Hotbeds For growing winter vegetables

Many gardeners become tired of their gardens by fall, and are ready for the killing frost to come along and end the growing season. But there are some of us who really enjoy gardening as well as the goodies who want to prolong the growing season for another month or two. I am one of those. I hate to say goodbye to the lettuce and radishes and little turnips and such. One solution is a simple hotbed. My focus is to plant directly in the ground and not in containers.

A hot bed is an enclosed structure with a clear or relatively clear covering that allows sunlight to shine through it. The structure can be simple or it can be as extensive as you want to make it. My brother in Nebraska made a hot bed using straw bales and simply laid old storm windows over the top. My hotbeds are made of landscape timbers and plywood and covered with a tough greenhouse plastic. One of my hotbeds is on the south side of a building and the face is sloped to capture sunlight. Another of my hotbeds is flat.

My brother's hotbed is probably the simplest. He took six straw bales and laid them on edge, making a box two bales long and one bale wide. Normally you won't have to connect the bales to keep them in place. He then took three old storm windows, and laid them across the bales to make an area that is protected from the cold. If you don't have storm windows you can make a 2x4 box out of three eight-foot 2x4s and a piece of plastic. You will have to cut the 2x4's to match the length of your straw bales.

I'd till the ground where you are going to make your hotbed. You could even plant your lettuce and radishes and greens in the hotbed before even constructing it. Once you have built or constructed your hotbed and added the covering, you will need to moniter your hotbed as far as how hot it will get. It will become amazingly hot inside the hotbed. It will also be very humid as well. You may have to take a window or two off during the day and then put it back on at night to regulate the temperature.

There will be some critters that will try to enjoy your hotbed as well. One type of critter is mice. They will assume you have created this warm house with vegetables just for them. Mick didn't have a big problem with them but there were mice in his hothouse. Mine are built out of wood, and I also had mice in mine.

As we get more and more into winter and the weather becomes colder and colder, you can purchase a thin fabric such as Agribon row covers that allow light to go through yet insulate your veggies from the cold. You can purchase these covers at local garden centers or order for mail delivery.

Happy gardening.