I used wire hangers for my shade hoops

I thought I'd try wire clothes hangers to make shade hoops for my small plots. The square foot blocks are too narrow to make good use of the commercial hoops I've seen advertised. I like to make do with what I have if I can.

I took 3 chilcren-size hangers and shaped them into hoops. They fit perfectly over my foot squares so I made a shade hoop for my lettuces. It works great.

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With clothes pins, I secrued the cheesecloth to the frames. Perfect and easy.
The ones I made with chicken wire last year were difficult to use. The shade cloth kept getting caught up in the rough wires and tearing. Trying to maneuver them elsewhere was also a problem. These hoops are perfect for the job. You can just unclip the cloth, move the hoops to another plot as needed, and cover another crop. Try it, you'll like it!

Now I'm going to make hoops from adult-size hangers to cover my 3 new Oregon Spring tomato plants I just put out today.
Check out my blog to see how things are going in my garden lately.
I'm in Maine, zone 5a, but starting early and doing OK.

Nice idea! Thanks for the pictures.

Here are the larger ones over my tomatoes.
I still use shade cover since the toms have only been in for their 2nd day.

Three Oregon Spring on the left and 2 Sweet Basil on the right.

Wow, you've had weather warm enough to put your tomatoes out???? Holy cow! I'd be really nervous. LOLOL. Your hoops and plants look great!

I bought 3 Oregon Spring from Territorial Seed in Oregon especially because they touted the fact you can plant them at least a month before the last spring frost. Since I am very careful about covering my plants when we have cold nites, I felt I could try this as an experiment this year. I don't normally put in toms until after Memorial Day. I'll let you know if it works.
So far so good.