baymule
Garden Master
Three years ago, I had some real nice bannana pepper plants and Fall was falling. I sure hated to lose them to frost, so I wheeled the homemade bar-b-que pit (made from the tank of a water heater) next to the pepper plants. Then I drove rebar stakes in the ground. Over this I draped an over aboudance of plastic and held down the edges with bricks. I clipped one of those aluminum auto lights on the handle of the bar-b-que pit and I was in business! DH objected strongly to the eyesore in the front yard and made fun of my contraption. But......he liked having his bannana peppers until the temps dropped in the low 20's and the puny lightbulb wasn't warm enough and the plants all froze. 
The next year, I bought PVC pipe, fittings and glue. I sprawled out in the driveway and quickly figured out how to glue it all together the wrong way. Oh, and once you glue 2 pieces together, it is instant set, no twisting it to a better position. You get one shot at it. Sigh........toss another one in the scrap pile. Then I also figured out that I didn't have the right fittings for a topline pipe to make a peaked roof. No problem, I just ran two pipes at the top, kinda alongside each other. I was very proud of my rickety makeshift frame.
My husband is a good sport about my ideas and he helped me set it up. He pounded long rebar stakes in the dirt and we lifted the frame up, centered the hollow pipe, and set the PVC frame on the stakes. This was to keep it from blowing away. Then several hours and a lot of duct tape later, we had it wrapped in plastic. I ran an outdoor extension cord to it and put a small electric heater inside. On freezing nights, I flipped the switch and our redneck greenhouse stayed nice and cozy. We had fresh tomatoes all winter. Once a week, we lifted up the plastic and picked ripe tomatoes and green ones too. Then we had a plate of fried green tomatoes and ate sliced ripe tomatoes all week.
Last year we had a record breaking drought and over 2 months of 100+ degree temps. The garden was a bust, so I didn't even try the greenhouse.
This year has been a good garden year. The frame stays up all year, we just take the plastic off. I have 3 bell peppers planted inside the frame, a red, a yellow and an orange one. I love the colors. I also planted 15 tomato plants in the frame. Sunday afternoon, DH and I wrapped it in plastic, leaving the ends open for now. When it gets close to freezing, we'll close off the ends with more plastic.....and what else? More duct tape!!
It is in the front yard, right next to the front door!
This is my DH proudly standing next to our redneck greenhouse.
The next year, I bought PVC pipe, fittings and glue. I sprawled out in the driveway and quickly figured out how to glue it all together the wrong way.
Oh, and once you glue 2 pieces together, it is instant set, no twisting it to a better position. You get one shot at it. Sigh........toss another one in the scrap pile. Then I also figured out that I didn't have the right fittings for a topline pipe to make a peaked roof. No problem, I just ran two pipes at the top, kinda alongside each other. I was very proud of my rickety makeshift frame. My husband is a good sport about my ideas and he helped me set it up. He pounded long rebar stakes in the dirt and we lifted the frame up, centered the hollow pipe, and set the PVC frame on the stakes. This was to keep it from blowing away. Then several hours and a lot of duct tape later, we had it wrapped in plastic. I ran an outdoor extension cord to it and put a small electric heater inside. On freezing nights, I flipped the switch and our redneck greenhouse stayed nice and cozy. We had fresh tomatoes all winter. Once a week, we lifted up the plastic and picked ripe tomatoes and green ones too. Then we had a plate of fried green tomatoes and ate sliced ripe tomatoes all week.
Last year we had a record breaking drought and over 2 months of 100+ degree temps. The garden was a bust, so I didn't even try the greenhouse.
This year has been a good garden year. The frame stays up all year, we just take the plastic off. I have 3 bell peppers planted inside the frame, a red, a yellow and an orange one. I love the colors. I also planted 15 tomato plants in the frame. Sunday afternoon, DH and I wrapped it in plastic, leaving the ends open for now. When it gets close to freezing, we'll close off the ends with more plastic.....and what else? More duct tape!!
It is in the front yard, right next to the front door! This is my DH proudly standing next to our redneck greenhouse.
