An alternative to heated propagators

Having read some history books on gardening over the last few months, I thought I'd make an attempt at gardening in a way that was common to the Victorians. Unfortunately, I don't have a large Victorian glass house, nor do I have a walled garden (although it would be a dream come true if I did). However, I do keep livestock in the form of poultry and at the moment my ducks are not laying so I need to find them another job to earn their keep with me. 

A few years ago I trialed using soiled duck house straw bedding as an underground layer of manure for my Mediterranean fruit and veg in the polytunnel. Whether it was the heat that was beneficial or simply the added extra nutrients in the soil that helped, I got an amazing yield and some very happy looking plants (yes, plants can look very happy in my opinion). Going back to the Victorians. They used hotbeds, consisting of horse manure mostly to help germinate seeds earlier than their normal season so that the Victorians would have food to grace their tables all year round. I do have have two heated propagators here at home, but the disadvantages are thus: 

1. I only have two and to buy more means spending more money than I want to.
2. They will only fit one standard seed tray in each, limiting me to what I can sow early.
3. They need to be plugged in and while they don't take up too much electricity, I would like to see a method that doesn't use extra energy.

So, I don't have horses and I wanted to try a small area in the polytunnel first this year and decided that the ducks could contribute. So when I cleaned out their house today I kept the mix of straw and droppings and subsequently buried that in a small patch on a raised bed.

Little did these two know that when they grew up their droppings would become useful.

Here's what I did step by step:

1.  First I took spade to soil and started removing the topsoil, putting it to one side to use later on.

 2. This is what I was left with - about 5 inches of soil removed from the top.

 3. I then added the straw with duck manure.

4. This manure was then spread to fit in the dug out soil. Once that was done I trod it in a bit to flatten it. This method was also recommended as it would help rot down the straw and manure to kick start the warmth.

 5. I then went back to the soil I removed and started to carefully add a thin layer (about 2 inches at the most) to the manure.

6. The soil was spread evenly over the manure.

7. Probably not the neatest attempt, but I then covered the patch with some bubble wrap to stop anything from trying to dig it all up for me and to help it warm up (possibly).

The hotbed will be tested for soil warmth next week and if it's working then I will place some trays down on top of this to keep them warm. The area worked will fit about four seed trays and when the time comes, I will make a protective cover (or use clear seed tray covers), for the seeds. The outside temperature won't matter too much to seedlings as it will be the soil temperature that is the growth stimulator (although do please remember that frosts are still around for a few more months, hence creating covers).

The benefits to doing this (if it works) are:

1. It didn't cost anything except for 15mins of my time.
2. I could reuse the duck straw bedding for this instead of simply adding it to the compost heap.
3. More seed trays could be used rather than using just my two small heated propagators.
4. Once the weather warms up I can use the raised bed for my veg again by just digging the soil and manure in- double whammy! Two uses for one space over the growing year.

I now have my fingers crossed that this will work!

Thanks for reading and I wish everyone a very happy new year.