We had a great time visiting with folks at the BHM booth at Custer, Wisconsin, last weekend. Met a lot of new folks and renewed friendships from years past. I was a little nervous leaving David in charge of treating our five sick calves at home and wondering if our gilt would have piggies while we were gone. David did great and the calves were much better when we got home. And no piggies … yet. The gilt was bred twice, three weeks apart, so we’re pretty sure we won’t see piggies for another two weeks. Whew!
We just got over a rainy spell — lots of rain — more than 8 inches in all! Luckily we live on a gravel ridge. But the beaver pond is full and the beavers are laughing at us!
Will just built our last hoop house for the year and as soon as we get the plastic stretched I’ll be planting late muskmelons and hoping for late freezing weather this year.
The watermelons and peppers are doing great. I’ve never seen such big watermelon leaves as in the hoop house this spring. Wow. They look like squash leaves. And some of the peppers already have peppers set on them. They do love the heat!
I had to replant six rows of sweet corn. It was old seed and didn’t germinate worth a darn. I sure hate to throw it out but that’s what I did. The other rows popped up like they were shot from guns, as did our potatoes. Huge and happy. The garden looks great and I can hardly wait to start canning some of it up. In the meantime, I’ll can up some hamburger this afternoon. Love this homesteading!
I love the hoop house! I was wondering do you leave your plastic on all year long? If so how long does it last before needing to be replaced. Also where do you get yours and what is the thickness? I live in a shorter growing season area. Last year my garden froze twice. The first time on the 4th of July and the second on August 11th. This year we are being extremely careful and everything is covered every night. We have made raised beds(using the lasagna style of building them) in order to be able to cover them easily and inexpensively. Our garden area looks like it has miniature prairie schooners and 4 poster beds through out it with all the supports for the night time covers. I would love to build a few large hoop houses like yours in our pasture, but I am concerned about the cost and longevity of the plastic vs my many raised beds. Thank you!
Jackie, it’s a bit hard to tell from the photos but, it looks like you’re using regular white PVC for the frames. Have you considered electrical PVC conduit? It isn’t affected by sunlight so it lasts for years, and (at least most places) it’s slightly cheaper.
If you aren’t using greenhouse plastic you’d still need to re-cover with new every year or so, but the frames would last for many years. I’ve installed it for customers for over 20 years and haven’t seen it wear out yet.
Glad the rain that caused the flooding in Duluth didn’t hit your place. 8 inches of rain is a lot! Your hoop houses look great.
So glad to hear you are getting rain. Send some to SW Missouri, okay? The hoop house looks great!
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