This was the best I could do for a hoop house until I began my new project. The flimsy wire did the job, sort of, but it was very difficult to work with to move the plastic when I needed to access the plants and to ventilate the space on warm days. My broccoli appreciated the cover I provided for it earlier in the fall when I put shade cloth on it to protect it from the heat, however.
To make the hoop house, I drove rebar stakes into the ground five feet apart and four feet across from each other. Then I slid a piece of 1/2 inch plastic conduit, available in the electrical aisle, onto one post and bent it over onto the other post.
I continued this process down the bed, to make a bed 4 feet wide by 35 feet long. PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, the plastic that makes the conduit, reacts with polyethylene in the plastic with which I will cover the hoops, and causes it to deteriorate. I spray painted the hoops to prevent the chemical reaction, and I will also add felt tape/weatherstripping to the conduit to provide further protection.
I was satisfied with the paint job, but my 12 year old came out to see what I was doing and decided to touch up some spots I had missed. Thrilled with her first opportunity to use spray paint, she made sure the hoops were painted thoroughly. I received a phone call during all of this, and didn’t really pay attention to what she was doing, and so I got a rainbow. At least we used up several partial cans of spray paint that had been cluttering the garage for years.
The nine year old, an obsessed Clemson fan, came out and noticed all the purple, and asked if I was going to use some orange. I told her I had no orange and that we were DONE painting.
Last night, I went to the store to purchase some more conduit and supplies to make roll-up sides on the hoop house. I had to buy more spray paint and at first I chose a sedate forest green that would blend in with the garden. I imagined her joy at a Clemson hoop house, and I put it back and chose orange instead.
If it ever stops raining, I will paint the other conduit, add the plastic, and begin planting. Right now I don’t need to protect my plants from the cold but I do need to keep off the constant rain.
These salad greens in my cold frame are absolutely gorgeous, and I plan to have a similar harvest in my hoop house. I already have some baby spinach plants that are in the open garden, being battered by the rain, and I will transplant them into the hoop house where, I hope, they will be as happy as these plants.
