How To Build A Heated Bed?

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

In order to build a bed with "heating", it is absolutely not necessary to equip your site with all kinds of wonders of technology - in this situation we will talk about biological heating, for which natural processes accompanied by intense heat release are responsible. So, how to make such an interesting fertile garden?

Why do we need heated beds?

Biological heating has established itself as one of the most effective methods for preparing beds for the subsequent cultivation of a wide variety of crops on them. This method has been successfully tested by more than one thousand summer residents and is successfully used in various parts of our vast country.

Most often, "heated" beds are built in the Murmansk and Leningrad regions - this approach allows you to grow most crops in the open field, and not in greenhouses.

However, despite all the convenience and progressiveness of this method, many summer residents are not even aware of its existence. But the best "heating pad" for thermophilic crops simply cannot be found!

How to make a heated bed?

Ideally, it is best to start the construction of warm beds in the fall - as a rule, at this time on the site not only space is freed up, but a fairly decent amount of plant waste accumulates. In principle, it is allowed to carry out these works in the spring, only in this case you will have to wait until the snow has completely melted.

First, of course, you need to choose and prepare a suitable place. In the event that it is planned to make a raised bed (by the way, for a warm bed this will be the best option), then an appropriate box will need to be installed in the chosen place. And if you just need to "reconstruct" the old bed, then the existing box is freed from the old soil.

If you install a box and make a raised bed there is no desire, it is quite enough just to remove the top soil layer and dig a not very deep "trench" (no more than forty centimeters deep). As for its length and width, they should correspond to the dimensions of an ordinary garden bed.

The bottom of the future garden bed is covered with cardboard, then the branches remaining after trimming the shrubs and trees are laid, and on top of them they put smaller "material": cut grass, hay or fallen leaves. And on top of them, food residues are placed, which usually go to compost. All laid layers are thoroughly watered and tamped, after which the soil layer removed at the very beginning is returned to its place. By the way, before doing this, it is recommended to combine the soil with compost. And the thickness of such a layer should be about five centimeters. As for the northern regions, plastic bottles can be laid on the bottom of the trench as the first layer, only they must all be packed in a dense layer and closed with lids. This solution allows you to isolate all subsequent layers from the cold coming from the very depths of the soil, respectively, with the onset of spring, the insulated bed will warm up much faster and cope with its main task much better.

You can lay layers of a warm bed in another way: first, all kinds of wood waste (the remains of twigs, chips, etc.) are laid, then three layers of old newspapers, any other paper or packaging cardboard, and humus is poured on top of the cardboard with a ten-centimeter layer, compost or rotted manure. The last layer is designed to prevent moisture loss, keep weeds out and provide the growing crops with proper nutrition. And the very last layer in this case will be the cut grass.

Upon completion of the work, the bed is covered with plastic wrap. And in May, when the period of planting seedlings in the ground begins, for the sake of interest, you can measure the temperature of ordinary beds and compare it with the temperature of a warm bed prepared since autumn. Surprisingly, it will differ by an average of ten degrees!