Extend Your Gardening Season Up To 4 Months Longer
Would you believe me if I told you that you could extend your gardening season to be 4 months longer? Think of how much more you could grow with 4 extra months!
You might believe that this can be done but when I tell you that you can do this for less than $10, you might be a bit skeptical. I am here to show you how easy it is!
This project will take you 10 minutes to put up, requires little to no watering and will cost you less than $10. Sound good? I sure think it does!
A Little Thing Called A Hoop House
So just what is this? I call it a hoop house. Not sure if that is the correct name or not….but it sounds good. My neighbor and I did this project yesterday in less than 10 minutes. She was nice enough to allow me to shoot some photos while she put hers up! Thanks Tracy! 🙂
We live in Wisconsin and we have brutal winters (with exception of this year). I usually start planting early May and my garden comes to an end in late September. By putting this hoop house up, we were able to plant in March and will extend our season though November! That is 4 extra months!
You will be amazed how easy it is to put up and also how easy it is to maintain. Once up, the hoop house creates its own moisture (humidity) and keeps the soil warm creating a perfect environment for the plants to flourish. The plants are protected from frost and hard freezes in this self made hoop house.
Building A Hoop House In 4 Easy Steps
So lets build this hoop house shall we? Here is what you will need to get started.
- 1/2-inch PVC pipe (they are sold in 10 foot pieces). Depending on the size of your garden/raised bed, you will need one of these for every 3-4 feet. These cost roughly 1.50 a piece.
- cement pavers – you will need about one every 3-4 feet. These will cost you about $.30 cents a piece.
- 1 piece of 3 mil clear plastic sheeting, make sure it is large enough to cover your bed. This will cost you about $3.00
- handheld saw to cut the pipes. You can also have your home improvement center cut them for free.
Step 1 ~ The first thing you want to do is saw the PVC pipes to 7 feet long.
Step 2 ~ Next put the PVC pipe into the soil and bend it to the other side. PVC piping is very flexible. This will make a dome like shape.
Step 3 ~ Drape your plastic over the PVC creating a dome like structure.
Step 4 ~ Place cement pavers or bricks around the perimeter of the bed securely holding the plastic down. You should place enough bricks around the hoop house so that cool air stays out and the air in the hoop house stays in to create the proper humidity.
The Finished Product
Once you are done, this is what your hoop house should look like. I know, how simple was that, right?
Look at these two photos. The plants were grown in the hoop house here in Wisconsin. The average temperature has been around 45-50ºF and the evenings have been in the low 30’s.
These were planted last month and are ready for harvest already. Pretty amazing how these hoop houses create such beautiful healthy plants that thrive in this environment.
Pin It For Later
Like this post? Be sure to pin it for later!
Wonderful idea! I think I will use that in my gardens here in OR!
Very Nice Tutorial! Thank you so much. I have a walk-into-it hoop house and actually grow things in such a way that we have fresh greens all winter. With your idea, if I need more space, we’ll be all set and I’m going to share this with my gardening daughter too.
@loves2spin I am glad this post is helpful to you! It really is quite simple to do this.
Great Post! I hop over from the hop! I will be building a couple of these this fall! I hope to visit often here! Anyone interested can come garden at: http://www.theredeemedgardener.blogspot.com
@TheRedeemedGardener Welcome!
How do you water your garden if its got that cover on it?
@thats_sew_jenni a few things here…you won’t need to water very often because it is so humid in there and it creates its own moisture. If you do need to water, look at the last pictures in this post…you simple undo the bricks on one side and lift the plastic off, water, and then cover it back up.
@thats_sew_jenni I use soaker hoses in my raised beds…just hook up the garden hose to the soaker hose and there you have it!
@Karen Jackson Simmons @thats_sew_jenni Great idea Karen!
Thanks for sharing…too easy!!!
Love this. Thanks! I was hoping we’d be able to do this but I didn’t know it was so easy. Thanks so much for sharing!!! I’m going to share on FB!
That’s a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Thanks for this tutorial! I pinned it: http://pinterest.com/pin/91690542383722488/
@OurNaturalJourn Your welcome, thanks so much for pinning!
This is basically a floating row cover. A hoop house is more like a free-standing greenhouse. I’m hoping to do this myself this year. Great idea!
@Chandelle Ahhhh the right name 🙂 Thank you so much!
Isn’t it actually called a cliche? I think it’s an old gardening idea.
C l o c h e
I see a lot of this in my area and thought it was a great idea. Thank you for your inspiration and thanks for coming by and sharing it at Whole Food Wednesdays.
This is an excellent idea, and a wonderful way to extend the growing season frugally!
I went out and bought the supplies for this setup a couple of days after Adrienne from Whole New Mom shared it with me. Great idea! I wish I’d seen it last month, when I really needed it. As soon as I got them built, our temperatures rocketed up into the 70’s and 80’s. [sigh] However, it’ll be super handy in the fall, and going forward! Important safety tip: .3 mil painter’s plastic is NOT the same as 3 mil – DERP. I bought the wrong stuff on the first try, and it pretty much shredded if I looked at it funny. Oy.
@airynd good safety notice 🙂 Glad it is working out now and it will be super beneficial in the fall to carry your harvest all the way up to the first snow fall. Thanks for sharing your progress with us 🙂
Excellent posting
I am sure that you have got good water tank to water these plants
cheers
Excellent use of home made resources
I will be more happy to see plants that require good <a href=”http://pinterest.com/amprotec/”>water tanks</a> to water
cheers
Excellent use of home made resources
I will be more happy to see plants that require good water tanks to water
cheers
Wow..It’s awesome and really interesting. Now it has become easy to grow plants even without any season.. Brilliant idea..
Wow. a cheaper hoop greenhouse. I use 6mil plastic for my small greenhouse, never thought about making one that I could not walk into. have to try this one this year.
Storming here all day in Joplin, MO
Rain or snow Nora?
Gearhead Gh we should do this!
Nora, I know Joplin! I am in KC, grew up in Cassville.
Halle, rain……Nora is a couple hours south of me.
We hit a high of 2 degrees and still have at least a foot of snow on my garden. I’ll live through your posts!
It was 86 here today… unseasonably warm!
Jan you know us Cali folk go from crazy cold windy rain right into summer, I was dying today it was 88 here but the sun makes it feel like high 90’s
Tina, still really windy here from the weekend… Allergies are crazy!
Our wind died down last night & I’m just east from you, next time I come to the bay area we need to connect 🙂
Hope it’s soon, Tina! That you come to the Bay Area… AND that the wind dies down! 😉
You know it’s only a 2 hour drive
Where do you buy the sheeting??
Do you take the plastic off in warm weather?
Can seeds be started in this in April in Pa.?
Absolutely! Warm the soil first, then plant the seeds and cover.
Do you mind iif I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back tto
your weblog? My blog is in the exact ssame area of interest as yours and my users would genuinerly benefit from some of thhe information you present here.
Please let me know if this alright with you. Thankss a lot!
I was wondering if the temperature drop in 30s, will the plants survive by only covered with plastic? Or should i covered with something else to make it warmer?
Yep they will survive. My temps dropped below 0F and they did great under the plastic.
Please let me know why you specified the pipes need to be cut at 7 feet? Was it to make the hoops higher or is that the minimum required for flexibility? Many thanks!
Hi akhila! 7′ was just the height that I prefer to make a hoop house that is high enough for the plants to grow and thrive in. You certainly can make them smaller a bit if you’d like, but I wouldn’t go too much smaller.
I have the same question as akhila. I live in southern OR
Hi! I have a question were these planted directly into the beds as seeds? Or were they grown indoors and transplanted? If so when did you move them into the beds?
Hi Meg!
These were planted directly in the soil as seeds. Look to plant cool weather crops when you are extending your seasons. Hope this helps!
Thanks so much! I live in NJ and have a similar growing season
I am doing this with peas this fall. What about pollination?
Just tap the vine and the peas will pollinate on their own. Peas are a perfect crop for an extended season!
What type of snow load can the pvc and plastic withstand?
A LOT! I lived in Wisconsin, so you can only imagine the amount of snow that we got!
Great idea! Do the hoops stay up in the wind?
Yep, they sure do!
Do you put the PVC pipe right in the ground beside the plant, or do you put it outside a raised garden bed? I have concerns about PVC leaching into my food.