Season Extension & Pest Protection
In Bend, we can get frost any day of the year. We have found that a wood framed cloche (aka mini hoophouse) to support 6 mil UV block greenhouse grade poly film makes for great frost protection. Your mini hoophouse can help extend our short growing season into a longer harvest season, allowing short season varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, winter squash, melons, and cucumbers to reach maturity and for you to plant successions of shorter season crops that can be started earlier in the spring and even be harvested through winter (like leafy greens, carrots, and scallions).
Our design makes ventilating your beds on warm days super easy. If you sweep off snow in the winter, your poly film will likely last 3-5 growing seasons.
Check out our mini hoophouses in action!
On February 9, 2022, we compared the soil in two side-by-side beds in our demonstration garden.
Do you battle deer, squirrels, and birds in your garden, and fencing your garden isn’t a viable option for you? We can add a pest protection layer to your mini hoophouse! We use 1x1” netting to keep large pests out, while still allowing most pollinators in. The magnets inside the outdoor strapping on the edges keep the ends flush against your hoops and are easy to lift for access to your plants without having to wrangle layers of materials or deal with spring clamps.
Our weighted bottom helps keep each layer of material laying flat against your raised bed structure and can easily be lifted and placed on top of your raised bed for easy access to your plants.
For most of our raised beds, you can easily lift your weighted plastic piece up and rest it on the 2x4 on top of your bed to access your plants. For taller beds, however, this option may not be available to gardeners who can’t reach the top!
Sometimes a strong wind can knock your weighted plastic down off the top while you are caring for your plants. For ease in access and safety, we add a ball bungee and hook system to help you access your plants with ease.
Your ball bungees and hooks can be placed on the sides of your beds or in the center, depending on your bed design. They are also a great safety mechanism and will contribute to the longevity of your plastic by giving you the option to secure your weighted plastic in windy conditions.
Mobile mini hoophouses could be your season extension solution. They are perfect for a garden with multiple raised garden beds with identical dimensions, allowing you to rotate your crops from season to season to prevent pest and disease issues, protecting your most frost sensitive plants and allowing space for your cold hardy plants (like broccoli and cabbage) to grow uncovered (row cover could be beneficial, though). You can also work tall sunflowers, corn, and pole beans into your annual crop rotation by placing them in uncovered beds.
Our mobile mini hoophouse sits on a 2x6 frame with heavy duty rust resistant cast iron aluminum (made in the USA) handles on each end to enable you to move it where it is needed!
If you’d like to take a more DIY approach, we sell 6 mil UV Block greenhouse grade poly film at 10’ x your needed length and galvanized conduit (EMT) hoops for 3’ and 4’ wide garden beds. You can substitute shade cloth (also comes in 10’ widths) in the summer as needed.
Our DIY mini hoophouse kits fit 3x8’ or 4x8’ raised garden beds. Each kit includes the 6 mil greenhouse plastic, hoops, brackets, screws, u-bolts and snap clamps you’ll need to get set up. Are your beds shorter or longer? Ask us about custom kits!
We also offer row cover (aka frost cloth), cut to the length you need, protecting your plants down to 28 degrees F with 85% light transmission as well as allowing air and water through. It comes with the added bonus of keeping tender baby plant leaves safe against hungry birds and can also protect your Brassica family plants from cabbage moths! Available in 10’ x your needed length.
You can simply lay your row cover over your plants, but to protect their leaves from frost damage where they may touch the cloth, we can provide you with 9 gauge galvanized hoops.
Need a way to protect low growing plants from deer, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, birds or pets? We can build you a custom critter cage!
For four season harvesting in raised beds (yes, it IS possible in Central Oregon), both a mini hoophouse structure and row cover are essential.
