I went on a tour with the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association last year. They sponsor a three-day conference, in Durham, NC, which I would love to attend in full, but I was able to go on a tour of hoop houses and farms. I read many articles and books about farming, and people always talk about hoop houses, which are unheated greenhouses. In our climate, people grow crops in them year round. I was very interested to see beautiful tomatoes, unmolested by insects, disease, or weather, in November in the hoop houses.Building a “real” hoop house is not presently in my budget, so I came home and created a DIY version out of materials I already had at home. Professional hoophouses, like these, are large structures in which people can walk around and trellis tomatoes. I can’t walk in mine, but it should protect the lettuce plants.
I spread a piece of clear, heavy weight plastic on the ground. I attached the metal rods on each long end with strings tied underneath.
I roll up the sides, as shown below, to ventilate the greenhouse. In my climate, South Carolina zone 8, I leave the sides up most of the time, closing them only when severe winter temperatures threaten.
Sometimes, I roll down the sides but I leave the ends up. This provides some ventilation but provides additional protection from cold temperatures.
