The Busy Woman's Garden Book

by Ida D. Bennett

The requirements are simple:—A sunny location, protected from prevailing winds—usually from the west, and on the north by a wall, building or fence. Being started in the early days of spring—from February, in the vicinity of the Ohio river, to late March or early April in the vicinity of the Great Lakes; they require a background that will hold the heat of the sun instead of allowing it to escape.

A well-drained position should be chosen and it should be as handy to the house and garden as practicable, especially the former as, once it is planted and plants up and growing, it will require frequent supervision in the changeable weather of early spring. Under a bright sun the temperature rises very rapidly in a glass-covered hotbed and it is necessary to see that it does not rise high enough to injure the plants; equally the temperature falls rapidly in an open bed when the sun goes under a cloud, and the sash must be adjusted to meet these deviations of temperature; often a moment's work in raising or lowering the sash will spell success or failure in the conduct of the bed.

A pit or excavation in the ground for holding a supply of fermenting manure to furnish heat for the bed is the first step in the construction of the hotbed; the size and depth of this will depend somewhat upon the number of plants it is desired to produce and upon the rigors of the climate and the prevalence of late springs and frosts. As a general thing, for the ordinary home garden a bed three feet by twelve is sufficient, but the added expense of a few additional feet is so slight and the use of a bed so appeals to one once one realizes its convenience, that it is seldom a mistake to make it too large as, aside from the sowing of seed, it may be used for starting roots of bedding plants, cannas, dahlias, begonias, tuberoses, caladiums; the striking of cuttings and many garden operations that have formerly been done in a bungling, cumbersome way in the house or with the costly assistance of the florists.

The depth of the pit should not be less than three feet and four, from the top of the frame, is better, as it is upon the depth of the manure that the length or duration of the heat depends. A shallow pit will give a quick heat which soon gives out, usually when most needed, during a sudden cold wave, and as the expense of a foot more or less counts for little it is best to be on the safe side and have sufficient heat.

If economy must be observed or the bed is for temporary use, a rough frame of boards will answer every purpose; it need not even extend below the surface of the ground, but merely rest upon it, but such construction is not to be recommended except for temporary structures or where it is desired to remove the frame as soon at it has served its purpose in supplying plants for spring planting; but a well built, permanent hotbed has by no means served its mission with the passing of the spring months, it may be profitably kept in commission the year around.

If, however, the construction must be along economical lines waste lumber and old window sash may be employed very satisfactorily. Having dug the pit of the required depth and width and length—three feet if old sash are to be used will be the best width and is desirable anyway as it can be easily reached across and can be placed close to a building and so occupy much less ground than where the usual florist sash is used, a frame consisting of four upright posts two by four inches and six feet long for the two rear posts and five feet long for the front, to give the necessary slant to the frame, should be used; on these the boards for the sides and ends should be nailed, the end boards sawed to a true slant that the sash may rest evenly upon them; the frame is then lowered into the pit and the soil leveled off around it and made firm so that no cold air finds entrance. To such a frame the sash may be hinged at the back and notched sticks adjusted to hold it at any desired angle.

In the permanent cement hotbed the pit is dug as before, then interlined with boards to form a mould and the space filled in with a good cement mixture, paddling it smooth on the side next to the boards and allowing the boards to remain in place until the cement has hardened.[¹] Before the cement has set, however, a frame of two by four must be fitted on top of the cement to receive the sash. Long spikes should be driven through the timbers at intervals to be pressed into the cement to insure a good joint. It is also an advantage to arrange for partitions through the bed by nailing cleats of wood on the inside of the wooden form at points where the sash will meet. This will form slots in the concrete into which thin boards can be slipped to separate such plants as require much heat from those requiring less heat and much air. The partitions should not extend much, if any below the surface of the soil so the slots need not extend below the top foot of wall. These partitions are not really necessary but often come in very handy and are so easily arranged for that their occasional use justifies their presence. Where they are employed the sash can be left open where required far more safely than if they were not in use. Cabbage and cauliflowers do best if given plenty of air and even a tinge of frost will not injure them, while it would be fatal to such heat loving plants as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and many tender flowers and bulbous plants.

The double sash is a great protection for hotbeds started very early, but as a rule there is little occasion for starting the beds before the middle of March or early April in the northern states as it is only necessary to give the plants about six weeks' start of open ground operations. Usually we make our out-of-door planting about the twentieth of May at the north and correspondingly later as we go south, but if we count back six weeks from "Corn planting time," the country over we will have reliable data for starting the hotbed. Plants left too long in the bed deteriorate and should be scheduled to be got into the ground as soon as they are fit; if this is done they will not suffer from over crowding nor will it be necessary to transplant; though this is always an advantage with certain plants. If to the hotbed is added the convenience of a cold frame to which the cabbage and cauliflower can be transplanted as soon as they show rough leaves it will be a decided advantage and the room thus secured in the hotbed can be used to transplant tomatoes, peppers and the like, thus giving better rooted, stockier plants.

Fresh horse manure is used for heating the bed and must be procured from stables where a number of horses are kept that sufficient may be obtained at one time. It is not necessary for the small hotbed to pile the manure and turn it over two or three times before putting it into the pit; much time and labor is saved by putting it at once in the pit, tramping it down as filled in until it is within five or six inches of the level of the ground outside. Care must be taken that it is tramped down evenly, especially in the corners, or it will settle unevenly and cause the soil to sink in places. The earth may be placed on at once if the manure is steaming when put in the pit. Good, mellow loam, containing a portion of humus or leaf mould is the best hotbed soil and it should be fine and free from all roughage of sticks and stones and hard lumps of soil. Putting the top inch or two through a sand screen is a good practice as this gives a fine soil suitable for the finer seeds.