You can say otherwise, but I will tell you that gardening in the snow is a lot of fun too. You just have to be well prepared for it, with structures such as diy mini polytunnel greenhouse and diy straw bale cold frame to protect your plants from the cold temperatures. A welcome addition would be this diy retractable pvc hoop house, and I will explain why in just a minute.
It is not uncommon, to be overwhelmed with the hundreds of diy pvc hoop house designs available. When you do decide to build one, instead of opting for the one with covers that are just lifted up to allow access, you can build yourself a cover that retracts to one side. When its time to work on your plants, all you have to do is slide the cover to one side and get to work.
Here’s What You’ll Need:
- untreated fir
- schedule 40 PVC pipe
- 3/4″ railing
- 1/2″ hoops
- 1″ tees
- aluminum tubing pieces
- 1/2″ PVC pipe
- high-quality greenhouse film
- 1/2″ lath screws with washer heads
- clothespins or clams
- 3/16″ eye screws
- 3/16″ clothesline cord
- cordless drill
- hacksaw
- staple gun
- measuring tape
The raised garden beds are the first order of business, they are built using the untreated fir. With the beds in place, you can then move on to framing your hoop house and you will use the schedule 40 pvc pipe to establish this. Next the rails that allow the house to slide can be installed by attaching the aluminium tubing to the pvc pipe for added support.
The rails should extend at least 2 feet on one end of the bed, this allows space for the hoops to retract onto. The hoops that hold your green house plastic are made using the half inch PVC pipe, and the trick to getting them to slide is to attach the tees to them. The clothesline attached to the front of the hoop house, is essentially the handle.
You can get full step by step instructions on the Grit blog, here…
DIY Retractable PVC
Hoop House Plans
You can watch the video below on Rectractable Hoop House on a Raised Garden Bed…
You can watch the video below on Retractable Raised-Bed Garden Cover…
You can watch the video below on How to Make a Hoop House for a Raised Bed…