My Pole Greenhouse

[KarinS]

My daughter saw this greenhouse on youtube and decided to test it out on her sister and I. So Friday she set one up at my daughters and on Saturday she set one up at our house. I have peppers and tomatoes seeds in there keeping warm (I hope, since it snowed last night) and cozy. AND it only cost $40 to make.

[AZ Prepper]

Very cool. Keep us updated on how it goes.

[Nauvoo2002]

Do you have access to some fresh manure? Horse, cow, chicken -- it doesn't matter.

If you do, put it in the tunnel and it will provide further heat inside. Those tunnels will provide some protection against the cold (the specific amount depends on the type and thickness of the cover), but it may not be enough to protect tender "summer" vegetation like tomatoes or peppers.


Hot manure placed inside the tunnel is one way to raise the temps inside.


Putting a hot water bottle in there is another way.


BTW, you can build the same thing cheaper than $40 bux by buying the components yourself and building it. Lowe's or Home Depot sell the thick wire that you can cut to make the tunnel's "ribs." You buy it by the roll, and then cut it to the length you need. The wire ribs can be used year in and year out, leaving you to just purchase a new row cover (ie, "remay" or "plant blanket") once every year or two.


I bought a roll of the stuff about 5 years or so, and back then, the role was about $12 bucks or so. I was able to cut enough ribs to put tunnels on about three 50 foot long beds at a time, and I never seem to need more of that at any given time, even though I have 10 raised beds.


Row cover can be purchased over the net, but I find the local farmer's co-op to be cheaper. I just purchased three 50 foot long by 6 foot wide "plant blankets" from the local co-op a few weeks ago for $8 per blanket plus tax. I bought galvenised steel wire to use (which is the probably the same as came with your kit) because I didn't want them to rust over the years.


You can plant your crops in your normal beds earlier than weather would normally allow, then put up the wire ribs and hang the row cover on the ribs. After all, you can construct these things in a matter of minutes, and then take them down just as quickly, if your wire ribs are already cut to size. Right now, the first of my tomatoes are already in the yard even though our last frost date is not until April 15th, and they will be OK unless we have a prolonged deep freeze, because they are protected by one of these tunnels. After all danger of frost is gone, I'll go outside, fold up the row cover if it is still in good shape, pull up the wire ribs, and then put the wire cages around the now well established tomato plants.


I use metal fence posts to weight the row cover down, mainly because I was able to score them from a local junk yard for almost nothing a number of years back. Some people use 2 by 4's to weight these down, others use rocks. I made the mistake of using garden staples to tack the blankets down one year -- I'd NEVER do that again! The staples rusted in the ground, they were hard to find when it was time to pull the blanket up and disassemble the "tunnel," and they were just a general nuisance.


Anyway, those low lying tunnels really are great, but don't just look at them as a place to store your seedlings before planting, because they can also be used to provide a "greenhouse" right there over your garden bed AFTER you plant your crop in the ground.

[KarinS]

Thanks Nauvoo 2002.

We do have chicken poop, you can't see them very well in the picture, but they were supervising the project.

And yes, we did make it from scratch. We had several items sitting around. $40 would be the cost if you went and bought it all. The best buy I thought were the clamps which I want another 20 of. They were 99 cents and I could use them on the quilt frames also.

And that's what we did.... We planted and put the tunnel over the plants.

We live in a very windy area and so the woodpile by the barn came in hand to help hold down the plastic.

[Nauvoo2002]

Clamps?

Please tell me more.

I am not familiar with using clamps (unless you would be referring to garden staples, but you cannot be, because there is no possible way that garden staples could be used with quilting).

I put up the wire "ribs," (sorry, but I don't know the proper name for those wires that you use to hang the row cover on), then I hang the row covering on it, then I weight mine down by using five foot long metal fence posts.

It works, but I'm interested in knowing more about these clamps.

[Nauvoo2002]

One other thing I found over the years is that I prefer to use a material called "remay" on my tunnels, rather than plastic.

My first tunnel was covered over with a plastic covering. I did that because I was used to larger greenhouses being made out of plastic.

But then one of the other Master Gardeners in my local group suggested I try remay instead. It allows in some air and rain water, but blocks enough to still be effective. She thought I might like it better than plastic.

And it turned out she was right. Now I only buy tunnel coverings (ie, row covers or plant blankets) made out of remay.

I used to get mine at Gardens Alive on the web, but now, I just go down to the local farmer's co-op to get them.

[KarinS]

Clamps?

Please tell me more.

I am not familiar with using clamps (unless you would be referring to garden staples, but you cannot be, because there is no possible way that garden staples could be used with quilting).

I put up the wire "ribs," (sorry, but I don't know the proper name for those wires that you use to hang the row cover on), then I hang the row covering on it, then I weight mine down by using five foot long metal fence posts.

It works, but I'm interested in knowing more about these clamps.

The "ribs" are PVC and they are stuck to the ground with rebar. Then the plastic goes over it (we have A LOT of plastic in our coffers). I use these clamps to hold the plastic on to the PVC. Which really helps here in South Jordan because the wind is pretty constant.

And they will also hold my quilting frames together with out having to use the screw on C-clamps.

Can you visualize it now?

[Nauvoo2002]

The "ribs" are PVC and they are stuck to the ground with rebar. Then the plastic goes over it (we have A LOT of plastic in our coffers). I use these clamps to hold the plastic on to the PVC. Which really helps here in South Jordan because the wind is pretty constant.

And they will also hold my quilting frames together with out having to use the screw on C-clamps.

Can you visualize it now?

Yes, I think so.

You must be using already molded PVC pipe as the "ribs" that hold up your row covering. Is this correct?


In principle, this is the same setup that I use. But you and I physically execute it in different ways.

That's why I like forums like this. It is beneficial to learn about how other people do things.