The area in front of the greenhouses was used for extensive seedbeds. Family members can continue to plant in these seedbeds year after year and have food. In a plant nursery, seeds can be planted in disinfected sand seedbeds. If the supply of manure or artificial fertilizer is limited, only the seedbeds are fertilized. In the more advanced areas, the seedlings are raised in protected seedbeds and transplanted later. Seedbeds were prepared either by mechanical disturbance or a hot slash burn in autumn. Mineral soil seedbeds are required for seedling establishment (Forest Practices Branch 1997). This is appropriate because seedbeds need only be firm, not excessively compacted. Rollers prepare optimal seedbeds by making them as flat as is practical and moderately firmed. The wards were seedbeds of disease and contagion, often infested with rats and cockroaches. Seeds are generally sown in early summer in seedbeds, and then transplanted to larger containers.