Space is somewhat of an issue for us on our lot and this hoop house works perfectly since it can be dismantled during the summer months. For about $102.00 at Home Depot you can have one too! Our supplies (plus a little work and a tiny bit of thinking) bought us an 18′ long by 8′ wide hoop house with extra’s to build another small hoop house  over an existing raised bed. (or we will just keep it for repair.) Oh, and we haven’t put the doors on it yet…actually we haven’t even made them yet but the tomatoes that are currently inside would roast if we had them there so we will keep you posted on the doors (more on that after the mountain bike race, family birthdays, and out-of-town visitors.)

Our materials included…

- 2 X 4′s for a rectangular frame to fasten the  hoops to.
- 10′ sticks of 1/2″ PVC plus fittings (couplers, T-couplers and 4-way couplers)
- Gorilla Tape (This stuff is great!)
- 6 mil plastic
- staples
- 1/2″ pipe clamps
- 1-1/4″ wood screws
- 48″ wood lath / slat board (for securing the stapled plastic from wind / tearing).

We’re well on our way to a fruitful winter garden inside our hoop house and our cold frames. We haven’t even closed the ends and the tomato plants that were in the garden space we covered are loving the warmth and showing us this by ripening faster than our outdoor tomatoes.

Building the hoop house is pretty simple. If you have any specific questions or need ideas on integrating your own available materials into a hoop house let us know and we will see if we can help you out.  Here are some photos we took along the way and we’re sure you can figure most of  it out from there.

Back in the spring we came across a couple of nice vinyl windows for $5 each. One blew over during a wind storm and busted (so sad) but we used a few older windows to replace it and completed our cold frames for forcing seeds and essentially maintaining a mini greenhouse. Our cold frame is simply a wooden box with a hinged window top. We framed in the window with 2 x 4′s and connected it to the box with hinges. The frame that uses the older windows used three to make up the lid but it was easy to screw them together….just work with what you have.

Our next project is to build a hoop house over one of the garden beds in the back yard. We’ll share more on that soon, hopefully!

The weather is still mild here in Eugene but the summer crop is past its peak and on a steady decline. We started basil, radishes, Romaine and a second type of lettuce in the cold frames.  We also added some 4″ pots to one of them and planted cauliflower, and two varieties of brocolli. These will go into the future hoop house once they have rooted. It’s all an experiment…we are having fun just doing things and figuring it out along the way. Learning when to plant successive crops (and exactly what to plant and when) would be awesome but I don’t know if I will ever be that organized. I guess it will just have to fall into place because the balance found itself. In the meantime….we are eating enough food to make it worthwhile and it’s fun. What else would we be doing?? Watching TV?? blech!

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As for the food…we had our city deliver some leaves to our house this year. We don’t have much room on our lot so we had them dumped in the driveway and on the lawn. We had to get the pile off the lawn first otherwise it would kill off the grass and just look unsightly. It took us a few days to get it done but we did it. We’ve got 5′x20′ area covered in cardboard and topped with 3′ of leaves and we are still adding compost into the pile.

Some people ask us why we are using leaves. The main reason is that we want to do it as cheap as possible and leaves do turn into soil. Rich soil. Our house also sits on an old spring bed so it’s quite rocky and it would take a lot of time to get all the weeds out of the ground. I feel that this is going to give us the best growing medium while using the least amount of monetary resources. It may take a bit more time but with some attention to detail and an active approach to helping the compost along I think we will have a really great spot to grow food in.

Summer Squash – Italian Zuchinni
Fast, healthy growth of course. We only had one plant since the other two didn’t survive but we still managed to have enough zuchinni to keep us satisfied.

Summer Squash – Ron de Nice
We planted two of these that we grew from seed. Fast growth also with lots of vegetables. This is the summer squash that we ate most often and I loved it because it coud be stuffed or sliced since they are round and oh-so-cute.

Tomato – Oregon Spring
Of course they did great. Super good tomato with hardly any seeds. Love it!

Tomato -

Bell Pepper -
Bell Pepper -
Cantaloupe – I grew this heirloom variety cantaloupe from seed and I really didn’t get the starts big enough before setting them out so they had a slow start. Some  melons  did start but we were never able to harvest and enjoy them since they didn’t ripen. I am trying these again next year but putting them in a really hot spot.

Watermelon – I had the same experience with these as I did the cantaloupe. I’ll be trying these again too.

Cucumber – Japanese Climbing
I love having climbing cucumbers because it saves on space to trellis them and they trellis so easy since you don’t have to give the cucumbers any extra support. We enjoyed lots of Cucumber-Tomato Salads from the abundance that we harvested from just two of these plants.

Cucumber – Lemon
Some surprise Dahlias popped up in the garden and I never moved them. Their presence shadowed the one lemon cucumber plant we had. Thankfully my neighbor, whom I gave two other Lemon Cucumber starts, graciously shared her prolific harvest. Yum yum.

Basil -
I planted my basil near the base of the tomato plants. It did well here while being offered a bit of shade  during some of the hot days. I’m still harvesting basil now.

Strawberry – unknown variety
I don’t know what happened with these strawberries that I planted in the spring but we  didn’t get but a few berries from about 16 plants. I have planted some more strawberries in a different lettuce bed and those are producing better right now. I’ll have to  get some information about growing strawberries .

Lettuce – Mesculun mix
Harvest quickly when the leaves are still small and tender and the lettuce won’t bolt.

Lettuce – Rocky Top blend
This lettuce bolted quickly and when it wasn’t bolting I thought that the texture wasn’t very crisp. I’m a mesculun kinda girl.

Share what’s growing in your garden.

So for whatever the reason is that you have for needing to keep your cut herbs fresh try this tip next time. Just put your herbs in a small glass container with water in it just like you would cut flowers. This keeps them fresher longer. The glass can even be placed in the refrigerator if desired but if you plan to use the herbs in the next day or two the windowsill is just fine.

Here is how I was able to dry my organic lettuce quickly, from start to finish.

We grew heirloom Rocky Top Lettuce Mix from www.rareseeds.com. This is the type of lettuce that does not grow back so when I harvest it I pull it up by the roots and gently shake off the excess dirt so it stays in the garden.  Before I place it in our bowl I cut the roots off and keep them in a pile to add to the compost later.

Next, I fill a clean sink with cold water and place all the lettuce in the water. Swish, swish and then I take the leaves of lettuce out and lay them on a towel that is layed flat on the counter. When I’ve gotten all of the lettuce out of the sink I place a folded up kitchen towel in the bottom of a large bowl and I place all of the lettuce in the bowl with the cut ends down.

Leave the bowl of lettuce sitting out at room temperature for 5-10 minutes and when you return it will be as dry as a salad spinner would get it. Now you can put your bounty in the fridge to keep for your next meal. I like to keep mine in a reusable produce bag.

Placing all of the lettuce in the bowl with cut ends down may seem like a big organizing task but it isn’t. And not every piece has to be lined up perfectly, just getting them vertical for the most part will drain the water down into the kitchen towel.

Do you have any tips on cleaning garden produce that tends to yield more soil than is desired? Share them here in the comments.

Neem oil is derived from the fruits and seeds of Neem trees. The smell isn’t great, some say it’s a nutty mix with some garlic and it has a bitter taste so don’t use it in the kitchen.

In my experience, neem oil has always been used as an organic farming aid to get rid of pests like mealy bugs, aphids, cabbage worms and Japanese beetles; among many others. It is so widely used by organic farmers because neem oil doesn’t affect beneficial insects like ladybugs and honeybees.

Neem oil can also be used for black spot, powdery mildew and other fungus problems. This really makes it a wide spectrum oil because usually a gardener might have to buy two separate sprays; one to handle pests and the other for fungus.

The uses for neem oil go further back than organic farming though. Neem oil has been used to cure certain diseases and ailments including eczema. Some natural food stores carry neem soap on bars or liquids. It’s perfectly safe to use. I just love things that are so functional….one little thing that can do so much!

Idea #1 Use vinegar. That’s right, plain white distilled vinegar to kill obnoxious weeds that grow in the cracks of your sidewalks and driveway and in between your beautiful brick patio. It works faster than round-up in most cases and costs a whole lot less. Simply drench those little weeds in a vinegar bath and bid them Asta la vista baby!

Idea #2 Plant. Plant. And plant some more. The more plants you plant, the less weeds will grow. Find out if you have a native plant society in your area. Often they have plant sales where you can get inexpensive, drought tolerant plants that are picked for your area.

Idea #3 Pick on the little ones. The faster you get outside to beat down weeds, the easier your job will be. If you can get them while they are still babies, a hula hoe is a wonderful and easy option. You can get around plants and vegetables easily and you don’t even have to get your hands dirty. Your neighbors will probably enjoy seeing you do the hula anyhow.

Idea #4 If you aren’t into planting a lot of plants you can use mulch instead. Just remember though that when you use organic material like wood chips, they eventually break down and you will need to add more. They also give weeds a good place to grow unless you prepare the ground with weed block before spreading the mulch.

In the fall and winter we use leaves that fall from our trees to place around our border plants. This helps insulate the roots from frost but it also keeps as many weeds from sprouting in the spring. Remove them in the spring and get out the hula hoe and knock any weeds down. You can also choose to keeps the leaves as mulch and just wait for them to break down into the soil. This is some of the richest compost you can get and it’s free.

Idea #5 Persistence. Like anything else, persistence pays; even when it comes to getting rid of weeds. Make it a habit to get out once a week and pull a few weeds. Nothing is really as effective as plain pullin’ those little boogers right out of the ground.