about hot beds 🥬
Looking forward to your new book very much! Can't wait for our pre-order to deliver. 😁👍
Have preordered the book! Excited for May!
A lovely Christmas to you too. I'm going to experiment with hotbeds and I'm excited to read your new book.
This is genius! Thank you for this amazing post! Have a lovely Christmas!
Nice video, very informative and timely too! I am going to have to try this technique because it would really extend my northern, very short, mountain growing season. We’re actually having a bit of a warm winter(so far, there is still January through March to contend with), next week is supposed to be several degrees warmer than normal and I’m going to measure all my beds and map them out so I can plot and plan next summer’s garden. I’m looking forward to choosing the vegetables and where they are going and planning succession planting. Merry Christmas to you and all your kith and kin. TeresaSue.
Cool, would love to see some hotbed specific growing videos this year!
Great suggestions!
Great video!
Thank you for these wonderful gardening videos! I appreciate the effort and thought that has been put into these videos. They are informative, beautiful and inspiring.
What a wonderful idea. Thanks so much for sharing this video.
Very inspirational. I have never done hot bed, lots of cold frames. Thanks for another well done informative video.
Happy Christmas to you too Mr Huw,
Nice to see your latest updates on your garden… 👍
Thank you :)
Merry Christmas to you 😊🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
That’s cool. I sometimes have trouble maintaining temps during the day. Opening and closing, going in and out of the house too often.
Good idea might give that a go thanks for the information Huw.
Have a lovely Christmas x
Have a lovely Christmas too Stephanie!
I was thinking I can do this in between Xmas and new year. Playtime🙂 Thanks Huw
Thank you❤❤❤
Good information 😊. Merry Christmas Richard!😊
And do you too Kelleher!
I purchased the hotbed course, very good, am going to be trying to make one using seaweed as the primary green ingredient.
I avoid the hungry gap by freezing and canning fruit and vegetable italian stile thank you for videos very usefull i m very proud of you in what you have done as gardener on this platform love from london uk
High, many many thanks. Arising from your utube vid myself and my 13 yes old daughter built 3 hotbed frames today. We keep horses so have plenty dung. So please do a series on hotbeds and we will follow you and hopefully copy you. Many thanks. J
This was a fascinating video. I am definitely going to build one or two of these. I will say the sound was so low I had to have CC on to understand what you were saying at times. Keep up the great work!
Fantastic video Huw. I must pay more attention to composting. Thanks very much for sharing that technique.
Thank you so much Patrick I am glad you enjoyed this one☺️
Love the idea, was thinking of creating a mini hotbed (basically just a wheelbarrow full of fresh cut grass) in my greenhouse to let me move my seedlings out earlier and keep the temps in there above freezing. And that strange week between Christmas and New Year? In Germany we call it the week between the years, cause it always feels like you're outside of time somehow 🤣
love ya Huw... so interesting...and super easy to understand for us beginners... thanks a million...👍
You're most welcome!☺️
Thank you for this!
My pleasure!
Huw, thank you for the ideas. Fantastic ones as usual. Happy Holidays to you and many blessings for a New Year(already!) From Oregon PNW, USA
Thank you so much Janet really appreciate that!!
absolutely inspiring
Amazing. I love your content. Very useful.
I appreciate that thank you!
Holy Moly that is such good advice My friend !! thank you very much for sharing.
You are most welcome!!
I plant lettuce 35 to 75 days I really like Batavia family it's crunchy warm from the garden. Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks.
Great video. I watched your previous video on hotbeds and definately thinking to replace a regular raised bed with a hot bed. The dual hotbed/compost bin may seal the deal as l dont have too much space and things need to earn their place.
Brilliant need to step up my game and try hotbedding. If only in theory at least.
Thankyou!!!!!!!
Amazing information. Thank you.
You are most welcome!
🎀Random dumb question from an amateur gardener. Out of the two which is better. 🎀
🎀 A. To only take some of the crop, then leave the rest so that it continues to grow the following year.🎀
Or
🎀B. To remove all crops and then to just seed the area you want the crop to grow every year.🎀
🎀Thank you to anyone and everyone who answers.🎀
It's not a black and white answer sorry! I don't know what you have growing, whether they are winter crops, how much snow cover you get a year, what your climate is, when you plan on seeding the area etc. Sorry I can't be more helpful but best find a seasoned gardener close to you for this kind of advice :)
Merry Christmas hew
Merry Christmas nicky
I have the totally opposite issue where I live. I have trouble keeping my plants cool, the cool season here is a month late so all my tomatoes, beetroot and a few more veggies that I normally plant in Oct/Nov didn't make it. The second plantings are looking good though :)
Huw you have outdone yourself doing 3 different types of hot beds !!!!
This looks interesting Huw. I'll do a bit of research and maybe give it a try.
Thank you!! Happy researching
Love it Huw
Thanks!!
Never heard of it 😳 great tips!
This is my growing season but tips will help whit all sorts of growing situations
Try this in Eastern Ontario.
Now it makes me wish i didn't prepare so much to have winter veggies growing almost everywhere in my garden got no space left to build one this year 😅
The strange week 😂 I am sitting inside, wood burner going, snow outside and thinking about gardening. I live in Norway. At the east coast. Soil is hard as rock until end of March. 😂 and I want to try to make a hot bed 😊. Worse thing to happen is that I make a compost pile, and nothing wrong with that, right? 😊
Do you give details of where to purchase the smaller sizes of polythene required for the 'lights' as Jack calls them in your new book / online course? So far I only seem to be finding companies selling whole polytunnel covers etc. great video, so looking forward to your new book (already pre-ordered), this new self sufficiency vibe, AND build my first hot bed! You've so sold me on the idea Huw. All the old timers in my area are super excited that I'm giving this old school technique a go, which they have such fond childhood memories of. A real talking point. Thank you for your efforts!👍
Very interesting 😊
Thank you!