Blue water pipe cloche hoops

[kathyd]

Thanks for all the input everyone, I can always rely on lots of help on this forum . We're going to cut the blue pipe into 3m lengths, just in case my sprouts reach 3.5 ft this year (they were all of 18" last year, with sprouts about the size of my little finger nail ).

I don't really understand why canes make it harder to weed under though - I was going to weight the netting down at the bottom, and tie it along the top bar so I can lift it up on each side for access - so I assume the canes wouldn't make any difference?

[jackie j]

I use pegs to keep the netting down, I do find though that I don't manage to weed under very often cos its so fiddly, I like the idea that mothawk showed in the video, but how do you fix the tubes/ pipes to the wood. The video clip wouldn't work.

[Bigmallly]

I now have 3 of these, each measure 8'x4'x3'6". They are on 2"x2" rectangular bases so I can just prop them up to weed etc. The main reason for the bases was so that I could move them from bed to bed. My beds are 25' long so 3 fits perfectly.........

[Snadger]

1/2 x Pi x D gives you the curve size for a semi circle plus whatever you want to push in the ground.

For a four foot bed its 1/2 x 3.1416 x 48 = 6' 3" + 2'0" = Cut pipe to 8 foot 3 inches if you want one foot in the ground.

Semi circular covers will be two foot high in the middle only.

PS Try one first in case my maths is wrong.

[Florence Fennel]

Far too early in the morning for maths Snadge I too find it awkward to get under the pipes to the bed beneath, but how do you keep the frame in place, anchor it down to the surrounding ground? Forgive me if I'm missing something (like a brain). When it's windy, my gable end garden gets a right old buffeting and I just wonder if the frame would go the same way as the blowaways did.

[mothhawk]

I use pegs to keep the netting down, I do find though that I don't manage to weed under very often cos its so fiddly, I like the idea that mothawk showed in the video, but how do you fix the tubes/ pipes to the wood. The video clip wouldn't work.

In the video he uses the wood with the widest side flat to the ground, drills holes through the widest side the same size as the pipe, and pushes the ends in. There's a gardener's world video where they are building the same thing - they use the wood narrowest side flat, drill holes through the pipe, and simply screw through the pipe to the wood.

[Bigmallly]

Mine are exactly as the video only square(ish). Just drill 20mm holes & the pipe pushes in. Screws through the inside to hold the pipe in place.

[Bren In Pots]

Here's a link I've had bookmarked its got a chart showing length of pipe to fabric and shows different ways of finishing off the tunnel ends :-


Hoop house construction for GrowCover row cover fabric

[kathyd]

Well I've put the hoops up, but they're all wiggly and bendy, and very reluctant to behave nicely when I try to tie bamboo canes along the top! I pulled an end hoop to straighten things out, and all the ridge pole canes fell off again, so I kind of lost interest at that point, and came in for a cup of tea. I like the idea of the wooden frame, but don't you get gaps when you join them together? I can't imagine them fitting neatly in place to be honest.. And like another poster, we do get high winds sometimes so I'd worry about them taking off if they weren't secured somehow. How do others fix their hoop frames to the ground? Our cloches are planned for Link-a-bord raised beds this year, so options on clipping or staking things to things may be limited...

[Bigmallly]

Kath, I can only speak from experience but the weight of the wood holds them in place, they don't take off because it is debris netting which has minute holes so lets the wind blow through. Bearing in mind mine are 8'x4' so quite heavy.

[Florence Fennel]

My beds are Link-a-Bord Kathy. My son used canes in the ends of the hoops and put them inside the bed. As suggested, he strengthened them with horizontal canes. I covered with enviromesh secured at the ends into the ground outside the bed with tent pegs and around the edges of the bed with the biggest bulldog clips I could find. It hasn't moved over the harsh winter we've had, even though the wind whistling round the garden many times managed to blow in the panes of my stayput.

[leonmc0708]

thanks for the heads up on these vidoes and tutorials guys - spot on.

Anyone know where in the UK stocks that Grow Cover stuff or equivalent ?

[Pa Snips]

Hi Leon,

I'm pretty sure this... 2M X50M GREEN DEBRIS/SCAFFOLD /GARDEN /CROP NET NETTING | eBay ...is the same stuff that Bigmally uses.

[leonmc0708]

once again - spot on.

Best thing I did with my allotment was join this site - invaluable help and advice.

Thanks

[kathyd]

Kath, I can only speak from experience but the weight of the wood holds them in place, they don't take off because it is debris netting which has minute holes so lets the wind blow through. Bearing in mind mine are 8'x4' so quite heavy. .

Mmmm, well I'm using debris netting too, so maybe it's worth a try. Just out of interest, how do you prop them up when you want to get in underneath to weed? Presumably you don't hold them with one hand and work with the other?

My beds are Link-a-Bord Kathy. My son used canes in the ends of the hoops and put them inside the bed. As suggested, he strengthened them with horizontal canes. I covered with enviromesh secured at the ends into the ground outside the bed with tent pegs and around the edges of the bed with the biggest bulldog clips I could find. It hasn't moved over the harsh winter we've had, even though the wind whistling round the garden many times managed to blow in the panes of my stayput.

Ah, another voice of experience then, brill! So far we've used the link-a-bord green stakes which hold the boards together to stick through the ends of the hoops, and they seem to work quite well, but then I wasn't sure where to end the fabric - inside or outside the bed. Outside seems more sensible, but not sure how to weight down - beds are on landscaping fabric covered by gravel because the ground underneath is too stony to dig into.. maybe we'll just use rocks or something this year (plenty of those around ), and try out some wooden framed ones for next year, or even over the coming winter.