HelpfulGardener.com

DH and I were talking about our very short growing season and are thinking of building a portable hoop house to get an earlier start on some of our garden plants. We are thinking of using it until it starts to get too warm and then take off the plastic cover and leave the hoops in place. In the fall we would put it back on. I think we could extend our very short season by a month to six weeks without providing anything besides trapped solar heat. If this works, later we will build more permanent supports with a year 'round roof. Does this sound like it would work? What plants would you recommend. I'm thinking for sure zucchini, cukes, dill and some early greens. What else would you plant?

will it work? yes - no question about it.

there are many "season extender" approaches - from unheated greenhouses to hoops to cold frames.

the biggest challenge will be to build a structure that is easy to access. it's not a plant&forget kind of situation - you'll need to get 'inside' to water, weed, check on progress.

>>recommended plants
the cool weather crops - that's stuff you can start very early and it'll do well in the spring.
and stuff you can start late and keep from a hard freeze under cover.

growing heat lovers - beans, tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash, etc will not be as successful for the "early" season.

covering tender crops like tomatoes / peppers - prime examples - to keep them producing longer in the fall will work.

Thanks for answering. I had planned on the early crops in it. I wasn't sure if it was worth the time and cost.

LA47,
I have read somewhat on the use of hoop houses to extend the growing season. Coleman in Maine, of course, uses both hoops and cold greenhouses for four season gardening. I think the possibilities are wonderful, and expect to be using some sort of hoop structure here in Indiana once the garden gets established (it's still YARD at the moment!). I would suggest you start with a row cover hoop system with the plastic held down with weights (rebar, furring strips, etc.) in sections that can be flipped away and re-set fairly easily. I will probably begin with that system, but hope eventually to have a full-fledged cold-house walk-in greenhouse.

(Cold-house referring to it being unheated by anything other than the sun)

Please keep us all abreast of your progress and how things work out!

>>worth the time and cost

really depends on your personal degree of gardening addiction (g)

just watch a snippet on TV about people shopping/buying houses in Alaska. one of the properties had sweet corn - and a fair size patch of it - growing inside a plastic covered greenhouse. a necessity in Alaska one presumes!