Hoop House

With spring on the way we could finally finish getting the hoop house ready. We found out the NRCS changed the contracts and we were allowed to use electricity and put a dubble layer of plastic over the top.  Warren got busy and got it all fixed up before it was time to plant.  We put ceiling fans down the middle and installed an exhaust fan in this end with a motorized louver waiting to get installed on the opposite end. 

It has roll up sides but the ceiling fans are set on a thermostat so they come on when the temperature reaches 65 degrees.  The exhaust fan comes on at 80 and shuts off at 70.  The hottest I've seen it so far is 115 degrees when I didn't get the side up soon enough in the morning.  Thankfully it is finally warm enough outside I can raise the east side a little on cloudy days without making it too cold.

The weeper hose gave us a lot of trouble. The first batch we bought kept splitting and flooding everything. So we went to the local store (Ulmer's) and bought a whole new set.  That set has been much more reliable.  The water come in the center aisle and T's to the outer aisles, where there are four way valves to control each half row.  There are two aisle along the outside but they are hard to walk in since the sides slope inward.

The next difficulty we had was getting the weed block fabric to stay where it was supposed to.  We ended up splitting it into 6' strips and using lots of ground staples to try and keep it in place. We try to walk lightly without steping on the side of the beds. It still moves quite a bit, but it's working.

Emerald has been my number one helper.  She is out with me watering, weeding and planting almost every day.  She has been wishing for a paying job that she can do well.  She is great to work with.  The kids each have an end of a row that they planted and take care of, Emerald's is the nicest by far.

So far we have flowers at the top of every row.  Row 1 has spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, peas, limas and the sweet potatoes are just about ready to go in.  Row 2 (where the flats are sitting) is green beans, corn, pumpkins, squash, with lots of room for anything else I can find. Row 3 is dill, basil, tomatoes (stakes), peppers (that aren't out of the flats yet), egg plant, and garlic that gets planted this week. Row 4 is onions, broccoli, cauliflower, brussle sprouts, cabbage, turnips, red beets, more onions and my potatoe experiment.

Warren thinks I need more of everything so I keep starting more plants.  I'll be interested to see how long I can harvest this fall so I'm going to keep planting.  I would love to have fresh spinach for my birthday. I knew having a space that is 30 feet by 96 feet would be a lot of work and it is but it is also fun.  Plants are an amazing gift from God.  Every day I'm amazed at what they do and how yummy they can be.