Easy to make hoop house.
This hoop house is great for growing plants in the winter and is easy to make*. I filled milk cartons with water to keep it warmer at night and not as hot on sunny days. Choosing plants that can tolerate colder weather is also a good idea.
I am growing some cold weather fava beans which can survive in weather down to 10 degree Fahrenheit , but they do not grow unless the temperature is above freezing. Growing cool weather plants in the hoop house means that they will grow during the winter and be ready earlier in spring. *All you need is three 2x6's (or 2x4's), two 2x4's (or 2x2's), one roll of plastic, two 10 foot 1/2 inch PVC pipes, 2.5 inch screws, a long stick, yarn or string, and two clips. |
Fast growing beans!
Below is a picture of my Fava beans that I planted at the beginning of November. The picture on the left is what they looked like on Thanksgiving Day and the beans on the right are what they looked like about one week later. They have grown a lot in a week in spite the temperatures have been around the lower 40's for the highs and around 27 for the lows.
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My Winter Gardening Pictures.
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I am growing a few plants outside this winter and one under a hoop house. I have beets, 2 types of kale, and brussel sprouts growing outside and I have my fava beans in a hoop house. This year I am seeing how the hoop house will work. I wanted to see if it would stand up to our winds and I have adjusted it to handle the 70 mph winds that we have had this winter. I also wanted to see how much warmer it would be in the hoop house than outside. To understand the temperature differences, I got two wireless outdoor thermostats and put one inside the hoop house and one outside the hoop house. I have just started to write down the day and night temperatures and will let you know the results. |
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What We Grew in 2011 A great family activity I have been doing is gardening with my kids. We planted kale, collard greens, corn, beans, radishes, lettuce, swiss chard, tomatoes, sun flowers, asparagus, turnips, garlic, potatoes, beets, beans, watermellon, squash, broccoli, and pumpkins last year. We also have planted a peach tree and two apple trees. My kids love eating almost everything out of the garden and they like that they grew it. The one thing they do not like from our garden is garlic, but I enjoy it for them. |
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This next year we are planning to build a greenhouse (which we have had for a while but have not put up yet) and plant most of the plants we planted last year. We are planning on planting some new seeds we got for Christmas and we have two new projects. The first project is to start breeding for an open pollinated sugar enhanced corn and my second project is to get more plants that will work for over wintering which is growing plants through the winter. I want to see if I can grow plants through the winter with no heater. I just want to use a green house (or hoop house) with water jugs and plants that can endure the cold weather. This year I have over wintered broccoli with no outside heat source but this year has not been as cold as some years.