Mini hooped greenhouse over raised beds

[Mousefield]

My wife gave me a copy of an old magazine article regarding mini hooped greenhouses. So put it together over a couple of our existing raised beds. One bed is 4 X 10 ft and the other 5 X 12 ft.
Up our way we get tomato blight, caused by wet and cold climates. Often the tomatos are almost full size and the plants will just die.
So to keep the moisture off I did the following.
Cut some rebar into 20 inches lengths. These went 2 ft apart on both sides of the raised beds. Then had 10 ft lengths of PVC pipe that were inserted into the rebar on each side to make the hoop. Then got greenhouse plastic to cover it.
The plastic was the most expensive at $130.00 for both pieces, 14 ft X 20 Ft.
I was going to use vapor barrier plastic but that has UV protection in it so not good for growing plants. The rebar I got from a home owner who had extra 10 ft lengths. It was cheap. The PVC cost $4.00 per 20 ft piece, they cut it in half for me. I did use a 1 X 2 ridge board and duct taped it to each hoop to keep them the same height as the PVC pipe is just loose over the rebar. Screwed the ridge board to a 1 X 2 inch on each end.
In the fall we will dismantle it and store it so should last us a number of years. We are not permanently fastening the plastic, just using heavy boards for weight, so will be easy to fold up and store. The mini hooped greenhouse can also be used for any type of crop, either to start items earlier outside or keep them longer in the fall. Made the wife happy so I guess that says it all.

[Welshman]

Very nice! What height does that give you in the center?

[Mousefield]

Approximately 4 ft. There is a slight height difference between the 4 and 5 ft bed as the arch of the hoop changes.

[nwbearcat]

We covered some of my wife's plots for her flower growing business. We had to actually watch the temps, it would get up to 100+ on a sunny day, so we had to open the sides most every day by 10AM. Eventually as the temps went up, the conduit we used got more flexible, and during a very windy day it collapsed, and we had to remove the cover. Ours was 7' wide, 80' long, used 20' wide plastic, and 15' hoops. I made crosses out of rebar and then we zig-zagged a rope over the top to hold the plastic down when it was open. We didn't have any ridge board or a board along the lower edges. It was about 6' tall in the middle, but its gone now

[lakngulf]

Good lucking structure and cover there, Mousefield. I can imagine it was not easy task to get the plastic to stay in place.

What is the tall fence/netting in the back?

Down this way the summer temps would be too hot for plants to survive, unless the structure was well ventilated. But we do have problems with blight and plants dying, like you mentioned, just as they have a nice, full crop of tennis ball size green tomatoes.

Good job. So, does you wife think you matched the picture in the magazine article?

[Mousefield]

Good lucking structure and cover there, Mousefield. I can imagine it was not easy task to get the plastic to stay in place.

What is the tall fence/netting in the back?

Down this way the summer temps would be too hot for plants to survive, unless the structure was well ventilated. But we do have problems with blight and plants dying, like you mentioned, just as they have a nice, full crop of tennis ball size green tomatoes.

Good job. So, does you wife think you matched the picture in the magazine article?

We just have the plastic loose on the ground held down by a heavy 2 X 6 board. That way when it does get warm we can just move the board off the bottom of the plastic and raise it up part or all the way over. The right long side is facing south.

The netting we put up due to chickens getting into the garden area. Also helps keep out deer from jumping what had been a 4 ft fence. It is about 10 - 11 ft high, old netting from a golf driving range that a friend gave us.

Wife is happy with it and with the ridge board thinks its even better built than the one in the pic. I love tomato’s so sure hope this does the trick in getting them ripe.