Hot Beds: How to grow early crops using an age-old technique

This opened up an area of gardening I knew nothing about and didn't know I needed. Can't wait to trust this!

I make my hotbeds bigger than Jack's because we are in a zone 3/4 in Idaho and our cold is deeper and longer than his. The principles are exactly the same and I REALLY appreciate his efforts to bring this old practice into the light for our generation.

I became mildly obsessed with the idea of starting vegetables early by putting a load of horse puckey underneath them. As you do. Covid quarantine has done weird things to my idea of a good time.This is the most complete book you'll find on the subject, although I found Caleb Warnock's book on winter gardening to be at least as helpful, if not a little more than. But nowhere does the author mention what to do if you, oh I don't know, cart a literal ton of horse manure to your backyard, dig a two foot deep hole, and find that it *doesn't* actually heat up to the temperature of Miami in July. This seems like an odd oversight. I got very excited and thought it was all a raving success when the soil got up to 108 briefly, but in retrospect that was because I added a bunch of alfalfa pellets (which are very nitrogen-heavy). I'll try again next fall and I'll definitely consult this book again, but it seems a shame not to have at least one trouble-shooting section to help you realize where you went wrong. (Maybe because my manure had wood shavings, not straw, which added too much carbon? Oh well.) It's certainly a cool technique!

This is a favorite book of mine. Clear, easy to read and understand. I always used one form of hot bed and thought there may be more. This book showed me, and explained the principles, of all the variations.

Clear, straightforward, and including historical information that I was delighted to read about that makes the case for using this method. I intend to use it next growing season.

I've tried my first hot bed and the results are great. Well explained method, with practical calendar for growing throughout the year.

Was so disappointed by this underwhelming book. It is an awkward, small size. If you have seen any of the author's videos -- even just one, you don't need this book. Really. Go to youtube and get the exact same info for free. Unless you are a complete novice that needs hand holding and don't have access to the internet then by all means, buy the book, but if not, skip this book. This is absolutely nothing new that youtube videos don't cover. I was disappointed that it was so slow to arrive for the small distance it was traveling. I thought when I purchased it was free returns but no ... the seller wants half the price of the book. I'd rather donate the book than waste my time returning this book. Lesson learned again about NOT buying books on Amazon. Support your local independent book seller.

The great information in this book plugged in awesomely to my interests in self-sufficiency and back-to-nature. Good basic understanding and how-to information.

Kinda of short and smallish, but covers all the basics without useless gardening gibberish

This is a small book but with useful practical information for anyone thinking about setting up a hot bed in their garden, be it small or of industrial size.

I'm looking forward to putting this into practice - this is the hot bed book to get! Arrived quick - compact book, full of good information & advice.

This book was written by an English author dealing with an English climate and I live in Canada so it is not ideal but the principles are workable. It is well written and very informative. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to have a go at growing vegetables out of season as they have clearly been doing it for a very long time.

A hot bed has been on my list of gardening techniques to get to grips for quite a while. How glad I am I haven't got around to it yet!Jack First's small but perfectly formed volume on Hot Beds is going to save me a lot of time. I won't be making mistakes like using the well-rotted cow manure I can get hold of easily (there's no heat from decomposition, so no hot bed), nor will I be placing my cold frame on top (too much space to heat up, so a warm bed at best).If you're unfamiliar with this once widely used technique, then Jack First is the man to tell you all about it. A hot bed uses a huge heap of decomposing material such as fresh manure to create the heat. A frame is placed on top to enclose the heat and crops are then sown and grown on the hot bed within the frame. It means salads and many other vegetables can be grown much earlier in the year, for very little outlay needed for heating. Jack manages to do this in Keighly, Yorkshire, so it's not just a technique that's possible for us namby pamby southerners!This is a very detailed guide and Jack has experimented with plenty of alternative materials such as cloth, to see what's possible if a supply of fresh manure isn't readily available. It's not a pretty, pretty technique, so it's one I'll be using on my allotment rather than in my garden. Charles Dowding has read this book and is experimenting with the technique on his new farm. That's got to be the highest recommendation anyone can have.With increased costs for both growing and buying food, anything which can extend the growing season cheaply and makes use of recycled materials has to be a good thing. Hot Beds is an age-old technique due for for revival.