So for those of you who know me, no this does not mean I have had an unfortunate case of leprosy. I am actually planting a garden this year. Where might this fateful land come from considering I live in a high-rise condo? Well my friend Mike and I have decided to get a plot at his local community garden and share it. Unfortunately the community garden in down town is located in a spot that is surrounded by high-rises and right next to a busy road; not exactly my idea of a zen location. It works out well this way because now there will be 2 people caring for the spot which increases the likelihood that it will not remain a barren patch of dirt. We wanted to start planting right away but since here in Calgary we live in zone 3a/b, normally you don't see any growing until at least mid-late May. Well I am impatient and I want to start now! So I convinced Mike to help me try what's called a Cold-Frame hoophouse. Essentially it's something like a mini-greenhouse. It looks like this:
Now how much money/time does this little gem take to make? Until today I could confidently say "I have absolutely no idea. My guess would be $75 and a couple of hours." If you listened to me then, you would be wrong on both accounts. The cost depends on the size of your plot. Obviously the larger it is, the more materials you need and the more sturdy your materials need to be. But for this roughly 4 foot by 8 foot plot (thats 122cm by 239cm) all you need is some vinyl siding strips (they are roughly 2 inches wide, I think they are used to finish off the end of the vinyl siding on houses), some painters plastic, some garden twist ties (the kind that come in a spool that you can cut to the length you want) and some rocks. The rocks we got from the river (price = free) and the rest of the materials cost just under $60 with Tax at our hardware store. It took 45 min to cut and assemble (yes we kept track of time).
The beauty of this design over others I've seen on the net using PVC pipe or wood is two fold:
1) It's cheaper
2) Requires less tools to assemble
3) It's fast and super easy to erect. (lol, I got to use erect in a sentence!)
The vinyl siding comes with holes down the length of one side so no need for drilling holes (like in wood/pvc). The vinyl is much lighter than the other two materials so you don't need nails, screws or heavy wire to hold it together. The gardeners twist ties are more than enough to lash everything together and it's easier to work with on a cooler day in spring than string/twine. Essentially the only tool you need is a sturdy pair of scissors (preferably tin snips, it will make cutting the vinyl a breeze). Once you have cut the vinyl to the right length (in our case it was 90 inches or 230cm) you push one end into the ground, bend the other end over and push it into the ground. You do this for all of the curved ribs, then you attach the horizontal stabilizing bars using the gardening wire. Then you cut a length of painters clear plastic (it comes in thin, medium and heavy thickness; we used medium.) and cover the frame pinning it down with rocks. Now you have a mini non-permanent greenhouse over your garden that you can remove once you are sure you are past the last frost date. This will keep cold wind and light frost off your hardy early spring plants. I have some further ideas about what to do on this plot and what to plant but that will be for another post.
Happy Growing!
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