DIY Easy Hoop House Extends Growing Season
What's a farm girl to do? Early February I get overly excited and start thinking of those warm summer days when tomatoes are warm, red, and ripe for the picking. This year I started a few tomatoes indoors, and before I knew it my living room resembled a jungle, and it was filled with the distinct fresh and tart smell of tomato leaves. Which, to be honest, I didn't really mind.
By the time early March rolled around, my tomatoes had been repotted (twice!) and were in gallon containers that they had quickly filled with roots. They needed to get in the ground where they could spread their feet and be adequately staked, but here in the Piedmont in North Carolina - zone 7B- we were still too close to frosts. So we took inventory of what we had laying around the farm and built a little hoop house with cattle panels, plastic, T-posts, and a few scoops of compost. The compost helped secure the edges of the plastic on the sides, and we used a ratchet strap and some rope across the top to keep it from blowing around. It has held up well under some fairly windy conditions.
We used the unoccupied chicken tractor at the back end, and just added leftover cattle panels to the front, but it works just as well with only the free standing cattle panels.
I'm happy to report that in April, my tomatoes are closing in on 4' tall, blooming, and loving the hoop house life! We have had a few hard frosts since planting, and the ones closest to the front seemed a little stressed, but all the rest were completely unaffected and vigorously putting out new growth.
Happy growing! 🍅 🌱
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