How to set up a hoop house with vertical growing?

Hi all!

This is my second summer with my square foot garden, and being in the Pacific Northwest, I am thinking I need a hoop house to help my plants along. While we had an early hot spring/summer last year, that does not seem to be the case this year and I think a hoop house would have been very beneficial for my plants.

I have a 3" x 22" raised retaining wall bed that I would like to add a hoop house to next spring. This may be a silly question, but I am a little confused about how the hoop house works in beds with vertical growing?

I have an 8"x8" electrical conduit frame with Mel's netting on it at one end of the garden. I have to grow vertically in my yard due to space constraints, and I love it, but I am not sure how a hoop house will work in conjunction with the vertical frame.

Do I just build the hoop house onto the garden right up against the vertical netting, then pull back the plastic sheeting from the hoop house when the vertical plants are big enough to require the net for support? This is the only solution I can come up with, but I was wondering if this was the only way to do it? Or the "right" way?

The only reason I question this it because if I do that I will have a big gap in the hoop house as tall as the plants along the vertical netting end. But I guess they got a good start and something is better than nothing right? Will the hoop house still be effective with this gap in it, or should I just remove it when I get to this point in the season?

Sorry, never grown anything with a green house before...

Let me know if you have any other suggestions, or ideas for me. I really appreciate your expertise and experience!

~Jessica
Enjoying "home-grown" In the cool, wet, beautiful Pacific Northwest.

I draped 4 mil plastic sheeting over the trellis, front and back.

3-18-13  Before plastic


4-01-13 while it was rainy and windy.  The plastic front has been thrown over the back side.  Note the duct tape at the top to create a snug corner.  Ignore the white Gro Bags (gone) and the front plastic barrier.  The barrier was to keep the lawn sprinklers from hitting the MM beds until we had a chance to back them down.


For your beautiful planters, you could put PVC poles into the ground at the front edge, say sticking 2 feet high above the soil and place Tee-couplers on top to connect a horizontal pole between them.  Cut 2" sections of PVC pipe to stick on top of the tee couplers so you can stick 135/45 degree PVC obtuse couplers on top (of the little 2" sections.  Then stick longer PVC poles in the obtuse angle couplers, facing back towards the top of the high trellis.  Secure the tops of these poles to the horizontal section of your Mel's trellis with stretchy tape of zip ties.This will give a sloped roof line but at least 2 feet of growing at the front.

I will be doing this for the winter and spring.  Plus I will have a horizontal PVC pole across the front at the top of the 2 foot pieces sticking up.  That means I need to insert a tee coupling and another 2" piece of pole to make another compound joint.

Even thinking about running a line of white Christmas lights inside.

Wish I had them made so I could send a photo.  Maybe I can make a temporary one just to show what I mean.  I will dis-assemble this come nice weather.

After one winter here in Central Oregon, I've been wondering the same thing!

Oh I'm glad I happened to click on this thread. A new Pacific Northwest Gardener! Hi and to the forum! And what a beautiful garden - one that rivals another gardener here, Plantoid, who has raised brick SFG beds.

You must not be in the same part of the region as I, since we certainly didn't have an early spring and summer last year where I live! Our June was quite cold and wet really. Hoop houses do come in handy around here. I haven't tried it yet myself.

I have seen a couple of people on here tackle critter cages and hoop house protection over trellises. The answer seems to just be going big and covering the whole shebang. I think your idea of hooping them and uncovering once they need to use the trellis would likely work, as well as sanderson's idea.

Come join us in the PNW regional forum and say hello! Go to the homepage and scroll all the way down to find the regional forums. We keep a monthly thread going where we just casually check in from time to time with garden and life updates.

Don't know if this would solve your hoop house problem with the trellis, but by setting one side of the rail in front of the trellis, you may be able to "have your cake and eat it too."  This article in the most recent issue of Grit magazine tells how to create a sliding hoop house for a raised bed.  Brilliant idea to have a telescoping, retractable hoop house, don't you think? 
http://www.grit.com/garden/do-it-yourself/pvc-hoop-house-zm0z13jazgou.aspx#axzz2X9F1owS8 
Nonna

Wonderful! Thank you everyone, you have been very helpful!
 
This planter is directly outside the French doors that lead into my family room, so I look directly at it all year-round. I find the hoop style greenhouse a little more visually pleasing, but I think Sanderson is onto something. I may just go up and over the whole thing. That does seem the best way to get is all enclosed properly.

I will get over how tacky a huge plastic sheet is when I am harvesting my awesome crop! (And when I am extending my harvest into the fall!)

Thank you again for your assistance. I really appreciate it!
~Jessica

Jessica, Somewhere, someone posted information on self-adhesive zippers. I will try to locate it. They are supposed to be in big box stores like Lowes, HD, etc. You can open the plastic to access your bed for work or harvest.

The tarp zipper was from our Lavender Debs in the PNW region!  Here's the link to her post about it in our May Thread.  Scroll down and you'll see some links I posted of where to buy them.

Gweniffer, thank you. I book marked the web sites.

Oh my gosh! That is the most awesome thing EVER!! I am so glad you pointed those out to me! I am going to have to get one for sure!!

I was a little unsure of how I would put up the tarp, and still be able to access the plants inside. Solution? = tarp zipper! I wonder if the zipper can bear any weight? I think I might put it right down the center front so I can spread it open wide and get inside. I will have to pick up a zipper later this week and take a closer look at it. I don't know if wind or heavy rain might pull it apart if it is on the front side. Access from straight-on would be much easier than from the sides I would think. But I will have to play with it a little bit.

Thank you so much everyone! This is super helpful! I will be sure to post a photo when I get it all figured out next fall.

Thanks again!
~Jessica

Jessica, My husband picked up some PVC pipes for me tonight, so tomorrow I may construct my winter frames, sans zippers. I'm planning to have a zipper on each side so that I can flip back the whole or majority of the front during warm spells. I'll take photos if I get what I'm envisioning. Sigrid

does anyone know someone who has built the retractable hoop house? does it work