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! Garden Guideposts 
Open the basement window to 
circulate warm air through the 
hotbed, provide heat and continu- 
ous ventilation. 
Use seed boxes or flats in oper- 
ating a basement window hotbed. 
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Making a seed flat 
(Continued from Page 7) 
After the plants come through 
the soil, water only in morning. 
Do not keep soil too wet. 
Thin out plants, or transplant 
them into another box or cold- 
frame, when 2 inches high. 





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Coldframes 
How fo make a hotbed 
There are two kinds of hotbeds 
that will serve well for starting 
early plants. 
1. THE MANURE-HEATED HOTBED 
—Locate this near a building to 
provide protection on north and 
west sides against cold winds, 
facing south to receive maximum 
sunlight. 
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A coldframe is valuable when 
transplanting plants from seed 
flats or hotbed, before planting in 
the garden. Coldframes are con- 
structed like hotbeds except that 
no manure is used to provide heat. 
They depend entirely on the sun 
for heat, which accumulates under 
the cover in the daytime to keep 
the frame warm through the night. 
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Dig a pit 24 inches deep, 6 feet 
wide, and as long as needed. (A 
single-sash hotbed is large enough 
for a medium-sized garden. As a 
standard sash is 3 by 6 feet, a 
single-sash hotbed would be 3 
feet by 6 feet.) 
Construct a frame of 2-inch 

Preparing the soil 


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planks made so the sash just cov- 
ers it. Build the north side 6 inches 
higher than the south side so the 
sash will slope toward the south. 
Place 12 to 18 inches of pre- 
pared, fresh, strawy horse manure 
in the bottom of the pit and firm; 
then place 6 inches of fine garden 
soil on top of the manure. Allow 
to heat for 2 or 3 days. 
After the temperature has fallen 
below 90°F., sow the seed 3 to 6 
inches apart and place sash on 
the frame. 
Ventilate during the day, clos- 
ing sash on very cold nights to 
prevent freezing. (In severe weath- 
er place old carpets, blankets, or 
salt hay over the glass.) 
The basis of garden success is 
the soil. Usually we have to work 
with what we have, but even if it 
is not good soil to begin with, 
much can be done to improve it. 
The ideal soil has 4 definite qual- 
ities: 
(a) it is easy to work (crumbles 
readily); 
(b) it contains plenty of humus 
(partially rotted vegetable matter); 
(c) it has sufficient quantities of 
available plant food; 
(d) it is well-drained. 
If yours is not ideal soil, here 
are some things you can do: 
If soil is too "heavy" 
Heavy soil, which will bake hard 
and.not drain properly, can be 
made friable (crumbly, loose) by 
working in old ashes, fine cinders, 
humus, fine gravel or fine lime- 

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stone screenings. This will make 
the soil workable as well as let- 
ting excess water escape, admit- 
ting air into the soil, and permit- 
ting roots to grow freely. 
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If soil needs conditioning 
If your soil needs improving, it 
can be greatly benefitted by ap- 
plication of well-rotted stable ma- 
nure, leaf mold, grass clippings, 
compost and other forms of de- 
composed plant material. (Use up 
to 1 bu. per 25 sq. ft.) See Page 30 
for data on building a compost 
pile. 

A BASEMENT WINDOW HOTBED 
—Place one or two standard sash 
on a frame built in front of a 
south- or southeast-facing base- 
ment window. (See _ illustration.) 
Make the structure as airtight as 
possible. 
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(Continued on Page I1) 
BROCCOLI, Italian Green Sprouting 
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