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Any ideas on this?
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Posted by Barb_roselover_IN 5a (My Page) on Wed, Aug 18, 04 at 22:10
| With fall approaching and always with the idea of extending the season, I wonder if anyone has any ideas for a cheapy way of making the hoops to hold the white material to keep cold weather off. - Barb |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Any ideas on this?
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| I think they sell wire hoops for this, so you could buy the wire and make your own. Bound to be cheaper and you can get the exact size you need. If you have old plant material like corn or sunflower stalks, you might try making a line of tripods over the rows with one leg on one side and two on the other, tied at the top. |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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Barb:
I made mine from with PVC pipe with no problem. I used the smaller pipes and did each bed for $6. GGG |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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| GGG - that sounds good to me, but can you give me an idea of how you made it? PVC won't bend, will it? - Thanks Barb |
some pics
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| I also did it with PVC pipe. I used joints and bought some flexible PVC to do the arch at the top. Some pics are below. I sewed the top cover; the bottom cover is simply that protective fabric (name escapes me now) that I draped over some plants. I wouldn't sew another tent. Too much work. The problem with these things is getting them tight enough to keep out the cold. With that pic on the top, though, I was able to harvest tomatoes through December 15. I'm not saying they tasted great--just that I was able to harvest them. I may not always set up the PVC pipe to cover a raised bed like this but I sure get my use out of the PVC pipe and arched tops. I set them up over some shrub rose bushes last fall and left them that way all winter. Never even opened them up once to water. By spring they had such a head start. I had roses way before anyone else's bushes were thinking of shooting off new growth. So what I'm saying is that these PVC setups are very nice to have around for a variety of purposes. Cher |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of Cher's Season-extending Tents.
RE: Any ideas on this?
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Hi Cher,
I am going to make something similar this winter over my picnic table. I will use the tent to protect my Winter Sown plants. My dream is that it will work very, very well. Time will tell.
TrowelGal |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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| Hey, TrowelGal, The darned-est things can be used to protect plants in the winter. I have quite a collection of things I've picked up from the curb or the recycling center to use. They double as trellises in the vegetable garden in the summer. Your picnic bench idea was used by my brother with success. I buy 5 or 6 mm poly at evilorangepalace to cover my supports. I have long sections of metal pipe to hold down the plastic on the sides. See you around WS this winter! Cher |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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I forgetthe price but got a coil of 10 guage wire (100+ ft)at HD. Because its in a coil it naturally wants to form a hoop....also works well when straightened for plant supports & any number of other uses.
Will |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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| I cringe when I read about people using PVC in the garden... that stuff leeches poison... at least make a search and inform yourself first if you are considering using it. After reading about it I decided I will not use the "wonder product" unless forced to do so. I personally prefer using branches that I collect when the trees decide to discard them after a storm. Bamboo is great too, and you can use it forever in many consecutive functions. It will only rot if you let it touch the soil, but even so, that would take three years (personal experience), after which you can compost it. If you use branches or bamboo instead of PVC, at least your garden will not look like a dumpster. |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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| I used some of the millions of wire coat hangers breeding in my coat closet. I just cut them and bent them over a 5 gallon pickle bucket. I made a nice trellis/cloth support for one of my containers of Broccoli but using 3 straightened coathangers, curved inward at the top and connected together with a piece of styrofoam packing material. :D Best Wishes
Amino-X |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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| Yikes! I never thought about PVC pipe leaching into my beds. I did a search and came up with these interesting links: This one, by Greenpeace, tells how PVC pipe is horribly dangerous when burnt: http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/features/details?item_id=526933&campaign_id=512832 It appears there is a problem with older PVC pipe and leaching into the water supply: http://www.epa.gov/region7/water/dwgw.htm Here's a post on the topic, but it's two years old: http://solstice.crest.org/discussion/strawbale/200209/msg00331.html lapageria, do you know of any studies showing PVC pipe leaches? I will get rid of this stuff in a heartbeat if you do (but I won't burn it!). Cher |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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| My garden is in permanent raised beds. Tosupport plastic or reemay covers over them I make hoops out of poly pipe then put wire or pvc pipe across the hoops the length of the beds to keep it from sagging. Carl zone 5 or 6 (IDAHO) |
RE: Any ideas on this?
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| If you wanted to know more about PVC there was a movie about it that came out last year, I believe. It's called, "Blue Vinyl." I haven't seen it, however. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Vinyl
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