The Hoophouse Cometh!

Oh, the avocados we shall grow!

Hey, Facilities Manager here. Yes, I built Tamara a hoophouse: 20-foot by 48-foot. Running water. A sink. Electricity. Nice and warm inside, even on frosty Oregon days.

In plant-nursery speak, it's a "hoophouse."

We wedged the hoophouse -- called so because of the metal hoops and plastic covering; traditional greenhouses are mostly glass -- in between three firs and a white-oak on the eastern section of the property. It rests quietly above the fruit orchard. 

The orchard grass needs a haircut, but it is perhaps too late. I may just leave it for winter.

In mid-April, the construction materials arrived. We purchased the kit from GK Machine in Donald, Oregon, and we could not be more pleased with the service and follow-up. It's interesting that all these goods surfaced with no assembly instructions! Yikes!

By the way, the "hoops" are called "bows" in the industry. Lucky us, our friend Mark at Little Prince of Oregon Nursery in Aurora, Oregon, let us take pictures of his parade of hoophouses. Those pix really helped. Thanks, Mark!


To create the base pad I rented a big tractor with a cultivator attachment. I used it to twirl up the dirt and then push/pull it to create the pad, which is about 24 x 52 feet in size.


Yeah, I cut into the slope. Aside from the tractor/cultivator combo, there was plenty of shoveling. Human shoveling! In the background you may note the chicken pen, which is a small hoophouse itself, I guess, but one to keep the hens dry and safe.


I built a retaining wall to retain the dirt at the lower corner. This was in early May. I recently rebuilt the corner after the dirt had a chance to settle.


Here, looking east, I have installed the four corner posts, using concrete to secure them in place.


Look closely and you will see a stream of gravel flinging out of the trees to the right. In June we hired SiteOne to bring gravel in a big truck and then shoot it about 50 feet onto the dirt pad. It took about 12 minutes. It was loud and amazing. 


Guess who had to rake out that pile? Ha. I really recommend this method. Otherwise, I would have had to move gravel from our driveway 150 feet away with probably more than 100 wheelbarrow-loads! No, thank you!


Jump to July: Oh, yes, the hoophouse was my hobby for five months. Here, I have added the end panels, which are 4 x 8 acrylic-plastic sheets that I cut to fit and then screwed into the aluminum metal tubing. There in the right foreground is the electrical conduit I installed in the ground two years ago in anticipation of this project.


Our Buddha statue keeps an eye on things. He overlooks the fruit orchard but I know he guided me with the hoophouse. During the hot days of summer I concentrated on the water supply and the electrical materials. I decided to withhold the plastic-covering from the hot sun as a way to lengthen its predicted 15-year life-span. And I liked how the structure resembled a whale skeleton.


Finally, one day in late September my neighbor Mike and I spread the single, 6-mm sheet of nearly clear plastic and fastened it in place. It immediately started to heat up in there. Wow!


The plastic is held in place by long clips inserted over the plastic in those aluminum channel strips you can see attached to the wood components.


Kind of cool, eh? This is the gravel floor before our nephew Max raked it flat.


This is after the plastic mesh-flooring was laid. Naw, I didn't use the lawn mower. I need to service the machine and since we are not yet growing anything the hoophouse will make a nifty and dry garage. So the floor is four layers, i.e., dirt (the ground), the same mesh-flooring, the gravel, and the mesh-plastic that you see here.


Of course, Hobbes has to check it out. He likes to visit during our evening walks because it is always warm or at least dry in there. By the way, I built that table as a work-table and then dropped in the sink when I was finished putting things together.


Tamara's collection of pots. She has 2,000 plants listed on her plant data-base for our property, so we know what this pile came from. Whew!


Finally, the hoophouse was an amusing project. I look forward to working in there during the cool, wet months of fall and winter. Although it is large for a non-commercial hoophouse, it feels snug and happy. We plan to bring in a lemon tree and an avocado tree just to see what happens.

That's it for this week at Chickadee Gardens. We appreciate your reading and your comments. Thanks and be well. Tamara here - THANK YOU Facilities Manager for all your amazing work on this wonderful structure. Now let's go grow some stuff!

Comments

  1. Oh, you are going to love your hoophouse this winter! I have a tiny little greenhouse (in comparison to yours), and I love spending time out there, sowing seeds, listening to the rain on the roof, and tending to the plants that I overwinter inside. The cats may like spending time in there too, I leave the door open in the summer and often find my neighbor's cats sprawled inside sleeping. What a great project, thanks for documenting it for us.

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    1. FM here: Thanks, Alison. I think Tamara may find me napping in there! Great idea.

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  2. Wow! Excellent. You two are amazing! : )

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    1. FM here: You are much too kind. We just have a lot of energy.

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  3. Wow! You could land a plane in there! Looks amazing!

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    1. FM here: A drone hangar? Ooo, Daddy likes that! Thanks. I was up in the nearby oak today trimming dead branches. Yikes!

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  4. Wow. That is impressive. I've been thinking about making a small hoop house, but it won't be anything like this one!

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    1. FM here: Hi, Gail. Thanks. We intended to go 20x20 but the smallest we could buy from this company was/is twice that size. Lucky us; it just fit. It's so big I might be sunbathing in there in January! Nice!

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  5. How great! I can't wait to see what you guys do with this cool, new space!

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    1. FM here: Thanks, Kate. You've reminded me to buy a disco ball for the ceiling ridge. Seriously. That'll keep the neighbors wondering!

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  6. So impressed. No wonder it always looks fabulous at your place. You guys dang work hard. I love it.

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    1. FM here: Thanks, Patricia! Now, if we can harness the power of our napping cats . . . well, it would be a great thing!

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  7. I love it and I'm jealous. :) I am wondering though, is it reinforced for the possibility of snow? Maybe the kits come reinforced now? I have heard many a heartbreaking horror story of the weight of snow smashing those "bows". Also, how did you cut the acrylic-plastic sheet end panels? We have a similar project underway and I'm curious. Thank you and may you both (and your furbabies) enjoy many winters here.

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    1. FM here: HI, Grace. Good questions. I totally plan to be inside (and out) the hoophouse during snow storms. Since Saint Helens averages 1 inch o' snow annually, well, I hope we will be okay. These bows are very strong, it would take a lot of snow, for sure. The plastic-sheeting, of course, is the weak point. Sigh. We shall see. As to the acrylic sheets, it comes in 4x8 sheets and is actually tiny tubes ( 8 feet in length ) created in the sheets. I used a hand-held electric skill-saw and also a hand-saw. It cuts like hard butter, so no problems there. Very easy to work with, and then I used sheet-metal screws to attach it to the aluminum-tube framework. Good luck. Feel free to ask more questions.

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    2. Thank you. Very informative! I'm sure Tamara knows how blessed she is to have you.

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  8. Anonymous12:55 PM PST

    This is so cool -- um, warm! It'll be so much fun to hang out in there when the weather's bad. I can just smell the plants and the soil … --D'Arcy H Http://ourbungalows2ndcentury.wordpress.com

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    1. FH here: Thanks for commenting. We, too, look forward to some quality time with all things plant, and some kittycats!

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  9. That is one impressive structure. You're a good husband, FM! I can't wait to see it when the plants start to move in.

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    1. FM here: Thanks, Kris. I guess this will take care of at least three years of birthday, Valentine, anniversary and Christmas gifts, no? Haha. Of course we will update with pix as things progress.

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  10. Beautiful job FM ! I'm assuming that plastic sheeting over the roof has some sort of UV protection ? How long will it be before you will need to replace it ? And will you need to use shade cloth or the like for summer ?

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    1. FM here: I think there is slight amount of UV protection, but it is not enough to be a selling point. They say it has a 15-year lifespan, but I am told 10 years is about normal. As to the shade cloth, we shall see. As the oak tree is on its south side, it will provide some shade, but I will go with a shade cloth, if necessary. Thanks for the great questions.

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    2. Hi Kathy, yes - great points. The UV - there is some protection, I'm not sure of the %. The shade cloth - yes, we'll definitely need one of those for summer. We also have the option of rolling up from the bottom the plastic and attaching it to the horizontal wood supports to allow for air circulation - we do that at the nursery, too and it's very effective combined with the shade cloth.

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  11. WOW! I am very impressed, and quite jealous. Oh to have the space for this. What I really want to know is, Tamara how have you managed to not get this in any photos???

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    1. Hee hee...very observant, Danger. I just didn't include any photos with the hoop house in the background. It wasn't easy.

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    2. FM here: It is magic what Tamara does with her camera!

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  12. Soooooo jealous! This is a magnificent addition to Chickadee Gardens. I know you are both going to love using it, in so many ways!

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    1. FM here: Thanks, MMaid. We have great anticipation for its uses. Plus, if I am "in the doghouse" with Tamara then I can hide "in the hoophouse." Safe and warm!

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  13. Inspiring! When I read about chickadeegardens I usually think to myself - "Now this is what I want to do!" as the song goes.... "Keep Manhattan just give me that countryside"

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    1. Ha! I love it, Hans - "Keep Manhattan just give me that countryside" - it's true! While I love cities (lived in SF, Portland, Seattle) this is the life for us now. A little slower, a little simpler, a little greener. We are very lucky.

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