How to Install a Hot Box

A hot box, or cold frame, is used by vegetable gardeners to lengthen their season. They are large wood boxes covered in glass. The glass is typically angled in one direction to catch as much sun as possible. A hot box is a simple greenhouse that maintains higher temperatures inside the box as the outdoor temperatures decrease. It is used at the start of spring to germinate seeds several weeks earlier than can be accomplished in the natural environment.

Compass
Manure
Pitch fork
Rake

Instructions

- 1
  Choose a location in your garden for the hot box. This should be spot where your garden receives as many hours of sun as possible.
- 2
  Hold the compass flat and allow the needle to orient itself towards the north. Make note of what direction is south in your garden.
- 3
  Spread an inch of manure over the soil on the garden in the location you want to install the hot box. As the manure is eaten by organisms it will warm the soil and encourage plant growth.
- 4
  Turn the manure into the soil with a pitch fork. Rake the soil as flat as possible for planting seeds later.
- 5
  Lay the hot box over the garden with the angled glass facing southward. This gives it the most amount of sunlight everyday.

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Vegetable Garden