Need some hoop house help, please!

We've decided that we want to make a hoop house for the herbs this year. Our herb garden is the kids' old 4x4 sandbox. DH was looking in the SFG book about how to go about it, and even got the PVC pipes in, but isn't sure how to secure it. The picture in the book shows the plastic being held on the grass with bricks and he does not want to do that, as that will kill the grass.

Purchase some rebar. I recommend at least 12", 18" might be better.
I sprayed mine with metallic spray to help retard rusting.

Slip the PVC over the rebar, and voila! The frame for the hoop house!

You may want to secure the point where the PVC tubes cross with a zip tie or bungee cord.

I just use the conduit clamps you can find in the same aisle as the flex conduit.

i was trying to figure out how to attach the plastic to the sides of the box where 1) i didn't have to unscrew anything 2) there was no possibility of it becoming a cat hotel (big feral cat problem around my house) and 3) not kill the grass around the outside perimeter of the box as would happen as shown in the book JP

Oh, I have used a piece of strapping & staple the plastic to that, it can roll up and down the sides.

The whole hoop thing can be a tricky piece of work. Let us know how you configure yours.

Oh, I have used a piece of strapping & staple the plastic to that, it can roll up and down the sides.

The whole hoop thing can be a tricky piece of work. Let us know how you configure yours.

fran Today at 8:56 pm

.i was trying to figure out how to attach the plastic to the sides of the box where 1) i didn't have to unscrew anything 2) there was no possibility of it becoming a cat hotel (big feral cat problem around my house) and 3) not kill the grass around the outside perimeter of the box as would happen as shown in the book JP

I attached the 1" vertical PVC pipe to the inside of the bed with the U Brackets camprn mentioned above. This left a smooth surface on the outside of the box. See following.


I used 1/2" hoops over the beds. My intention was to use a track and wiggle wire on the outside of the bed. I never got around to doing this on this bed because I have to get in and out frequently. Here is a picture of the same bed with Tulle over the top. By pulling the ends tight, the tulle was pulled against the sides fairly tight. See following picture.


On another bed I screwed in a strip of pine (3/4" x 3/4") on the outside of the bed on all four sides of the bed near the bottom. I can then use large binder clips to fasten the plastic to the bed.

Here is a short video explaining the wiggle wire. But it looks like it would take quite a bit of time to put the wire on and take it off. So if you plan to get in and out of the bed frequently, I do not think this would work very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quQmIKx1aBU&feature=related

The 3/4" strip of pine near the bottom of the outside of the bed seems to be working fairly well. But it probably does not provide as good a seal as bricks or dirt on the outside holding down the plastic.

On one bed, I did what Camprn said. I used a staple gun to attach a 1 x 2 pine board to the bottom of the plastic on the two long sides. Then you can let it hang down the sides and when you want to get in you can just roll the side up and attach it to the top brace on the hoops.

I put the hoops on the inside wall of the raised bed. Then I could tuck the plastic skirt along that edge and a short length of a broken T post to weight it down. THus keeping all contained in the bed and not on the path. You can make clips by cutting the PVC pipe in short lengths and then a length wise cut along it. You can also order the clips. I made some from irrigation pipe of the right size.....

Do a google image search 'plastic clips for hoop houses' you will get lots of ideas on how to do this.

Thanks. Lots of good tips here, I think (JP is how-to brains behind this )so I'll share this with him when he gets home from work.

I checked on the bed today and what he has is not going to hold (as he figured.) Of course, we're expecting to be on the western edge of Sandy, and it's already windy here. The side facing the house is already flapping in the wind. Maybe later I'll take a pic of what we have and I'll tuck it back in on the inside of the bed.

Stay tuned and keep the tips coming, please!!

Thanks!

Bev

With the expected winds you may want to consider to just take the plastic off if you have nothing or well established plants in the bed.

With the hoops fastened inside the beds with the brackets, last year I put a long piece of plastic over the hoops and then cut 2 end panels which I clipped in many places. Then I used 1x1 furring strips and screwed them and the plastic to the outside of the beds. The end panels could then be dropped from the top down for access and clipped back up easily. Used the same technique for the tulle for summer bugs.

Kay