Building a hoophouse is a very simple thing to do. If you
are in a situation where you need to plant early, a simple hoophouse is the way
to go. It will protect your plantings from frost, and wind, as well as keep the
humidity up.
If you are growing in raised beds, some clear plastic, a
few lenghts of PVC, and a handful of screws is all you need. Just secure one
end of the PVC to the face of your raised bed frame, then bend it over, and
secure it to the other side of the raised bed frame. Then, cover it with
plastic. A hoophouse!
To secure the plastic to the hoophouse, one edge
can be secured with a generous application of staples. For the other edge of
the hoophouse, hammer some nails into the face of the bed frame, at about 2
foot intervals, get some plastic clips that have a nail hole on one end, and
clip them to the plastic. Then just pull the plastic over the hoop frame, and
hook the clips to the nails. When you want to temporarily uncover the hoophouse
from your raised bed, just unhook the clips from the nails, and flip the
plastic over.
This is also a great way to
protect vegetables like tomatos from getting too much water during a rainy
spell.
If you are growing in the ground, you
can either pound some wooden stakes in the ground to attach the PVC, or you can
get some short pieces of rebar to pound into the ground, and just slip the PVC
over them. |
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