Hooped house raised beds

[HunkieDorie23]

I have really been wanting a green house and was going to get one this year, but I wanted to put in raised beds more so no green house . I did hoop houses over the two beds that I have planted instead and I am loving them. I don't love the watering but my plants are looking really nice and I have veggies growing when I wouldn't normally even have a garden yet. I just went out to uncover them because we are having rain today and I'll cover them tonight before dark.

I am going to have lettuce in a couple of weeks. Honestly I could pick it now if I wanted. It supposed to be really warm this weekend so I might get my third bed ready and put in some tomatoes and peppers. I have them hardened. My onions tops are about 8-10" tall. Scallions are getting big as well.

I am still disappointed about not getting the greenhouse but I think that I will be able to put in the new beds and several more hoop houses for the same price

 

[catjac1975]

I have really been wanting a green house and was going to get one this year, but I wanted to put in raised beds more so no green house . I did hoop houses over the two beds that I have planted instead and I am loving them. I don't love the watering but my plants are looking really nice and I have veggies growing when I wouldn't normally even have a garden yet. I just went out to uncover them because we are having rain today and I'll cover them tonight before dark.

I am going to have lettuce in a couple of weeks. Honestly I could pick it now if I wanted. It supposed to be really warm this weekend so I might get my third bed ready and put in some tomatoes and peppers. I have them hardened. My onions tops are about 8-10" tall. Scallions are getting big as well.

I am still disappointed about not getting the greenhouse but I think that I will be able to put in the new beds and several more hoop houses for the same price

Leave a soaker hose in the hoop house-watering will be easier. You will still need to lift it to weed. I do not leave them on after the frost date has ended.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

A soaker hose would be easier but the pump that takes water to the barn has gone out so I am having to run water from the house and I don't have hoses that long, which is kinda the problem. We are hooking up hoses that go to just inside the garden in fence so we have to fill up a large plastic trash can and then carry the water back to the plants which is another 30 - 50 ft.

I am glad you said that you uncover it after the frost date because I have been wondering how long to keep them covered. I have read conflicting comments on that but we are in similar zones so I should have similar results. I found a slug on my cabbage today. My chickens were grateful but they were the only ones.

 

[digitS']

Hey 'Dorie, what do you think about covering 2 beds with hoops, building a door (& window) frame at the ends of the beds, and, maybe excavating the soil between those beds a little so that you can walk in there?!

That's what I did on 2, 20-foot beds in my backyard. The beds are 3' and the path 2', so I used 15' of pvc pipes for hoops with short re-bar stakes to hold them. It isn't the sturdiest but this is the most sheltered place in my yard so wind hasn't been much of a problem.

You see, it's almost a greenhouse :

(on a cloudy spring day)

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

A soaker hose would be easier but the pump that takes water to the barn has gone out so I am having to run water from the house and I don't have hoses that long, which is kinda the problem. We are hooking up hoses that go to just inside the garden in fence so we have to fill up a large plastic trash can and then carry the water back to the plants which is another 30 - 50 ft.

I am glad you said that you uncover it after the frost date because I have been wondering how long to keep them covered. I have read conflicting comments on that but we are in similar zones so I should have similar results. I found a slug on my cabbage today. My chickens were grateful but they were the only ones.

Look on craigs list fro used hoses.

 

[thistlebloom]

Hey 'Dorie, what do you think about covering 2 beds with hoops, building a door (& window) frame at the ends of the beds, and, maybe excavating the soil between those beds a little so that you can walk in there?!

That's what I did on 2, 20-foot beds in my backyard. The beds are 3' and the path 2', so I used 15' of pvc pipes for hoops with short re-bar stakes to hold them. It isn't the sturdiest but this is the most sheltered place in my yard so wind hasn't been much of a problem.

You see, it's almost a greenhouse :

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h22/Digit_007/Greenhouses002.jpg
(on a cloudy spring day)

Steve

Steve, I'm sure I've read what you've posted about this somewhere, but if you don't mind repeating it...
Do you use that hoop house for starts only, or do you sometimes grow something in there all season?

And can you describe how you made the end with the door?

What have you used to fasten the plastic to the pvc? And just one more is that construction plastic or greenhouse film?

Thanks!

 

[digitS']

Uh oh, I'm hijacking HunkieDorie's thread . . .

Maybe she will forgive me :/, because it is the simplest thing imaginable.

I'm standing with the camera in the door. The door frame is just like that frame for the window. I've driven 2, 2by4 stakes into the ground beside the boards holding the raised beds. To those, I've attached the taller 2by4 frame. Inside that door frame, I've hung a door made of 2by2's and covered by plastic film. The film you see is all 6-mil, construction grade.

The plastic is attached to the 2 frames at both ends using lathe and nails. The film isn't attached to the hoops. The hoops are pushed over the re-bar stakes in the ground. Twine criss-crosses over the top of the plastic film to hold it down. Bricks hold the edges of the film to the ground.

The beds are used for early crops of veggies, many of the plants are moved into outdoor beds later. I set flats across the path as the nearby greenhouse "spills" over with plant starts. No heat in this hoop house but things like those onion & leek seedlings don't have a problem with that. The film comes off when real warm weather shows up. Because I've nailed it to the frames, it isn't really reusable. I also don't trust it because a few more weeks in the sun will probably cause it to break apart.

Steve

 

[lesa]

That is such a great set-up, you two.... Every year I imagine planting in the regular garden and putting a hooped house over a portion of it. As yet, have not made it happen. Happy Gardening!

 

[digitS']

I can also say that the only way these are "raised beds" is from the perspective of the guy standing in that path. The boards are framing the path, not the beds. There are no boards on the outside of the beds/hoop house.

The path has been excavated with the soil thrown into the beds. I had to go down a little more than a foot. That enables me to walk in there. I cannot stand upright, tho'. I just measured it: the hoops are just 66" above the path.

So, i hunker-over in there. (All the easier for HunkyDorie to slap me on the back of my head for hijacking her thread .)

Steve

 

[HunkieDorie23]

Hey 'Dorie, what do you think about covering 2 beds with hoops, building a door (& window) frame at the ends of the beds, and, maybe excavating the soil between those beds a little so that you can walk in there?!

That's what I did on 2, 20-foot beds in my backyard. The beds are 3' and the path 2', so I used 15' of pvc pipes for hoops with short re-bar stakes to hold them. It isn't the sturdiest but this is the most sheltered place in my yard so wind hasn't been much of a problem.

You see, it's almost a greenhouse :

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h22/Digit_007/Greenhouses002.jpg
(on a cloudy spring day)

Steve

OK I went with the small hoop houses over my raised beds last spring.... but I am really considered going with this type of a structure. How long do you use it into the fall and winter? What I am really thinking about doing is using this over two raised beds then using a cold frame into the hoop house. It is supposed to extended your growing season two zones which would put me at a 7b. I could be very effective with that much more growing time. Then I will scale back some of my gardening because by going with a more year round version I would just need a couple of beds all the time and then my regular garden in the summer.

I have two double paned sliding glass doors that I kept when we put in some energy star doors. They are roughly 3' x 6.5 so I am not looking at huge undertaking, but it would be enough to keep me out of the produce department in the winter. They are extremely heavy so I would have to put in a hydraulic lift or something. I have been kicking this around in my head all summer (I am not one to make hasty decisions) but if I am going to do it this year I will need to get started on it. I am just trying to decide how I want to put in the foundation, if I want just use the board from the raised bed or if I want to dig down and get a little more thermal protection.