The new and much enlarged hoophouse is ready. It took a while. Projects seem to take twice as long as I think they will. For those who like to re-read, this was an incomplete from last season. If I had a list, this would have many extra thick lines through it – as if to say you are so done you have been redacted. At least for now. We might get a terrible wind storm and we might need to start all over again. The itsy-bitsy spider is our role model.

The hoops on this are made from a re-purposed materials. Must give credit to Rick for the concept – he came to one of Anne’s plant sales last year and thought we might like something like this. And we did.

The hoophouse has been remarkably successful and helpful. Everyone should have one of these. We have had some wonderful spinach salads, with crunchy thick leaves that almost squeak with freshness. Now there is so much spinach, it seems time to make some pesto.But spinach is not all we are growing. Radishes are growing well. They need to be thinned. And now the lettuce has finally decided it too would like to grow. These items are all growing in plastic soil bags sitting on top of some heavy woven landscape fabric. And then there are some pots in the hoophouse too. It does get remarkably warm inside (over 100). The door must remain open every day now, and then is closed at night to keep critters out.

2009 was a pretty decent year. We finished most of the kitchen. Trim was also added to the living room. The garden produced nicely. We built a deck out the back door – just in time for the family reunion. We adopted Peaches. Countless trees were planted and later moved and replanted. Just some of the highlights.

Another was the reconstruction of the hoop house. And this one is still standing. That was goal #1. Next step is to see if we can use this shelter to our growing advantage. To do this, we need more data. And this is where the weather girl comes in.

Anne gave me the weather girl for Christmas. The remote thermometer transmits data to the base up to 350ft. And with the data, the base displays one of eight hilarious and sexy versions of the weather girl. I find the differences at the low temps rather challenging to distinguish (click on the image for a larger image) – the little white circle in the coldest image is a printing mistake as far as I can tell.

In any case, the hoop house warms up considerably on a sunny day. It is currently 8 degrees outside, and the temp in the hoop house is up to 46 degrees! We will need to wait to capitalize on this difference as the night-time temps still fall to about zero. That’s one of the first projects of 2010. That and the cat house for Doppel – more on this in another post.

Planting greens and other cool weather crops into the hoop house has been on the list of things to do for a couple of weeks now. Now we have six bags of spinach, radish and butterhead lettuce seeded. We’re guessing the bag planting will be fine for these shallow root crops. I did over-plant each bag so heavy thinning will be in order, but the seeds are older and germination might be less than optimal in these cooler conditions. Although it wasn’t cool in the hoop house at all when I was planting. The sun was shining and with only a light wind – probably over 80 degrees. It’s all a big experiment — later we will share some wildly anecdotal conclusions based on our initial results and experiences.

This design comes from Eric on ericprojects.com. Seems like a much more substantial build than our previous attempt at a high tunnel cool house. The previous build did not last too long.

We still have the task of applying the plastic in such a way so as to completely eliminate any drafts or flapping. That is likely what ripped the last hoop house to bits. It can be very windy here.

I constructed the door out of part of a shower door that will not likely ever be part of the shower, and pine boards I had. It all feels and looks pretty good. But then so did the last one. Our plan is to plant some cool weather crops in a few weeks and then slap the plastic on when it starts to get really cool. It’s all about extending and getting a jump on the growing season.

This is seriously disappointing. Lessons learned: binder clips are not that strong, wind sucks, better to fix something when it is a little broken – rather than waiting for morning. I suspect we need a more permanent structure… perhaps the old chicken coop could be used.

It is windy out there this morning, but the plastic is still attached. Good news.

This hoop house is suppose to be an easy assemble, easy move around type structure, but with all the reinforcing that had to happen, it’s not going to move so easily. Still, it’s exciting to contemplate the jump-on-growing-season possibilities this structure will provide – assuming it stays intact. Already the ground inside is warming up.

It will need to dry out some more before we plant anything. Not sure what to plant yet, other than spinach. I have a solar gardening book that might offer some ideas.

The holiday weekend is nearly over. The leftovers are nearly finished. Time to get back to work!

A bunch of snow welcomed us home to Iowa yesterday. A different bunch of snow ushered us out of Colorado. Snow seems to have hastened the collapse of poorly structured hoop house in the garden. The wind helped peel off the plastic even before we left for the weekend, but now the demise is complete. Bummer.

All is certainly not lost. We can rebuild him. But we have likely missed our opportunity to bury the edges of the plastic. My backup plan is to sandwich the plastic edges with 2×4′s and stack rocks and bricks on top of the 2×4′s. And I need to build a door on the one edge. But not today. Today is an inside day.