Hoops

After the disaster that befell my cold frames last winter when it snowed, I vowed to find a solution.

I found it in a conduit bender that I ordered during the summer. Today was the day to install the new frames; hoops of aluminum that will eventually be covered with the 6 mil plastic I created for the cold frames last winter. It was a beautiful day to be outside; an added bonus.

The conduit bender was designed to be easy to use and, with just a bit of practice, Doug Shaw and I developed a system for getting the conduit nicely shaped. It turned out that it really was a two-person job. When we tried it alone, all the frames had a skew to them.

From the time we left to buy the conduit and attaching hardware to the time we were finished with four beds (20 pipes, 5 per bed), it took less than three hours. That is considerably quicker than it took when I made the frames out of plywood. And, based on my experience grabbing onto the frame to help me get up off my knees, these frames will be sturdy and will be able to withstand wind and snow.

In our first attempt at installation we had the frames arc 34 inches above the top board of the bed. When we put the plastic on, the bed wasn't covered completely. So we lowered the arc of the frame over the next bed to 29 inches. This time the plastic basically fit, with not much extra on either end or on the sides. Thinking about it, given the diameter of the hoop at 4' 3.5", that still makes the frame slightly liptokurtic (a bit elongated on the top). If it were perfectly round, the hoop should be only 25.75" above the bed. But that's OK because I want as much room for the plants to grow as possible.


We covered four frames. The two with onions and garlic and the two with brassicas. The plastic will go on when the temperature drops and we get a frost or freeze warning.