During the winter we watched A Victorian Kitchen Garden on DVD and I was inspired to have a go at making a hot bed for my cucumbers. The hens needed mucking out today and my cucumber seeds are through so I went up the the big tunnel after lunchtime to start.

The very first thing I needed to do was ventilate the tunnel - it has been a glorious day but with a slight breeze. The temperature inside the tunnel was 80F! I was soon down to my shirt sleeves for the first time this year. I finished in the tunnel in the late afternoon and when closing up all the vents the temperature inside was still 70F.

So, making a hot bed! I have never done this before so it’s a bit of an experiment. Perhaps the fresh chicken manure will be too hot for the cuc’s roots, but only time will tell. It’s going to have a few weeks to settle down anyway before the young plants will be ready for planting out. Even then I will probably have to cover them with fleece ‘cos they are tender wee things.

I began by digging a trench down the middle of one of my clean, weed free raised beds, making sure to chuck the spoil on the right hand side. I then forked over the base of the trench ready to dig it out again.

I then dug out a second cut and chucked the spoil onto the left hand side this time. You need to keep the spoil from each cut separate so you can back fill properly. The base of the trench was then forked over again to break up the heavy clay.

Then I went and mucked out the hens - the first barrow load of fresh muck went into the bottom of the trench and after being lightly compacted (don’t tramp it down too much - it needs some air to help it rot down) the spoil on the left hand side was used to cover over the first layer of muck.

Then it was back to finish mucking out the hens and bring in a second barrow load of muck which was laid on top of the freshly backfilled soil and tramped down a bit (it was beginning to mound up nicely!)

I think you can now guess the next step! Yep cover the 2nd layer of muck with the spoil on the right hand side. I thought it was beginning to look very professional at this stage

Notice my new spade - a present from my folks which they spotted in that well known German discount supermarket…the one beginning with A….£6 I think they said it was but its very useful - nice long handle made from FSC wood.

Here’s the completed hot bed with the sides all tidied up and a thermometer stuck in. It will be interesting to see just how hot it does get - it was at 20C when I was leaving but I had only just stuck the thermometer in so I would take that with a pinch of salt!

Once the temperature settles down and the cucumber plants are established enough to be planted out, I will plant 4 along the top of the ridge. Cuc’s like squashes don’t like moisture around their necks so being high on the ridge should prevent this. When I am planting them out I normally sink the plant’s pot in the soil beside the plant - this makes watering much easier and directs the water right down to the roots where it’s needed rather than it running all over the surface of my heavy clay soil and evaporating.

I will try and note the temperatures here from time to time!

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