SUCCESSIONAL GROWING - Vegetable, Fruit and Herb Growing in Small Spaces - page 17

Fig. 8. Vitopod propagator.
My favourite propagator has to be my Vitopod. It's a large, heated, height-adjustable
propagator, a mini-greenhouse and a cold frame all wrapped up into one. The base tray has
a built in electric element controlled by a thermostat so plants never cook. Ventilation is ad-
justable through side vents and vents in the top but best of all you can increase the height of
the propagator by adding another set of side walls. If you're starting plants and the weath-
er changes delaying the time they can go outside, you can hold them under cover for extra
weeks in the taller propagator.
One problem with window sills is that the seedlings can become scorched by strong sun-
light from south-facing windows and will become drawn and leggy in north-facing situations.
It's worth shading if it's a sunny spring; a net curtain works well.
To help stop the seedlings all leaning to the window, take a piece of cardboard and fold it
so some is held under the tray and the rest sticks up behind the tray. Fix some aluminium foil
to the card and it will reflect light back onto the plants.
Starting those beans and cabbages off under cover will extend your season, once again
making best use of your space over time but we don't really want to convert the whole house
to a plant nursery.
A greenhouse is ideal but takes up room and the assumption is that you don't have room
to spare or you wouldn't be small space growing. The solution is to have a coldframe. First
though a word of warning. Glass is always a risk when there are children and pets about. Our
cat decided the cold frame was a great stepping stone when she jumped off the flat roof and
now only has eight of her nine lives left.
You can buy coldframes made of glass or twinwall plastic; the plastic is, of course, much
safer. The plastic doesn't allow so much light through but plastic frames are warmer which
seems to balance out.