Hoophouses, Greenhouses, and Cold Frames
By Vanessa Richins
There are many options available if you would like to extend your growing season.
Some of these include using hoophouses, greenhouses, and cold frames.
A hoophouse is a version of an unheated greenhouse. For about $100 or less, you can build your own 10′ x 21′ using these instructions by Travis Saling.
As he says in his intro, a hoophouse “keeps excessive rain off the plants, blocks the wind, raises daytime temperatures 5-10 degrees (and often much more), and keeps frosts and heavy dew off the leaves. This can extend your warm-season gardening a month or more at both ends, and makes it possible for year-round gardeners to grow a wider variety of plants through the winter.”
If you have enough space and money, a heated greenhouse makes it possible to garden all year. Here are some plans and suggestions for building your own greenhouse. I dream of the day when I have enough room to build one myself. A secret dream is to somehow grow a vanilla orchid, rumored to be difficult to grow. Someday!
Even if you don’t have enough room for a hoophouse or a greenhouse, you can still reap the benefits by building a cold frame. This is especially good for use with your cool season vegetables like peas and lettuce. Garden Gate magazine has a great how-to about cold frames.
With these methods, even the coldest regions can extend their growing season a little. Have you ever built your own hoophouse, greenhouse, or cold frame?
August 15th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Check out raised garden beds and cold frames from easy-garden.com. Nice, well built, no maintenance, last forever.