Preparing for spring

Today I started preparing my veggie garden for spring planting. I will spend the next 3 months finishing the prep in return for ripe tomatoes in May!!!!!

Anybody else make hot beds?

My prep consists of digging out last years plants picking up leftover rotting fruits and adding compost and manure to the beds.

I've never made hotbeds myself. I understand for colder areas they are a tremendous help. How do you do it? Would it help me get an earlier start in the desert or does air temp count a lot as well as soil temp?


Chris

Years back, when I lived in a colder clime I did.

Of course, there were still horse drawn carts around, and I could collect the fresh manure easily.

Nowadays I don't need them, as I do my seed starting indoors where I have total control.

Yesterday I did my final turning-over in the plot to expose the soil to winter one more time. That step eliminates almost all the pests (insect and disease) that cause problems. I laid 6" of ground-up leaves on top of the dirt, then turned it in slightly, leaving lots of clods.

In a week, I will lay 2 mil clear plastic over the bed, without doing any more soil prep, other than to make the ground somewhat flat.

After about 2 weeks under plastic, even without any sunny days, the soil will warm to 60+F, and allow for the organic material I have added to begin to decompose. All the moisture will make it begin to make compost. At that point I remove the plastic, and do my final seedbed preparation: make sure the soil is fine, level, no air pockets, etc.

Cover the area again with the clear plastic, and let it keep cooking until mid-March. By that time, the composting process will be well on its way, the soil temps will be 70-75F, it will be moist but not soggy, just perfect, no matter what the weather has been like.

I plant my early seeds then: lettuce, carrots, beets, peas, and bok choi. In a separate part of the pre-warmed garden, I plant my early tomatoes (yes, in MARCH). The seedbeds get covered with floating row cover to help preserve moisture and to hold in some of the heat, but those plants prefer soil temps slightly cooler than tomatoes.

The tomatoes are planted in holes very deep, so that only the top leaflet is exposed to the air. This allows the roots to tap into the ground heat easier, and new roots will form along the stem where they are in contact with the soil. After planting, I put light-colored rocks all around the plant, about 3" from the stem. These are passive solar reflectors, giving off a fair amount of warmth during the night to keep the plants in active growth. Grass clippings are laid down in a very thin mulch all around the plant, too, that also give off a fair amount of heat as they decompose. They are replenished every week.

So much heat is being generated, that I do not cover the plants with anything unless a freeze is predicted; then I use floating row cover if temps down to 25 are predicted. If colder weather approaches, I put a cloche (usually a cut-out milk jug) on top of the plants, then cover with row cover. This protects the plants down to 20F.

In the years I have been following this method (continually making refinements) I have lost only 1 tomato plant because the cover blew off. Every year (except last year -- didn't have time to maintain the warmth) I have had ripe tomatoes in late May. Worth the effort? For me, yes! Nothing comes anywhere close to ripe tomatoes from your garden (unless it is from your grandpa's garden :), as everyone knows.

lupinlover: you're a inspiration to us all! I wish I was that dedicated. Thank you for illustrating how to do it in such detail, I'm saving this info. to use when I return to Ky/Tn in a few years.

Lupinelover, I have a neighbor that turns over his vegetable garden bed once a month during the winter months, and even though I am in a warmer zone than you, he says it reduces his garden pest problems too.

Carol, yes, I turn mine over a minimum of 3 times in the fall/winter to expose all the possible pathogens to killing cold. It has really done a lot to reduce problems since I started that method. I don't have the courage to try the "no-till" method, even though it is claimed to really reduce the weed problem -- I just don't have very many weeds in my veggie garden, maybe because of the buckwheat method that I learned and use periodically.

Crimson, I am glad I could help :) I have had so many people request my hot bed method, that I promised to post it. The one key thing is to find a microclimate that is protected, and still gets an enormous amount of sun in the winter. My bed gets sun from about 10 am until dusk (at least on sunny days - one every 2-3 weeks ;D

Anyone gonna try it this winter? We all would love to know how it goes. And I am so curious to hear how it works in other parts of the country.

wow I am impressed...... you have it down to a science. my vegetable garden is now gone..........I am trying to put in a brug alley. However, I agree on the tomatoes. I start driving about 30 minutes from here in late march to the Marin farmers' market to get their hothouse tomatoes for $2.99 a pound. they have the best tomatoes..... lots of heirlooms and worth the price. I have been known to buy $30 worth a week the first few weeks they have them! I eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner! gee, just thinking of my breakfasts............ toasted english muffin with a dab of best foods mayo and 2 inch slab of a brandywine and then a melted piece of provolone draped over it.

This message was edited Monday, Jan 20th 8:29 PM

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