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.

Hoop House & Winter Greens

I wasn't content with just my little cold frame in such a big garden for winter crops. The cold frame is full and I had more seeds I wanted to try to get to grow in the winter or sprout in early spring. In the cold frame I have, mache, mizuna, kolhrabi, lettuce, claytonia, beets, carrots, walking onions, spinach & arugula.

I had tatsoi outside the cold frame but it has been mostly eaten by slugs.

So I'm trying out the mini-hoop house idea. We went the cheap route, and bough 1/2" pvc pipe. It came in 10' lengths and was cut in half to be 5 feet. We got a long piece of threaded rod that fits inside and my wonderful husband cut it into 1' pieces.

Those 1' pieces went in the ground about 1 1/2 feet apart. We weren't exact. Then the pvc pipe went over top.
I already had some row cover which is currently being held down with the few stakes I could find and some rocks. We may use some clear plastic left over from a painting project to cover it more when snow comes. (Notice the forest of kale behind. We're not lacking for hardy greens)
Here's what went inside.

Transplanted Seedlings:
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Red Kale

Red Cabbage & Dandelion Green (not pictured)

Seeds:
Mizuna, Tatsoi, Purple Mustard, Chinese green onions, Chinese Cabbage, Sugarloaf Chicory, Spinach, Mache

This is all an experiment. I know it's too late for seriously starting seeds in my area, but maybe some things will sprout and over-winter and we'll get an early spring crop. If some things are successful, then maybe we can expand (and plan better) next year.