How to build a hoop house.

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Someone, was it Lilly or Helen?..gave me this link to a site with directions on how to build a hoop house (sorta a portable green house) The directions are so simple, and the items needed to build are so easily found, and CHEAP...I am looking foward to making my own as soon as the weather gets a little warmer here. (for my own building comfort) http://rainyside.com/resources/hoophouse.html

Build a hoop house



-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), March 06, 2000

Answers

Kritter,

Now you know what my greenhouse looks like, well sort of looks like.

I have a "base" built up around mine, but it is really more like a wood frame that goes up three feet all the way around. Then the PVC pipe is attached to the top of the frame and the plastic sheeting covers that. I put one of those porch misters in on the center pvc pipe to have "rain" in the greenhouse. I thought it to be a good idea at the time, but it turned out to be bad. Maybe when you have just planted the beds the mister will work, but when it gets really hot it will only hurt the leaves of the plants. When my plants got large, I ended up watering them from ground.

As a matter of fact, I just ate the last carrots out of the greenhouse on Sunday. They were really sweet. I just started working the beds again, and planted some broccoli plants that I had purchased. I planted seeds for lettuce, carrots, and put down my seed onions.

Oh, if you don't compost, please start a small compost pile. I bought a piece of chicken wire and have turned it into a cylinder that is about 4' across. I put ground up leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds, egg sheels, banana peels and the like in it. It worked over the summer, fall, and winter. I used this stuff to amend my soil. Oh My Goodness! It was better than I would have EVER thought. Oh, maybe it is my sniffer, but I never noticed a bad smell with it either.

Later... Donna

ps - where are you people? sleeping or something?

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), March 07, 2000.


Kewl..I'm really looking forward to making mine. I'm a little unsure of how I'm going to build the beds. I'm not wood and nails inclined. Well, I am, if someone else retrieves the proper lumber for me, and cuts it into bit size squares. I definately want to grow herbs, fresh parsley would be heavenly! Can I grow potatos?

The compost idea is good, I'll try that (but my dogs will find it impossible to pass up, i'm afraid)

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), March 07, 2000.


Kritter,

Herbs grow well, at least mine did. I still have chives growing. I'll start to plant them in a week or so.

As far as the compost, if you put it in some kind of bin, then the dogs can't really get into it. They may tinkle on it, but they can't get into it. When it is working, I doubt that they would want to anyway.

As far as the beds, I used normal wood (not pressure treated) and built my beds 4'x4'. I have a 1' path between each of the beds and on the back side of the beds. My center path is about 2 1/2' wide.

I don't know how your soil is, but mine was solid clay. I double dug all of my beds down to two feet. Amended the heck out of it last year. When I started to work them this past weekend, I almost broke one of my legs as I thought the clay would have hardened up again. I went with gusto, and well that leg sank in deep, but the one planted firmly on the ground..... ouch!

Potatoes (the plant anyway) can get rather large, so I wouldn't plant it in a greenhouse unless you are going to be building a HUGE one. It would waste just too much space. Try to grow plants that you can grow upward. If you don't have the book Square Foot Gardening, I suggest you buy it or check it out of the library.

I planted 7 cucumber plants last year. I had them coming out the ying yang before they quit producing. They grew everywhere, as did my squash. I'll have to work harder at getting them to grow UP instead of out!

Sorry to ramble, but my eyes are wanting to shut badly.

Donna

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), March 07, 2000.


You mean you still plant everything at ground level?? Naw..I wanted to build raised bed, waist level, so I don't have to bend over! I can do that right? How deep does the soil have to be? Can't I make bed boxes, like say 7" deep, and just fill them with GOOD soil? My soil is for shit around here. It's sand.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), March 07, 2000.

kritter,

I guess you could make raised beds that far off of the ground. You could grow most herbs fine. You may have a problem with some of the veggies, however, unless you really make the beds deeper. If you keep them shallow, you'll have to have fewer plants in the area, as the roots will grow out instead of down. The plant will be stronger the deeper that the roots can grow.

But if you pick plants that grow UP, on strings or whatnot, then the only time that you'll have to bend down is when you plant them. Harvest can come from standing.

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), March 07, 2000.



Sheeple, I also believe in very deep soil. I'm sure that has been the secret of my steroidal tomato plants. I grow them in raised beds formed by 1x10 planks, but the soil is at least 2 feet deep and heavily mulched.

Kritter, perhaps you're older than you're letting on? Waist-high beds are a standard solution for geriatric gardening.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), March 07, 2000.


Waist-high beds? I've meandered into a DWARF forum?

I'm doing container gardening this year....lining up all the pots at the edge of the driveway in front. The sun shines all day at the FRONT of the house. My spinach is already coming up. Attempts at raising spinach in the non-soil here last year resulted in NOTHING.

I'm STILL picking lettuce from the ONE plant that grew and went to seed last year. It reproduced into perhaps 15 plants. It's good for picking about twice/week now. Also, the ONE collard plant that grew last year has produced enough leaves to be plucked again. Frost just didn't kill much this winter.

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.com), March 07, 2000.


Anita, are you bragging about your height again? :)

Remember our waist high beds might just be knee height to you...

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), March 07, 2000.


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