Done For Now

Wow. Nine months since I posted. Whatever happened to the hoophouse?

We last saw the first course of 2x8s in place on the sides, and water gushing out of the hillside. Then what? Well, that was on March 18th. Then came a little detour. The new neighbor to the east had an ash tree that was dying and overhanging our property. Bad stuff - when it fell, if would go through the hoophouse. So I asked if we could remove it, and the neighbor said yes, and it took some time to clean up the mess after Jesse played Paul Bunyan.

On April 5, we were cruising again. Notice the new woodpile.

April 8th, the long sides are up and I have gotten out my PHD.

The end post that will carry the center beam needs to be set, and I went down 30” to anchor it. To make my post anchors, I drilled out some old joist hangers and inserted barn spikes.

These were bedded in concrete.

Guess what happened on April 10th?

Yep. Ohio happened. But it didn’t last. Spring had sprung. Two weeks later it looked like this:

And by the end of April, it was staring to cruise -

By July 30, I had dug the garlic from the old raised bed, and planted some pole beans for a fall crop. Borer bees love unpainted wood, even if it is treated, so paint was a necessity. The 2x8s were covered on the outside with black plastic sheeting to protect the galvanized hardware. The wood was then sheathed with brown aluminum coil stock. Eventually I hope to sheath the entire exterior that way.

Meanwhile, if you remember that 16” deep trench on the south side… even though it was backfilled with pea gravel, it pushed the wall, and I had to dig it back out, straighten it, and then between each of the hoops I went down 30” and concreted in 4x4 posts to keep the wall straight

The beans came up in less than a week. August 6th I still had about half of the dirt to dig out and haul away on the south side.

During the month of August, I had a tenant. It is amazing how many flies were trapped inside the hoophouse. They made a continual drumming noise as they bounced off the plastic trying to get out. The mantis, as well as numerous jumping spiders, had all they could eat and more.

By August 25th I finally had the floor leveled out. Notice the chicken wire - I had to block the doorway because the deer were going inside to eat the beet tops.

October 2nd I finally had the doors on and the hoophouse was totally enclosed, just in time for the first frost.

The second week of November we were picking green beans, Roma tomatoes, and banana and chili peppers; everything outside was dead.

I’m really looking forward to playing house in about 2 months.

BTW - my wife knows what she is talking about when she says I overbuild everything. This went WAAAAY over budget, and I still haven't totaled up the cost of the materials. One thing I can say; hardware is extremely expensive.