Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Hoop House Experiment

The days are getting shorter and snow could come any time now. As we finished cleaning up the yard for winter on Sunday we took advantage of the sunny day to put plastic on the hoop house. We used 2x4s and a staple gun to attach the plastic on the two sides. That way I can roll the plastic up around one of the 2x4s and they weigh the plastic down.
Most things that I tried to seed were eaten by the slugs. So I've been transplanting other things into the hoop house. Here's what I have.
Bok choy, broccoli, Italian danelion

Red Acre cabbage, tatsoi, Red Kale, a few spinach seedlings in the back.Radicchio & lettuce. The Radicchio was a surprise. It came from a mesclun mix and for some reason when I pulled the rest of the lettuce this summer, it didn't look like it was bolting, so I left it behind. Recently it began to turn red in the center. I pulled off the outer green leaves when I transplanted it. Maybe we'll get a head of radicchio to grill. We used a few leaves in a salad and they are quite bitter.
This is mostly an experiment to see how things do and to see if it gives an earlier start in the spring for some of these plants to begin growing again.


5 comments:

Daphne Gould said...

I keep thinking about putting plastic over my Asian greens to extend the harvest. Maybe I will this year. I hope your experiment turns out well.

Robin said...

I'm doing a little experiment of my own in my cold frame....will post on it next week.

Last year, I have some veggies overwinter, by mistake under 4' of snow! Experimenting is the only way to see what will work.

Good Luck!!

Fred said...

I hope this experiment is a success! I didn't have the experience, knowledge, time, or finances to set up anything that would extend my grow season but I am already budgeting and planning to set up a proper hoop house next summer!
I look forward to reading about your experiment : )

meemsnyc said...

Looks like a good experiment! I can't wait to build a hoop house next year so that I can do our own experiment with growing in the fall / winter. Looking forward to seeing what becomes of your experiment.

Anonymous said...

It is too bad about the slug damage. I hope you will be able to save some for you.
Hoops are a great way to extend the harvest, but I love them even more for seed starting in early spring.