Quote:
Originally Posted by Tania
Zana, I have no idea - first time experimenting!
We are thinking about building a plywood box 4'x8'x2', fill it with the layers and put a piece of plywood on top. Then cold frame comes on top. The cold frame will hold seedlings in February/March.
I am hoping it will stay warn enough, so we can leave the seedlings there for the night.
So far it looks too hot to plant anything there, even if you top it up with 1' compost/soil. I think the soil will be too hot. Plus, it will not be possible to stir the pile when it start to cool down (that will be necessary to give it another 'kick' for heating up again).
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A few years ago I had some new raised beds and no dirt to put in them as our house in AZ was "landscaped" with a foot of gravel, river rocks and had a hard pan caliche underneath.
I have horses and I cleaned out the paddocks, adding pick-up loads to the garden to fill it to the brim. I planted directly into this ( most of the manure was very well aged) and then planted directly in it. It warmed up for a few weeks and the seedlings grew like crazy. Luckily, it cooled off as the weather was heating up.
That was the only year in AZ that I got a decent crop of tomatoes, although that was probably weather related more than anything.