It’s been over a year since Peach’s dopplegänger (who we naturally call Dopple) visited us and Anne blogged about him. He continues to be the sweetest outdoor cat ever – he sometimes follows Anne and Jake on walks.

Dopple has very yellow eyes, but until I see the eye color I often mistake him for Peaches. He wasn’t around much in the Summer and took an extended vacation after a visit from a few family dogs. He returned to enjoy the winter months in the comfort and feeding rituals that Anne provides. All cats should be so lucky.

He has several habitats to make him comfortable. Above, you can just make out the corner of a straw-bale enclosure inside the old shed. There are several Goodwill coats/blankets inside the fortress. In addition to the regular breakfasts and dinners served there, Dopple can also enjoy a mouse or two that try to make a nest in the shed. And below is a posterized rendering (a la Obama’s Hope poster) of the little porch (dog) house – it’s stuffed with straw and was popular before the really cold weather set in. The chair is positioned in front to keep the dogs out.

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.

I only hit my thumb once during assembly. Quite a few slivers, but nothing too painful.

The new 14 x 24 ft deck is now complete. Just in time for the family to make some use of it on the 4th of July weekend.

We went with a cherry trim for the living room. It feels great to have some finishing touches on our living space. Still need to add a coat of poly to everything and Anne wants to paint the door – maybe brown.

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.

Anne has a colleague who inspired us to build a hoop house. Our growing season in Iowa isn’t the shortest, but it could certainly stand to be a little longer. And if we do this correctly we can have more fresh greens and vegetables for more of the year. It can extend the growing season a month or more in each direction.Â

The plans are not original, but were followed very closely from westsidegardener.com’s instructions. Very helpful. The length and width worked out nearly perfect for our garden space. All that is left to do is the plastic cover, and a door of some kind. This will be an interesting gardening adventure as neither Anne nor I have ever done solar gardening before. Please send all your advice to the comments sections!