I blogged about the grow rack Nate built here. This is what our tomato and pepper starts looked like about two weeks ago. They’re bigger now. Originally, we had planned to transplant them into the hoop house in our garden on May 1. Mother Nature had different plans. We got part of the hoop house up on Saturday and we hope to finish it tonight. (And by we I mean I’ll be there with a camera to document all of Nate’s work and occasionally lend a hand–but only if he absolutely needs it. :))Then we can begin transplanting.
The first thing Nate did was build and paint the end walls. (We used a gallon of untinted paint. It dries clear.) He also drilled a large hole in each side of the base that extends beyond the walls on either side.
After quite a bit of measuring to make sure everything was square, he pounded in two-foot lengths of rebar and set the endwalls onto them.
Next he pounded in a fence post in front of each inner vertical support.
Then used some handy-dandy baling twine (seriously, how did I ever live without this stuff?) to secure the post to the endwall frame.
Then he stretched a length of (you guessed it) baling twine from one endwall embedded rebar to the the opposite endwall embedded rebar as guide. He stretched out a tape measure and place two-foot lenghts of rebar every three feet. Lastly, he pounded the rebar into the ground leaving a few inches above ground to receive the PVC pipe.
That’s as far as we got on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll get it finished tonight. Can you taste those tomatoes yet? Tomatoes in July–amazing, miraculous! Is it possible?
Maybe my questions could be answered by the video link, but my browser won’t let me view it. So …
Will this be covered with plastic? I’d love to see photos of that process. Very impressive just to think about it — I struggle with fitted sheets.
Will you have a growing period where the plants are unprotected, then go back inside as fall nears, or will they be inside the whole time? How many plants are you doing? Do you do determinate tomatoes? If so, what variety? I can’t seem to find some. I’d love to do all my canning at once rather than a wimpy batch here and there.
But then again, I don’t have the scale you do. I think my entire backyard could fit in those dimensions. 🙂
This will be covered with plastic, and I intend to photograph the process–unless I’m holding the plastic which is very likely going to be the case. I’ll do what I can.
The plastic will roll up as the weather warms and eventually come off completely. And then go back on in the fall. (Maybe not this year with a new baby. I’ll probably be very glad the plants are dying.) We have 50 tomato plants.
I’m looking up what determinate means. …. Okay I’m back. Wish I’d known that before. I’m pretty sure we planted indeterminate varieties. I’ll have to ask Nate for sure. I’m thinking next year we might try some determinate plants in the canning variety. Our growing season is so short we’ve always gone with the plant-as-many-plants-as-you-can-in-order-to-get-enough-tomatoes-to-can-before-the-first-frost plan.
You decide the scale: big or small. We’re considering doubling it next year. Ummm … cantaloupe …yum.
Here’s a written how to file since you can’t view the video:
http://www.ut.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/AMA/hoop_data/HG_High_Tunnels_2008-01pr.pdf
Also here’s where you can update your flash player to watch the video:
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer
Looks like it is coming along!
This is our first year with a hoop house. I planted 60 tomatoes and 35 peppers in it about a week ago. I have lost 10 tomato plants and one pepper. I don’t know what is going on. I open it up during the day and it stays about 70-80 in there, at night I close it up and gets around 40. Is it too cold? I ususally don’t put them in the ground until beginning of June but built this hoop house and planted early. Any suggestions?
@Kim–This is our first year, too. How frustrating to lose 11 plants. I don’t know what to tell you. (I’m assuming you’re watering them-ha-ha.) You could try leaving it closed during the day to boost the night temps. We haven’t left ours open during the day yet, but it’s been much cooler than your 70-80 degrees.
Our plants started turning yellow and we were worried at first, but I think it’s because it’s been SO COLD here. It was 32.7 degrees in the hoop house one morning! But the plants didn’t freeze. I think that’s what did it. That cold was a bit of shock for them.
Try calling a USU extension agent. They could probably help you or direct you to someone who could. I hope the rest of your plants survive.