Hi,

I will be switching to mostly growing in a hoop house this next spring, and am trying to plan out how I will do things. The HH is on good soil, but I want to avoid planting in ground I think. I'd like to try mixing my own soil and either growing from pots, or making elevated beds.

This will be a good number of plants, mostly peppers and tomatoes, and it looks like buying the proper sized pots will be pretty expensive. Would I be better off just spending the money on good pots, or building some wood frames/beds?


Thanks in advance for ideas and suggestions !

I think the choice would depend on your weather conditions. Hoop houses are great when it's too cool outside, but here I know as soon as the weather warms up the covering is removed. They are used mostly for getting an early start on peppers and tomatoes and fro growing winter veggies and greens.
A friend of mine who is a certified organic gardener uses them for starting plants from seeds, then she moves the plants out when they mature. She also uses them for winter greens. In hot climates they can get too hot for plants with little to no circulation.

@binfordw It would be nice to know what your climate was (hardiness zone).

I know someone who container gardens @DraDiana she may be able to give you some good advice.

I need to add that info, I keep forgetting

I'm in Indiana, zone 6A.

I do have a well sized ventilation fan/vents setup that's thermostatically controlled I'll be installing in the HH to keep the temps in check during the summer.

Well, in that case, that's great! Then I would say use the raised beds.

binfordw said:I need to add that info, I keep forgetting

I'm in Indiana, zone 6A.

I do have a well sized ventilation fan/vents setup that's thermostatically controlled I'll be installing in the HH to keep the temps in check during the summer.

I know people in my area that grow in green houses and high tunnels. The summer heat here is too much for growing anything without some way of cooling. One grower had raspberries they grew in a high tunnel, but I'm not sure how they cooled it, because I just met them and didn't have time to ask a lot of questions.
The tomatoes in my friends' unheated/uncooled high tunnel matured only 2 weeks earlier than the ones that were started in the greenhouse and then grown outside. The high tunnel tomatoes fried in the heat early, while the outside tomatoes continued to bear for another month or so. The unheated high tunnel proved useful for growing winter crops. Spinach and Kale overwinter in zone 6a, but yield more in the high tunnel. My friends grow in ground with organic chicken manure compost in their high tunnels. Outside they use slightly raised beds with the same chicken manure added.
The plants in the high tunnels and greenhouse have escaped deer and rabbit predation, but mice got in the green house and wiped out the pepper seedlings.
Another useful feature is that of blocking excessive rainfall that can cause mold.

Thanks for the info,

I'm assuming with good ventilation I shouldn't have much of an issue with temps, but I guess I will find out first hand this summer.

I guess so! What are your summer highs? We stay in the 90s for part of June, all of July, August, and often September.

Looking back we average about 86 for a high at peak of summer. Looks like the highest we saw this year was about 93.

I guess worse case if the temps get uncontrollable in the peak of summer I can unroll the polyfilm, shouldn't be too big of a deal I wouldn't think. The protection from the winds we get here and storms would probably outweigh the heat issue.

I agree. Anyway, with a fan going you will blow out quite a lot of heat.