Hot Box

[nick the grief]

Sorry to hear that GHV! I was looking forward to you telling us of your greengouse grown tropical date palms and pineapples!

Ah well, back to the drawing board, I assume!

I've got Pineapples growing in my greenhouse Snadger ... I use electric far more reliable although most power companies are full of sh.. er you know what I mean

If you want to try this as Snadger said earlier on they uses brick based cold frames and greenhouse and you needed a layer of at least a foot across the frame and it has to be fresh then cap it off with soil ( about 6" worth) Failing that my dad used to have a big compost bin about 6ftx3ftx3ft and he would fill this then put coldframes on the top but it really only keeps them a couple of degrees higher.

I have thought about making a bin using old radiators and then running a pipe into the greenhouse to see if that would work.

[Seahorse]

I have thought about making a bin using old radiators and then running a pipe into the greenhouse to see if that would work.

I was wondering about a bin made of old double glazed units - would those + old rads do the biz, I wonder?

*see Seahorse and NtG spontaneously self combust

[ChocClare]

I have thought about making a bin using old radiators and then running a pipe into the greenhouse to see if that would work.

When the programme "It's not easy being green" was on they had buried crushed glass in their greenhouse as a way of keeping it warm (or at least frost-free) in the winter. They did explain how it worked but I am still waiting for someone to make it clear to me so I can do the same in my greenhouse and find some good use to all the empties we produce...

I have access to huge quantities of horse poo (lucky me, eh?). I've always just piled it up and waited for it to rot down outside (though I have covered it over and started off seedlings on top of it - it does get very hot). Does it work better with straw? Wasn't there something about straw in commercial stables being dodgy or containing pesticides or something that meant it wasn't a good idea in the garden? I ask because the stables where my daughter spends huge amounts of time as a willing, unpaid slave can't wait to give me their poo, so I want to know which pile I should be taking it from - with straw or without!!!

Answers on a postcard gratefully received...

[Glasshousevirgin]

looking to get some fresh poo organised so may try again soon...next installment lol

[bobleponge]

We have a horse so the only problem for us is getting rid of all the poo. The pile is huge. I made a hot box during the winter and followed the prescribed wisdom of fresh horse poo, left it a few days for the sulphur smell to disappear, turned it over a couple of times and then put soil on the top. I then planted a few bits into it, at the same time I put same seeds into pots on a south facing windowsil.
There is nothing moving in the hotbox whereas toms peppers cucs chillies garlic are all happy on the windowsill.
Fresh xmas strawberries really do excite me but a lot of experimentation yet before that happens I think

[nick the grief]

We have a horse so the only problem for us is getting rid of all the poo. The pile is huge. I made a hot box during the winter and followed the prescribed wisdom of fresh horse poo, left it a few days for the sulphur smell to disappear, turned it over a couple of times and then put soil on the top. I then planted a few bits into it, at the same time I put same seeds into pots on a south facing windowsil.
There is nothing moving in the hotbox whereas toms peppers cucs chillies garlic are all happy on the windowsill.
Fresh xmas strawberries really do excite me but a lot of experimentation yet before that happens I think

Trouble is you need it to get up to temperature and that can take a while. Also it works best if it's mixed with something else so a bit of air can get into it ( straw for instance) and a starter solution - I pee on my compost heap

Seahorse.

The reason I thought of radiators wasn't to keep the heap in but to take it out via the pipework into the greenhouse