WEBSITE: http://heirloomseedsaving.com This is the second episode of Work With Nature Gardening Diary (WWNGD) Subtitles - closed captions Now in this video we are going to learn how to make a compost heated mini glasshouse cloche or cold frame for your garden. It is a very simple method, simple materials it is not going to cost you anything. It is handy if you do not have a Polly tunnel or glass house. You can make these very simply and I am now going to show you how to do it. Now the first step is going to be to mark out the soil. With either a halfmoon or spade, that is in order to take of the grass sods because we want to dig down deep. You will also need to make sure that you have an area where your frame can rest on. You are going to use some grass mulch, these sods to lever it up at a certain angle. Roughly maybe the height of the shovel. So that means it is roughly two inches narrower than it would normally be. So bear that in mind. What I find the easiest it to mark out the inside. So do't put your plastic on yet. So make a line and that should roughly give you the area you want. Now notice I am starting to use some of the sods to build up the sides. But I am also going to put a pease of timber all the way along, where the frame will rest on. I want it to last a long time. And if it is in contact with the wood it can rot pretty fast. So I am just putting one layer for now just on top. Then I am going to put the wood and then I am going to put down the soil to hold it all in place. Oh he is a fat feller isn't he. Look at this guy, say hello. Ok I will put you somewhere safe. Now as you can see I put some peeces of wood all the way around. I have some blocks aswell I have some timber running down as well. And I will also use all the soil, digging it out and sticking it around the mini glass house. But then not higher than this level itself. And maybe I will leave some gaps for some air or methane gas to run out, later on in the different stages of growing on my plants. Now the thing you want to add is this fresh compost. It will heat up in time because the microbes will gobble up all the material and provide heat for our little seedlings. Now I am only putting down about 20 cm of compost in. Maybe 15 cm. Then I will put some kind of sheet on top to separate the two. You can also ofcourse. I forgot to mention use stones. Well I think you can. I would amdgion you can, because if you think about it if you add big stones in there. During the day you are going to get a lot of heat stored in the stones. They are going to release the heat at night time when the seedlings will need it the most. So you are going to have nice cozy seedlings. This is a very good method to do in January onwards, till about march. Especially with the compost. The stones I would do generally a bit later in the season. I don't have big stones, so I am just going to use compost. But putting a little bit less. Of course I am also in a minute going to show youvery simply how to regulate the temperature. But first I will carry on adding this compost layer. Hello. Hi. Now I just added a peace of corrugated iron. To my surprise it fits perfectly, as if the person who cut it knew we where going to do this. So big thanks to you. The other thing I wanted to quickly say aswell. Is if you do happen to get slugs munching away at your seedlings. You will notice it right away. If you check them every day for watering. You can the just turn up the trays and find them under there. Or you can lift the sheet of corrugated iron and take the slugs away. But you should not get that problem. You can of course make more than one glass house. I am just sticking with one for now. As we are in April and I am only using it for the pumpkins. I will sow most of my seedlings directly and am not to late. Ok now we are going to add the windows and I will show you what that looks like. Hello. Hi. Now just line it up nicely. All mesured well. The main thing is to get it at the beam at the back first. Ok so that's pretty much it. I spoke earlier a bit about ventilation. Well first of all I have a slot there at the front. That is going to let go of all the gases and heat. As it is going to get hot now. But the nights are still cold. You can also of course open a window and control the temperature that way. I mean is this not fantastic. Very easy to use and cheep. A lovely little heated cloche. Now hope you enjoyed this video. Please do share this video if you got something out of it. See you next week and thanks for watching.

• published: 08 Apr 2014
• views: 1699