This came together very fast and might work for a first attempt at extending the gardening season.
The beds are 4' x 4' and two are covered here. 1/2" PVC pipes in standard 10' lengths (no cutting) were pushed into the corners of the beds (no hardware) diagonally. The intersections on top were tied with twine left over from staked tomatoes.
The plastic was stapled to two 8' tomato stakes which run the length of the two beds and straddle the outside edges. The stakes will hold the plastic down and can easily be lifted to the "roof" to access veggies. Extra plastic on the ends is tucked in to keep the cold out.
Although plastic and pipe were just under $30, I only used half the plastic so could cover two more beds for a total of about $35. Pipes, stakes, and plastic can be rolled up in the spring and won't require much storage space.
I'll be outside with a thermometer the first cold day, to see how much warmer it is in the greenhouse.
6 comments:
Very clever Jain, plus it looks nice! Hope you have a long season for it's use!
Good luck (and very clever), Jain. Even though we haven't had a frost here yet, the tomatoes still hanging on the vine have stopped ripening. I wonder if just a bit more warmth will have any effect on extending the productivity of tomatoes; this arrangement might be more useful for greens.
I hope so, too, Wanda.
Scott, I have the sense that tomatoes have their own season and there's not much we can do to stretch it, in either spring or fall. Maybe it's more daylight hours than heat? My covered beds have lettuces, kale, radishes, and turnips. The roots are coming on slowly but they're coming along.
Looks great!!!
Very ingenious!
Thanks, Jennifer and Steve! Coming from very ingenious people, I consider this a great compliment! :~D
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