Kinda interesting ?

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nice idea ?

I certainly like that idea PrairieD.

We have a grown up one of those at our place. It grew a huge crop of peppers and tomatoes last summer.

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Well that is MUCH nicer looking than my plastic tent garden  

Here's a great plan for building a smaller version of Rosewood's:
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How long were the pipes you used? Did you end up joining them at the centre top?
That is very nice!

Oh boy, where do we go from here, what incredible designs for greenhouses, all of you, and Rosewood, boy oh boy, I can picture the bounty from that one. I have come to terms that there are certain vegetables that I cannot grow up in the Okanagan here and some that I can, which I could not grow well on the coast. I will elaborate.

On the coast it was useless to try and grow carrots at our place, that dam carrot rust fly was awful, always tunnels in the carrots, I had read that the pest can SMELL, get that SMELL carrot leaves up to 6 km away, that is a long ways. Companion planting with garlic and marigolds would help somewhat, but somehow they still got them. Sowing predatory nematodes one year helped, but they were back the next year, making unsightly tunnels in the carrots. Gave up on carrots. Now here, not a single evidence of any burrowing worms in carrots and the carrots are massive and they rock!! On the coast, some issue with the cabbage moth fly, was able to control that quite nicely by picking the green larvae and washing veggies in salt water (think broccoli family veggies). Up here, oh man, devastation of any kind of cole (cruciferous) crop, can't grow broccoli (tried that cool, cool, looking romanesco broccoli, devasation, forget brussels sprouts, cabbage nope, cauliflower, ya if you like white vegetable full of green larvae, horrid, horrid issues. Even with using floating row covers on the romanesco broccoli, devasation. I spent hours and hours even, turning over each leaf and picking off the stupid little yellow eggs. Didn't help, even one egg missed, that green worm grew and grew and grew, and probably flew off, laid more eggs, probably right beside where it was born and evolved to green larva. Blick. Vowed not to grow cole crops again. But I think I can, I think I can, with this system of greenhousing, and could be separate from the main garden, close to our home, where I can whip the top up and down by being close to it. Good thoughts...I do so like the cole crops. Yes, so, long winded here, again....I would revamp any of the designs again, to have mosquito netting in place that can be lifted when the plastic is lifted up. That would stop any of those horrid, nasty, gack awful white cabbage moths from coming inside to lay their hideous horrible yellow little eggs.

I think I could grow some broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, oh yes, even the blinking collard greens were affected, but I think more the darned grasshoppers liked the greens, chickens helped, they love the grasshoppers, but I think grasshoppers eat by night . I am positive that I will have a couple of these around the place this year. Husband would love to do nothing more than build stuff for his silly, ol' gal! And not much time in winter to do that, so please, sir, bring on spring and those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, those days of soda and pretzels and beer!! Very good thread, by the way, have a most wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Rosewood, did you build that yourself?  If so, can I ask the approximate cost?  

I'd like to build 3 or 4 of these into my gardens.  Tomatoes love to be grown in the same spot every year and it would allow me to grow corn, peppers and other things a little easier, not to mention close off different varieties and rotate pollination days.  I'd like to do one with netting as well for my collards.

Oh I like!!!! Then I look outside and see all that snow and those freezing temps and tell myself its too early to think about a garden. But maybe if we could elaborate and costs? I would be willing to budget cause I don't think my rodents (deer) could get into that and eat EVERYTHING that's planted. Oh I have visions of peppers, tomatoes and .... STOP! Deep breathe, let just get thru the how to.

  

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plantcaretoday.com ...................just saying

Sweeteneed wrote:Rosewood, did you build that yourself? If so, can I ask the approximate cost?

The hoop coop we use for our chickens was the inspiration for the greenhouse. MY wife and DIL did the designing and building of this greenhouse. They are cooking up some modifications for next year to make it larger. We can't remember the costs. The base (6 feet by 14 feet) is 2 by 6's with some 2 by 4's used for door framing and roof support. The back and door have screening for ventilation on hot days. The plastic is held in place by 3/4 inch PVC pipes 20 feet long. The north side has a raised bed for tomatoes and the south side has shelves for peppers. The floor is made of loose rocks which may be found in abundance here. Squash and pumpkins were started in the greenhouse and transplanted into raised beds outside.

Wonderful! I just worry with all the wind we get that plastic sheeting wouldn't survive. I can just see it lifting off and flying across the fields....

Perhaps a good solution for Coopster's tomato woes.

Heda, you could stake it down...or go fly a kite!

Our straw is covered with a giant tarp and weighted down with 2 x 4 and tied down with lots of rope. It's already in tatters from the wind. oh well. Bomb proofs the livestock pretty well!

The yard here is surrounded by trees which often limits the wind. That presents another possibility in that the wind high in the trees occasionally brings one down. So far none have fallen on the buildings although one did destroy an unsuspecting bike standing in its place in a bike rack. We left the plastic in place for the winter and so far the greenhouse is still standing in spite of a heavy fall of snow.

If u have wind issues then use 1/2 inch rebar as a stake to hole the tubing in place . My friend did that through old railway ties that were his base ( also work for a raised bed ? ) , or if u can get rough timbers in a six by six if you're worried about using railway ties ? Drill holes through the timber 's or ties and hammer in the  rebar leaving enough to slip on the tubing ( about a foot or more ) . U can tie the cross members across with those zip ties and all u need to do is cover it with poly or what ever un want to use . I believe a twenty foot tube bent will cover a 8 foot area in width and still leave you with a height of six feet ?

But won't the poly rip in the wind, the way the tarp on the straw bales does?

We used 6 mil poly which is quite heavy.  In time it will likely break down from the weather, but so far no problem. We had a two year old trap on our hoop coop that gave up last fall partly because the stucco wires tear the fabric.

Here are a couple that I have watched.




I have this bender.It works well.
Model DY-10 Greenhouse
High Tunnel Hoop Bender
Produces 10 ft wide Greenhouse Hoops using two
10' 6" lengths  of 1 3/8 inch o.d. 17 or 18 gage chain
link fence top rail tubing which is sold at all
hardware stores.



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If your close by and want to build a hoop house, come grab it for a day or two. Or bend the pipe at my place and take them home.
What did I pay for a10' 6" top rail pipe from home hardware. I think it was around 12$.

Kimball

Hey BCBoy, I have a bender just like that but it makes a 4 foot wide hoop. It is brilliant. We just hammer rebar in to the ground and slide the hoops on. I have my little bantam run covered by tarps over chicken wire using these hoops as the frame and takes 30 - 60 minutes to shift it all if I want to. Also have plans for raised beds and using these hoops with netting and poly for over the top so when it gets too hot we can just take the poly off and the netting will keep the deer away, put poly back on at night. Plenty of rocks laying around here (the reason we don't have issues with ground squirels is because we have too many rocks - this is my theory any way). We kept the deer off our potato flowers and leaves by setting up these hoops and putting plastic netting over the top. also the raspberries. Darn it, wish we could have a deer fence right the way round the property. I find these hoops are super useful though. Can make them quite high for tall tomato plants if you want to as well.

My best friend's hubby gave us several glass doors a few years ago from a bank renovation he did...MY hubby built an amazing greenhouse for our now Chicken crazy daughter. (I'll have to get her to post the pictures, computers and I don't play nice!) While we live in the Kelowna area, our home is quite a distance up in the hills with a growing season roughly equivalent to Calgary Alberta. Extending the season using a green house and row covers is a must! She started and sold heritage plants, profiting between 900 and 1000 dollars each year. The tomato plant sales paid for her chicken fever. I am not sure she will be doing it again this year......the fodder system (for the chickens and her 28 yr old horse) seems to have fulfilled her "need for seeds" I fear for her husband (whomever that may be) he will be in for a tough time.......all she has to do is bat those big dark eyes and Daddy rushes to do her bidding. Green house, chicken coops, covered runs, garden beds, the new feed storage shed, gravity fed watering system fed by 2x 1000 liter holding tanks filled by rain water collection and the list goes on! Yup....I will have to admit that batting my eyes ceased to work about the time she arrived on this earth 23 years ago. Drywall....I would just like some drywall. AH HA!~ light bulb moment! Perhaps if SHE wanted the drywall!

heda gobbler wrote:But won't the poly rip in the wind, the way the tarp on the straw bales does?

If you use a base made of wood rather then just holding the poly down with some weight then you can attach the poly to the wood base with strips of plywood etc and then pull it tight when you do the opposite side . I have seen people use piping instead of rebar as a anchor pole ( The one you drive into the ground )and then just bend 1/2 inch rebar "' over"" which they then slipped a plastic pipe like what the use for plumbing ( Quite cheap by the piece ) thus leaving the poly laying on a smooth surface . If you had access to a lot of old garden hose you could use it as well as a slip on cover .The only reason wind will ever tear it off is if it can access the inside and "" grab "" it , otherwise it should hold for years to come . Double layer the 6m poly and you're set for years of worry free enjoyment .

So now question.

Would one of those portable shelters work? I see some many people who have just the poles left after the seasons have had there way with there so called portable garage. People here just give the remains away or take it to the garbage dump.

Ruffledfeathers wrote:So now question.

Would one of  those portable shelters work? I see some many people who have just the poles left after the seasons have had there way with there so called portable garage. People here just give the remains away or take it to the garbage dump.

You betcha !!!
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Thanks BC Boy, Those are very interesting to see how they can be used and re-configured. Maybe there's hope after all.   

Is it weird that I imagined that portable garage frame covered with netting and full of birds?