GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Tag: greenhouse

A Simple Way To Insulate Your Hoop House With This Curtis Stone Video

Rick and I were talking on the GF Radio podcast about the success of his mini greenhouse, and how using 2 layers of plastic, separated by some wood supports, had added an insulation layer. I immediately thought of a video I saw on Curtis Stone’s YouTube channel about how he uses a double layer of plastic in his very successful market garden operation. Here is the video:

Curtis uses a fan to force air between the two layers of greenhouse plastic, which reduces heat loss through the plastic. Think of it as air as insulation. I think you can do this on a small scale, but the key is to pick a fan that works for your size greenhouse. Here is a good starting point for fans you can connect to your greenhouse plastic.

I’m wondering if you have a small greenhouse, could you hook up a bathroom fan you’ve pulled out of a dumpster? I’ve got a few from some renovation projects sitting here looking at me. One of them worked really well on the homemade sap evaporator, but we have more to put to use.

I have built several what I call mini-greenhouses, aka hoop houses, to cover our raised beds. And of course, we have videos about all of them here. Considering the size of my raised beds, 4′ wide x 12′, I’m not sure using a fan to insulate the layers of plastic would be a good use of electricity. Maybe we could go solar with the fan?

I am a big fan of Curtis Stone, and how he shares so much info on his YouTube channel. He also has in-person classes if you are serious about becoming a market gardener. I’ve learned better methods on how to grow carrots and salad greens from Curtis.

He has turned his yard, and those of a few of his neighbors, into farmland, basically. Gone is the grass and instead there are rows of vegetables. This doesn’t go over well with everyone, but I’m all about a smaller lawn.

December 29, 2017
The Mini Greenhouse Repair Fail

You’ve probably seen one or three of my mini greenhouse plans videos. The most recent one talks about the complete fail of the plastic cover in the middle of winter. Here are the photos that show my attempt at repair before the complete breakdown of the covering.

My big mistake 4 months prior to the fail was to put screws through the top of the PVC pipes, and then lay plastic sheeting over the screw heads. Who knew that the metal screw head would eventually puncture through the plastic, starting as all holes do, small.

Prior to the small hole caused by the screw, all was good in the mini greenhouse. These rosemary plants had over-wintered well. Not so well after the plastic ripped though.

My attempt at repair was to use packing tape over the screw head and the splitting plastic. I knew it was not a 100% guaranteed repair, as it was cold out when I applied the tape. I don’t think other tape would have worked either. The glue on tape is not cold friendly.

That small hole grew through the winter, with the weight of heavy wet snow, and lots of wind. Then we had even more wind and that caused the complete tearing of the mini greenhouse cover. Darn. It sat for a while before I was ready to walk over and deal with it. Besides, there was still 18″ of snow on the ground. I knew all the plants inside the hoop house were toast.

Going forward I will use UV rated greenhouse plastic, I’ve seen some that is reinforced with netting in the plastic. AND I will screw the screws into the PVC starting underneath it, through the wood crossbeam, then into the pipe. If you have some old storm windows on hand, you can make a neat cold frame with them.

In the meantime, check the video where we walk through the fail:

May 3, 2017
Hoop House Greenhouse FAQ – GF Radio 319

Build your own hoop house greenhouse is today’s topic. Matt tells us how to build a greenhouse out of pipe and plastic. He is building a hoop house greenhouse using off the shelf items to save money and its going well. Matt shares what he has learned in building a greenhouse that you can apply when you build your hoop house.

Matt is using fence pipe bought at the home improvement store. He says there are lots of good kits out there, but it gets expensive quickly, and half the fun of a hoop house greenhouse is in planning and building something you designed yourself. Matt saved quite a bit of money by going the DIY route and based his ideas on those of Eliot Coleman.

Matt’s Hoop House GreenHouse photo ©2013 Matt Cuba

Why Build a Hoop House Greenhouse?

The motivation was to have better foods in the winter than is available at the grocery store in winter, as hoop houses allow you to extend your growing season.

Siting the greenhouse is important, Matt built his on a slight slope that faces south, and did a bit of leveling of the foundation. He used fence pipe driven into the ground to accept the top fence rail pipe that he had curved into the hoop shape. He chose not to use PVC pipe, thinking the metal pipe would be more sturdy. The curved pipes are spaced 2′ apart. The jig he built to curve the pipe is a simple plywood curve, or a wood form. He found that curving the pipe to something slightly larger than the desired curve allowed the hoops to be slid into the base pipes with tension, helping to keep the pipes in the base pipes.

Matt has two large blue water barrels in the hoop house to create a thermal mass. The barrels absorb solar heat during the day, and give off that heat at night, helping to keep the hoop house greenhouse warmer. He decided to not use regular clear plastic, and opted for the UV stable greenhouse plastic available at greenhouse supply stores. He also used a channel system called willow wire to hold the plastic onto the hoop house frame. You can follow Matt and his adventures on Twitter here .

November 20, 2013
Seed Starting in a Hoop House Cold Frame : DIY Video

Starting seeds in a hoop house cold frame is like putting a greenhouse on your vegetable bed. The hoop house warms the soil and then you drop seeds right into the soil. No transplanting or grow lights, no transplant shock. This is our cheap PVC hoop house that can be made with salvaged or recycled materials, and then you can grow vegetables in the hoop house. What I love is how the cold frame warms the soil to 15F above the ambient soil temperature.

Plants that do well for seed starting in a hoop house are those that are cold tolerant. What the cold frame offers is a warmer soil and air temperature, which aids in germination. Yes, peas can be planted in snow, but they germinate much better in slightly warmer soil, same for lettuces and cabbages like kale, just a bit warmer and they sprout better. For this video I put sugar snap pea seeds in and radish seeds. Radishes are one of those seeds that are kinda fail-safe, so you feel ok even if some of the other plants didn’t take as well.

We have several videos on how to build a hoop house cold frame and how to use a plastic greenhouse like this, here is the video of us building our first cheap hoop house. I think its key to have the thermally controlled vent, if it gets too hot, you might consider putting a vent on each end of the hoop house. The PVC we use in this cold frame could be salvaged or recycled from another project or job site. The plastic we use is 3 mil plastic from the hardware store. With care this plastic will last several years. In the middle of summer, I hang my hoop house on the back side of the woodshed, and the plastic stays in good shape for a few years.

Salad Greens Grow Really Well In A Hoop House

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April 9, 2013
Repair Of Our Hoop House Cold Frame : GF Video

Setting up our simple cheap hoop house greenhouse for seed starting. This PVC hoop house cold frame works well for us and it was easy to build, here is the video of us building our the hoop house. The hoop house greenhouse allows you to get a head start on planting vegetables and seed starting. We started this in February to start warming the soil. This can be made for free if you find some scrap leftover lumber and PVC pipe. This plan uses short lengths of PVC pipe, which you may find laying around your yard, or your neighbor’s yard.

My hoop house plans for this mini greenhouse are simple. Some 2x4s, some PVC pipe, and a piece of plywood. The thermal actuated vent keeps the hoop house from overheating. Link to buy the thermal greenhouse vents

I use 3 mil clear plastic from the hardware store, it lasts a few years with care. I hang our mini greenhouse on the back of a shed when i am not using it. To attach the plastic to it, I fold the plastic over on itself and use lots of staples. You could also use a piece of lath or thin wood to hold the plastic to the wood. For the ends, I staple the plastic to the plywood end with the thermal vent and then cut off the excess plastic. For the other end of the cold frame hoop house, I simply bunch up the plastic and staple it to the 2×4.

After a few days on your vegetable bed, this portable greenhouse will start warming the soil. Its amazing how warm it is inside the hoop house compared to the outside temperature. We have a video showing how a hoop house greenhouse can defrost your garden soil coming soon.

In the video, the plywood I used for the end of the greenhouse, OSB, is not the best kind of plywood for outdoor uses. Use a better piece of plywood and paint it with a few coats of latex paint, it will last much longer if its painted.

Click here to watch our How To Build a Hoop House Cold Frame Video

Click here to watch How to build a cold frame video.

Learn how to grow food year round, read Eliot Coleman’s Four Season Harvest book and Nikki Jabour’s Year Round Vegetable Gardener.

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Do you use a hoop house greenhouse? let us know comments or questions below:

April 2, 2013
Grow Vegetables in Winter with a Cold Frame : GF video

Cold frames have been used to grow vegetables in winter since glass was invented. Winter gardening is made possible with cold frames and hoop houses. Using a recycled window, we built a cold frame last year – see our how to build a cold frame video here – and had good success growing vegetables in the winter and starting plants early in the spring using the cold frame.

This year I took volunteer plants that had sprung up around the garden: Mustard Greens, Swiss Chard, Garlic, Chives, and parsley and transplanted these plants into the cold frame. These plants all do well in colder weather, so we’ll have some nice greens for salads in the middle of winter. How cool is that?

The key to using a cold frame to grow vegetables is controlling the temperature inside the cold frame. We use an automatic vent that has louvers that open at about 45F, letting hot air out of the cold frame. It is called a crawlspace vent at the hardware store. You can buy the automatic vent online here.

The recycled window we used is a single glaze, meaning it has only one sheet of glass, you can also use double glazed windows. As we say at GardenFork: Use what you got.

You can make a larger cold frame, aka a plastic hoop house greenhouse, by watching our hoop house video here.

Let us know your cold frame and hoop house tips and suggestions below, thx, eric.

November 13, 2012
Cold Frame & Hoop House How To With Nikki Jabbour : GF Radio 258

Learn how to build a cold frame and extend your growing season with Nikki Jabbour, author of The Year Round Vegetable Gardener. We talk with Nikki about how to use a cold frame to start plant early and keep your harvest going into winter, even in Canada! ( Nikki lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, btw )

Recycling stuff you were going to throw out into cloches is a big light bulb moment for Eric, and the fact that holes in your lettuce greens at a store or restaurant means that bugs were on them, and that is a good thing, meaning it probably wasn’t sprayed with insecticide, is the other lightbulb moment for Eric.

We talk about ways to extend your growing season without spending a lot of money on fancy greenhouses, in other words, how to grow vegetables in the snow. The cool thing about Niki’s outlook is that its based on her learning as you go method, much like gardenfork. Simple and easy, made out of recycled materials.

I’m interested in the idea of using newspaper hats as a simple cloche to protect plants for frost. stay tuned.

Read our review of The Year Round Vegetable Gardener here

Order Nikki’s book from Amazon here. (affiliate link)

Watch our how to build a hoop house video here.

Watch our how to build a cold frame video here.

A big thank you to Jean Ann Van Krevelen for introducing Niki to us, what fun.

June 18, 2012
Aquaponics and Hydryponics How-to GF Radio

‘Being pregnant, that will knock you out’ is how Eric describes pregnancy. Hamburgers with eggs and peanut butter is on Mike’s to do list at his favorite pancake place. Mike is enjoying his Zombie Bait shirt.

Rick updates us on his DIY aquaculture and hyrdroponics project. Aquaculture is like organic gardening in a closed system using fish and the waste water from the fish feeding the plants, and the filtered water is then returned back to the fish tank. If you already have a goldfish pond, you are that much closer to having an aquaculutre system. What kind of fish to use, what is the difference between hyrdoponics and aquaculture, and how you can build an inexpensive hydroponics system using 5 gallon buckets and PVC pipe. Mike’s friend Eric has a site about aquaponics here.

Rick made a video about basic Dutch Bucket hydroponics system here

Here is a simple hydroponic setup you can buy
The advantage of the dutch bucket system is that the PVC pipe runs underneath the bucket to allow easy drainage.

Eric and Rick both cite Eliot Coleman’s Book Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long

Rick talks about the GardenFork Radio interview with Deek Diedricksen, author of Humble Homes, Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages, Ramshackle Retreats, Funky Forts . Rick talks bout several of the projects, Deek is a brilliant designer.

Following up on the Simple Backyard Pizza Oven, viewers have sent in photos of their Brick Pizza Ovens, and one viewer has made Simple Bread Oven, see the photos here.

With viewer mail come discussion the video of How to cook a great steak, and propane torches.

More on winter beekeeping, Eric and Rick discuss the warm weather and winter feeding of honeybees.

February 5, 2012
Setting Up a Dutch Bucket Hydroponics System
(Sorry about the Auto-Start on the Video. Don’t know how to turn that off–Rick).

I’ve set up a hydroponics (soil-less growing in an inert medium) system inside the tunnel, which is itself inside my greenhouse. This is a little video on how I did it and how the system works. For early season vegetables, this scheme will work all the way up to Maine…at least that’s what Eliot Coleman says. You can have, however, just one or two Dutch Buckets (also called BATO buckets) in a corner of your house. Just as long as the temps stay warm enough for, in my case, tomatoes and peppers.

There are some parts coming that are not in the video. One is an aquarium air pump to keep the growing liquid oxygenated. The other is an aquarium heater, which will warm the solution that is pumped over the roots.

Also I failed to mention that this system doesn’t run continuously, it is On 1 hour, Off 4 hours.
- It used to be that you couldn’t find drip irrigation supplies at garden centers and the big Orange or Blue stores, but now you can. However, you can order drip supplies from Drip Works online as well.
- The Dutch Buckets came from Grower’s Supply, but there are many sources (be sure to order the siphons, 2 per bucket, which are separate). There are also videos on how to make home made Dutch Buckets (BATO buckets).
- the Hydroton came from a local hydroponics store, but is also widely available on-line. You can also use any light medium, such as expanded shale, perlite or even river gravel (anything without limestone. To test, put a hand full of gravel in a jar of vinegar. If it bubbles and sizzles, you can’t use it.)
January 28, 2012
OMG – What Have I Done?

You’ve signed a two-year lease on what? Have you taken full-moon-French-leave of your senses…again?

I can tell…She, Who Must Be Obeyed, is intrigued with the idea of my going into business for myself.

“Well…technically I’m extending my Melissa Bee Farms business into new areas, opening new markets, joining the green revolution,” I counter. “Besides, last year we both agreed I needed a bigger beeyard. I’m outgrowing the backyard. I’ve got plans! ambitions! projects! I need ROOM.”

“And MONEY, lots of money. Besides, WHAT bee business? You mean that expensive soup kitchen for bugs-in-a-box, that bee business? Businesses make money; you’ve got another expensive hobby, not a business.”

“Reminds me, I need to pick up another 20 pounds of sugar for syrup,” making a note in my iPad.

“Again? Already…?”

“er….want to see some pictures of the new project, she’s a beaut?”

green house from rick kennerly on Vimeo.

my new green house rehab project

And so it begins. Secretly, I know She, Who Must Be Obeyed, is right: I’m in over my head…way over my head. The tape in my head is looping: Oh, My God – What Have I Done? I feel a bit sick and a little panicky. It’s put-up or shut-up.

So, what should I do with this green house? (Yeah, I got some space for a beeyard in the bargain.) The owner’s still clearing it out, but it’s mine for two years. That’s two years of lease payments, two years of electricity payments, two years of water payments, two years of buying supplies and materials. I have to make this pay…and I don’t have a clue.

Sure, I’ve been through the Master Gardener classes and I can talk a good game. I grow a pretty good vegetable garden, but what do I know about Growing for Market? Running a green house? Hydroponics? Aquaponics? Marketing?

I need your help. I need reading resources, web sites, advice, suppliers, ideas. If you’ve got experience growing for market, chime in.

First order of business, making it weatherproof. First freeze is predicted for tonight.

November 17, 2011
Late Winter Gardening & Apple Tree Pruning : DIY Video

An early spring tour of the vegetable garden, where Eric talks about using a hoop house cold frame to get an early start on spring vegetable plants, and how to grow sugar snap peas, plus some of eric’s thoughts on how to prune fruit trees like the old apple tree in the yard. Plus the Labrador Retrievers, of course.

In this video we talked about how to make a cold frame hoop house, and you can see that DIY video on our site here

Buy the thermatic vents here: http://amzn.to/2zG4WjC

To learn more about how to start seeds, make seed starting plant pots, seed starting, and growing plants in seed starting trays, watch our video How to start seeds video here.
What are you doing to get a head start on the growing season, what season extenders are you using? Let us know below:

April 12, 2011