I finally uploaded the photos to the computer and have a pretty good connection this morning. Here are some of our covers and the frames that hold them up. Some are to keep insects out, some are for wind and sun protection and some are for frost cover.
This is how we cover for frost. We use several different kinds of cover. Most are Agribon, some are super heavy.
Tents and hoops in summer, mostly for wind and sun protection, but some are to keep out bugs.
This is one of the larger hoops, tomatoes are under the frost covers. The shade cloth keeps the wind from tearing the plants apart.
Calalily you are a "hoop" ARTIST.
Well done !
EXCELLENT HOOP TUTORIAL! Thanks so much for posting this!
Hugs!
Calalily - thank you for sharing your photos with us, you are such an inspiration!
I've already purchased some hoops and Argibon for next spring/summer's garden. Plus some 8ft t-posts and trellis netting for beans, peas and melons.
Next on the list is 12 inch boards for more raised beds.
I love all the DG members that share their thoughts and ideas with the rest of us.
Really an impressive setup!
The hoops and tents make it possible to grow eggplant, squash, cucumbers......things sensitive to frost and easily torn apart by the wind. I couldn't grow winter squash at all until Bud made the hoops for them. I have baby salad mix which I covered from the frost. I didn't get around to uncovering it and wow, looked under the frost cover and saw beautiful salad mix, no bug bites. I grow amaranth as a salad green, but it is hard to grow in the winter. I have it inside a hoop and completely covered. It is doing really well. With the hoops holding the frost cover above the plants, they can take more cold than if the covers were touching the plants. I left the shade cloth on some of the hoops and put the frost cover over it. Lots more support that way and less blowing in the wind. The spacing of the hoops was too great on a few of the sections which allowed the cover to bow in and damage plants. A quick fix was taking lengths of rope and making "purlins" along the length of bows which kept the cover from blowing into the plants (I know, my descriptions are terrible, will take photo).
Hopefully before Christmas I will have two really big "hoops" for the gardens. I ordered 2 custom made high tunnels to cover 36 sections of the garden! No more worrying if we get a frost, which seems to be happening more often than in the past.
Bud was working on a design to cover the tomatoes (some are on fence panels and some in cages), but won't have to worry about tomatoes after this season because they will be inside the hoop house!
This photo shows two hoops covered with one 16' wide frost blanket. If needed, I can stoop over and go between the beds which are inside the cover.
Calalily, are the ends of your hoops inserted into the bed's frame? Like this photo (not sure if this pic came from DG or Tomatoville, it was posted by hornstrider). If not, how *are* they secured?
Calalily - I used to work as an Admin. for a local builder, so know what you meant by "purlin".
Once my car is paid off in 2013, I'll have some cash to spend on better hoop tunnels.
MaryMcP......The hoops pictured are secured w/ lag bolts screwed into the raised bed, and the PVC is just fits over the 2.5 inch 1/4" lag bolts. I then lay row cover over the hoop.
Calalily........What an awesome display. I want to thank you your inspirational photos. You are on the Texas coast correct? I know you have an issue w/ wind on a daily basis. I too fight the wind (not as bad as your wind issue). I am now just going to make bigger tunnels. Thank you I think you have solved my wind problem, and my cucumber beatle problems!!!! You are my hero!!
Susie, it seems so strange to read the words "frost protection" in a photo with palm trees in the background!
Nice work on all the hoops.
hornstrider, thanks for the explanation. I still had to had DH interpret for me but I've got it now. Thanks to all for the inspiration. I've struggled with getting everything covered but you've given me some good ideas.
Our weather the last three years has been topsy turvy, no rain for months then rain for two weeks straight, hotter than normal summer then temps go from 80's to 40's then back to 80's. We used to get a freeze about once every 10-20 years, but now it's two to three times a year frost with at least one freeze. Warmer than normal winter predicted but it isn't starting out that way.
Our beds are soft sided raised beds, 4 x 34. We lose some of the dirt to the isles, which we till with a little Honda tiller, scoop out and put on the compost pile about every two years. The actual depth of the beds is probably 18 inches, once tilled and formed are never tilled again. We add compost every planting cycle. Rebar is driven in the ground and the hoops are just pushed down over the rebar. Covers are held on with PVC clips from Peaceful Valley which makes changing covers easy. We lay bricks on the edges because the wind (today we have 20-25 mph sustained wind with gusts of 35-40 predicted) will rip the covers right off the hoops. The remay and frost cover has to come all the way to the ground to keep the wind from getting under it and making a large sail of it. Shade cloth doesn't catch the wind so we leave it about 18-24 inches above the ground which protects tender plants but allows for easier harvest.
The straight, three leg supports are just pushed into the ground without rebar. The really big hoops have a frame with rebar pins over the frame. I think I have a photo I can post to explain.
Here is a photo of the hoops without the covers.
I too fight the wind like crazy and I'm not near any coast. It's just my microclimate. This past summer it felt like I was living inside a hair dryer most of the time! I've now got materials to start some "hoop rows" this winter. Thanks for metioning that shade cloth works well with wind/tomato issues. I've got quite a bit of shade cloth and I'd never thought of it for wind!
Love the photos!
Calalilly,
I could use a recommendation for my upcoming tomato season. I'll be sowing seeds New Year's weekend, for plant out of my long-season heirlooms on February 18th and 25th (seedlings at 7 and 8 weeks). These will need 80-100 DTM, and I hope to harvest by the end of May. I'll have mid- and early-season tomatoes going out there too, for staggered harvesting.
I know I'm playing a crap shoot with our squirrel-y weather, albeit a calculated crap shoot. However, last season, another DGer planted out 9-week-old tomatoes in mid-February in Dallas, which I know is colder than we ever get here at that same time, so I think I'd be okay planting out younger seedlings in mid-Feb, WITH FROST PROTECTION.
My question is this: Which cover would you recommend I go with on my small hoop(s) for protection after I plant the seedlings out? The temps here in mid-Feb should average around the mid-40s to mid 50s during the daytime (probably with sun), and around the hi-30s to mid-40s at night. We'll get a couple of dips into the low 30s at night, but not anything sustained (more than 3 nights in a row -- and, it'll warm up during the sunny days). I could string lights under the hoops for additional warmth at night, too.
Finally, I need to keep the moths off the plants so they don't lay eggs for stinkbugs and cabbage worms. Which cover is best in that case?
Thanks!
Linda
Linda, tomatoes like it above 45, so either the remay or plastic to start with, then move to the shade cloth. If it's going to dip down too low, just run a string of Christmas lights thru the tunnel for a little extra warmth and pull the covers down over the ends. With the frost blanket we cut it long enough to pull over the ends, or cut an extra piece for the ends which goes on and off with the clips. Yesterday wind gusts of 45mph made the covers whip and popped off a few clips and sent edges of the covers whipping around (can ruin plants fast, so I try to keep an eye on them). I just laid more bricks on the edges of the cover. One cover ripped, but it was getting old and slightly rotten.
The shade cloth works for moths and stink bugs, but remember for those you have to pretty much enclose the whole tunnel to the ground on both sides and both ends. I even had success using bird netting over my cabbage and broccoli plants, no need for hoops, just toss it over the plants and brick it down or use landscape staples. Be sure to leave growing room. I saw baby leaf footed bugs the other day and I chased them down and squished them all.
We are three miles (as a crow flies) from the coast. Sorry I failed to answer earlier. Supposed to be anywhere from 48-43 on Friday night. I have tennis ball size green tomatoes! Time to get out the tomato covers. This is the same week of the horrible freeze in 1989 and the snow in 2004. The freeze in 89 took out thousands of trees and was the lowest ever I think and the snow was the first in over a hundred years.
TENNIS BALL SIZE TOMATOES already????!!!!! WOW!!!! And you've got night time temps in the mid-40s? WOW!!!!
Now, I'm truly encouraged that I can set my tomatoes out earlier with protection! Keeping the temps above 45ish shouldn't be hard here. Our high for today is supposed to be in the low SEVENTIES!!!!! AAARRGGGHH...It's a good thing winter starts Thursday, huh?
Thanks, Lady Lily! (My mom would've really liked you...)
Linda
P.S. There's a perforated plastic sheeting that seems to work well in protecting the plants from frost while allowing air and water to flow through it. Have you ever used that? I'm wondering if it would also let in the moths, yah think?
So, Plastic/Remay, frost cloth and shade cloth. Ok.
Gymgirl, I used the perforated plastic this past spring. It did work well up to a point. I didn't notice any insects under the tented sheeting, but I suppose the occasional bug might get through. It did work well to help warm up the soil and keep a more stable environment for the tomatoes. But it only held up to so much wind. At around 40 mph gusting wind it started to rip a bit. Of course we do not have fencing to use as a wind block and no trees around the veggie garden area to act as wind deterrent either. I think they would work very well in aneighborhood with a yard and privacy fence or more trees to act as a wind break. I would still recommend it for frost shielding and wind shield in milder conditions than my garden. I just have a killer micro-climate in regards to wind. I think drthor used the perforated plastic to a better effect than I did.
Hey, Terri!
Thanks for the suggestion.
I'm sort of torn about using the perforated sheeting, because of the possibility for letting in the moths and stinkbug nymphs, and also, because my yard sits on a natural crosswind tunnel (I had EXCELLENT pollination without any bees!). I have a tomato-growing neighbor who never heard of killing the stinkbug nymphs or picking the rotting tomatoes off to deter the adult stinkbug population!!! They've just gone off and hibernated for the winter, waiting for an opportunity, IN MY YARD!!!
Also, providing a windbreak for the wee seedlings will be an absolute necessity, especially since I plan on setting some of them out at 7 weeks from sowing. They'll be quite small, if I can't beef them up enough before the targeted plant out date.
But, they grew really, really fast and stocky last season...
Thanks, again!
When I lived up in the Chicago area I had a basement. I used to start all my seedlings in the basement using an old water bed heater bought at a yard sale for the bottom heat source. Shop lights hung from the beams on chains for the light source and an oscillating fan set to blow over the tops of the seedlings. The fan put out just enough air movement to cause slight motion in the seedlings. The theory was that the stems would be much sturdier/stockier than without the fan/air movement. That did work well for me.
I don't have a basement now, here in Texas. But I still use the fan.
My real problem is the wind gusts we get out at my place. Easily as strong as what one would see on a very windy spring day on Lake Shore Dr in Chicago. And we get this wind through spring and well into summer. Then back again in fall and winter. I have wood Adirondack lawn chairs. We leave for work in the morning and the chairs and on their feet. When we come home it is not uncommon to find the chairs have been blown accross the yard and standing topsy-turvy against the fence on the opposite side of the yard. I usually stack them up, which makes for a heavier load, but they are too heavy to move into the shed everyday! I've learned to use very heavy pots for specimen plants!
Therefore I am very happy to learn that shade cloth works as a wind detterent as well as for shading.
Terri, the terrible thing with the wind is one day from the south, the next day from the north so it really turns things topsy turvy. Does your wind do that also? I thought about planting a windbreak of banana trees. One local grower uses bamboo for windbreak.
The wind will blow against the hoops with remay covers or frost covers and finally just flip the bricks right off the cover edges then the whole thing is flapping in the breeze. So frustrating!
Linda, there is a tomato called Cosmonaut Volkov that sets fruit in cold weather.The seeds were either from Territorial or High Mowing. Look for Siberian or Russian varieties for cold set. I picked 12 pints of cherry tomatoes yesterday but left squash under frost cover too long and not much fruit. The cover doesn't let in enough light. I was going to remove the covers, but Sunday night is supposed to be 43. Weather men can't predict much down here and by Sunday that could be lowered (which makes me crazy trying to cover everything). One day all stations kept saying 45 for a low and it was 32 the next morning! No more cucumbers. None of the local farmers saw that one coming.
Calalily, yes we do get the shifting winds. We don't get much wind from the east, but it could be blowing out of the south in the morning, from the west by noon, and north by the time the sun sets. And we get this weird type of swirling wind. Not really a tornado, but a dust devil type of wind. A couple of years ago a dust devil wind ripped two of my roses right out of the ground and set them down right next to the hole they came from (these roses were a couple of years old so they did have a pretty good root system--they both got re-planted and their survived). Another took seven of my ten fig trees and distributed them for a couple of miles down the road. Very odd.
Thanks, Lily!
I'm trying a winter variety called Russian Rose this season. Cold tolerant, so I plan to sow it again in mid summer for a fall/winter crop.
Terri, we get little dust devils, but not anything like you have. That would be terrible!
Linda, I'll have to look for Russian Rose.
I also tried some heat set ones this summer. None really set fruit over 95 and none tasted very good. Our summer was miserable this year which caused salt build up and that was also hard on the tomatoes.
Every time we have moved someplace new I look at it as a new adventure in gardening. So the dust devils don't really bother me so much. When we lived in central Illinois I was never in a real tornado, but I say several off in the distance. I'll take the dust devils....
Just hope we get more rain here next summer than the last. Trying to put one foot in front of the other! Just in case I've asked for more T-tape and drip irrigation for Christmas!
We have trenches dug for new drip irrigation system, getting ready to put the main lines in and we are finally getting rain. I had to go out and pull the covers down on some of the little hoop houses and it is so slippery. Going into the 30's this coming week. I am so ready for normal weather again!
Gosh Susie, your veggie farm looks so great!
I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas! Especially now that you have another new member of your family! Have a great day!
I was impressed by the "tents": are those 10 foot lengths of PVC supported onlyu at the ends with Tees and posts? What diameter and schedule of PVC doesn't sag over a ten foot run? I want some of that!
If "purlins" are light-weight horizontal ribs linking hoops together, I plan to use some flimsy bamboo culms to stabilize the film over some hoops. My little bamoboo (Fargesia rufa) looks like it is never going to produce any sturdy culms I can use as poles or hoops, but maybe they will be stiff enough to keep plastic from flapping in mild winds.
Yes, they are 10 ft lengths, 3/4 inch pipe, schedule 40. When you put the posts in the ground, push the middle in first, then one end, but lean the top out a little bit, so it's at a very slight angle, then do the other end the same way. Works best with 2 people. This keeps the pipe from sagging. Be careful not to pull the row covers too tight, which will bend the pipe.
Purlins are the horizontal ribs. One one hoop house I used rope, probably 1/4 inch diameter, for purlins. I was in a hurry to cover my seed bed for frost protection. The hoop houses with closer spacing of the hoops do a better job of holding the row covers. With shade cloth it doesn't matter so much because it doesn't catch the wind/rain and sag.
Uh,
I am NOT getting that "posts and pipes" picture for the tent-building...I need a visual aid or a seeing eye doggie...
Linda, I will see what I can come up with. I am terrible at explaining things!
Here is a photo taken yesterday of my starter garden. I had to roll the cover back on one side to take the photo.
Ah, now I get what you mean by rope "purlins" - you have the ropes running along the sides to give some structure for the cover material to lean against. Your photos and descriptions have been very helpful - Thank You!
Ok. I got the rope purlins, too! Thanks for pulling back the cover!
Great garden beds- wish I had room to do that but have so many trees and to much shade - which is not a bad thing come July. The only place we had sun was a 12' streatch down the side of our driveway. Luckily we have no HMO to tell us no but hubby said if I wanted a garden there it had to look nice. So he built me 4 6 x 4 raised beds out of cedar- not real fancy- was lucky he actually built them, he hates carpentry- but they have been there 3 years and only one board has warped a little. In those 3 years 5 other neighbors have done the same. Yesterday we built 4 more boxes 2 x 4 to set beside the original and am working on filling them with soil. Will take a picture when finished.
Where did you get those large plant markers? They look huge in the picture-
cornish2175 - I like your idea of using the area next to your driveway. We have a similar strip that enjoys full sun all day. However, I think the local deer population would consider it their personal smorgasbord.
I'm curious about your "handle" cornish2175. I am actually "Cornish" as I was born in Cornwall, England.
cornish is our last name and 2175 is our street number. Although my husband was born in Texas his ancestors did come from Cornwall. One day we hope to visit that beautiful country-we have only seen pictures.
Here is a picture of our old raised beds and our new. With the new beds I can plant my beets, radishes and bok choi without having to worry that they are not finished before time to put in my summer crop. I start everything we grow from seed so I do have some control as to when they are ready.
Very very nice. Do you have hardware cloth (wide screening) over the beds? I need something to keep out my cat that does not restrict my ability to pick. It's a challenge.
Those are nice beds.
