Building the Hoop House

In November of 2010 we decided to build a hoop house with the help of a few parent volunteers.  The design came from a website that I had seen of a farmer in Western Canada.  It consists primarily of PVC poles which create the hoop and a heavy duty plastic for the covering.  I have included several drawings showing the progress of the installation.

We start at the front of the raised beds and build
a series of hoops along the outside edges of two raised beds.

The hoops are placed approximately 18" apart to create the structure.  A center pole is lashed to the top of the arch to give the structure rigidity.

After the frame is complete, we placed a large piece of plastic over the frame and secured it to the sides and ends creating a warm environment which can help us to extend the growing season.

And this is the completed hoop house. 

Inside we have two long raised beds that we are using to start our spring lettuce which is on the left side and we are getting some of the seedlings ready to plant into the outside raised beds once the danger of frost is over.