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!
Do you think all the rain we get would pool up in between the pipes and weight down the plastic?
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 🙂