Very nice! You've done a great job on it.

plantmanager said:Very nice! You've done a great job on it.

Thanks!

Watching and waiting for spring

I went out and looked ..................... not at my house
8'' of snow and 20 degrees

Your hoophouse looks great, Binford! What are you planning to grow in it?

Weedwhacker said:Your hoophouse looks great, Binford! What are you planning to grow in it?

Thanks!

I'm going to try keeping my peppers and tomatoes in it for the season. And then I have ideas of trying some cool weather stuff for the fall to see how that goes.

I've had great success with growing tomatoes in a 16x20 high tunnel that we put up in 2017; when grown outdoors my plants would always succumb quite early, usually around August, to some sort of "blight" (I actually think it was one of the "wilts," not actually blight, but never did definitely ID it); under cover my plants have grown disease free right up to when we have hard freezes (and by then I'm usually ready to see them go).

The only suggestion I would make for yours, assuming you do get snow at times, is to use some supports under the center of the hoops in the winter. I predict you are going to enjoy having that HH even more than you expect to!

It has 5-6" of snow on it currently, I haven't walked out to look up close yet but its still there Its rare anymore that we get any decent snow here, I'll keep a brace in mind if we are forecast for heavy snows in the future.

I'm definitely enjoying it so far, even without plants lol. Its great to walk in from a 25deg sunny day and see that its 77 degrees inside! Its going to provide a great place to fiddle with the plants, out of the wind and weather. The enhanced climate will kindle more interest from my wife as well.


The indoors growing will also allow me to harvest my pepper seeds, I was hesitant to try (bagging blooms for isolation) outdoors because of the winds, I figured the mesh bags would just be a sail in the wind- and snap off of the plants.

That's one of the nicest feeling I know...walking into the greenhouse when it is cold outside!

I agree! It's really cold here at the moment, below zero in the mornings, but it's been sunny and above freezing during the day inside the GH (while about 10° outside). Only other gardeners would understand how nice it is to be able to smell the dirt on a cold winter day LOL.

The smell of the dirt.....like cash in the bank!

Had a sunny 50F day yesterday. I worked on installing the vents and fan, was 96F inside, made for a warm install!

My plan is to get the actuators mounted and everything wired up to the thermostat, so I can get some of my cooler weather tolerable plants out there this weekend without baking them. The temps are looking good here for the next few weeks, only a couple days showing possible lows below freezing.

Hopefully after a week or two of somewhat controlled temps, I'll be able to judge when it will be safe to move my tomatoes and peppers out there!

I wired the vents and fan over the weekend, and have had a few sunny/warmer days to see what the temp will do so far. I've been checking the high/low's each day, looks like its staying below 85-86F currently. The thermostat is on the opposite wall of the thermometer- which is probably reading a little high due to sunlight, not sure yet.


I repotted some spinach plants and have left them out there, and just seeded some green onions yesterday to see what happens.

It looks like everything's going well timing wise, if the weather keeps going the direction it is, I should be moving my other plants out there in a few weeks, and by then I'd imagine they will be outgrowing the jiffy pots they are in.