Dragging My Feet, But So Is Winter…
Here it is a quarter of the way through November, and as of last weekend I had put forth virtually no effort towards the planned (smaller ) polytunnel/hoop-house for this winter.
I thought last season’s attempt, although quite functional, was a little wide and low plus it covered more space than I needed. So this year only the longest two back beds will be covered (vs all three).
The ribs I made last year were 24 feet long; I hoped that these would work once I removed the 4ft extensions on each, which would save some cutting and rejoining time. The footprint would be roughly 10’x20′ vs 16’x20′ last year.
Presto, the 5 minute structure I threw together for perspective passed the eyeball test and I’ll go with this basic dimension (with additional ribs of course):
Winter is looming, I’d better get busy….
Behind cohutt's fence 
How strong are your winter winds?. I have made little “C” clamps out of PVC (greenline they call it here), it is a softer pvc, cut into 2″ lengths and then sliced with a utilty knife to hold plastic in place. I used 1″ to clamp over 3/4 pipe
Generally winter winds aren’t bad here, plus the fence provides some wind break. I bought some clamps from groworganic.com that were 3 ft long and cut them into 4-6″ pieces. they work great,
Don’t you mean “the wedding is looming, I’d better get busy…..”
I actually typed that first. Really.
Love the post…. love the title & I love Mrs. Cohutt’s comment! LOLOL…
I left my hoop house up all summer since so many of our nights drop down to 50 or so… too many of them drop below 50 & it makes it hard for tomatoes to ripen. I still have some things growing in there….
I took mine down to use the pipe for net support elsewhere
I have some sad little Dutch Mache (some call it Corn Salad) & a couple of Kale plants that are trying to hang on. I’ve still got a lot to learn about using anything like that through the winter here. I was -20 or so for a week in January. We decided to put our meat rabbits in the hoops house for a little extra warmth & protection & maybe some fertilizer… I think it’s past the point now though. There’s way too much in there now. The bunnies kept it warmer for the plants a bit & on the worst nights I had to put a little electric heater in there that just heats up circulated water. Worked ok but not great. I’m hoping some of the herbs will come back this spring. You’re garden, in all it’s stages, is inspiring!
I don’t think we’ve even been below +20 yet this year. Mild is the word again…..