Polytunnel Panic
We happened to have several yards of 3/4 inch flexible black pipe, so we cut five ribs to a length of seven feet, and sunk them into the ground, about every two feet, inside the bed frame. We used an 8′ length of 1×1 lumber as a ridgepole to secure the ribs across the top. We also had some 6-mil poly left over from when I tried to solarize my soil in the old garden.
The south end of the hoophouse was wrapped separately with a small piece of poly and secured with the strongest tape we could find. The north end was boarded up with a piece of scrap plywood, for added wind protection. The largest sheet of poly was thrown over the length of the frame and the edges weighed down with patio stones. Everything, except the stones, was scrap material found in the mini lumber yard we’ve been building at the back of the property. We have learned to never throw anything away.
Unfortunately, we learned this lesson the hard way. The fact is, we would not have been madly assembling our makeshift hoophouse if we hadn’t sent our lovely stack of old storm windows to the landfill about three years ago. Those storm windows would have made perfect lights for the coldframe that is to sit on top of the current bed frame, and my veggies would have been comfy cosy.
Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing. We’ve been squirreling away supplies for a few years now: used lumber, chicken wire, fencing, surplus aggregates, plumbing and irrigation fittings, and other gently used building materials. Those old storm windows would have rounded out the collection nicely. I guess we weren’t as practical or frugal (cheap?) then as we are now.
The results of today’s panic, though, are quite pleasing. The hoop is 4×8 feet, with a two foot ceiling, and both side walls can be raised to access the plants within. I am almost of the mind to leave the hoophouse in place for the winter and abandon my coldframe plans. We’ll see how well my plants do over the next few nights.
