We don't drink soda, so that's out, but the WOW collapses over the top to close that big hole. I guess you could put row cover or something over the top.

Nonetheless, I have...hmm...lots of WOWs and heat the soil and set them out 3-4 weeks early. The roots grow a lot and the tops grow a little and they jump out of the ground when freed and warm. Mine will likely go out ~April 20 this year. If I need to I'll put a coldframe over them too, as this El Niño year will throw anything at you in Spring.

Dan

Redley, that's a great tip. I enjoy hearing suggestions from creative people. I've been collecting 3 qt juice bottles so I might make one and compare it to the WOW with a couple of tomato seedlings. However, it may require a coordination that I do not posses. Watching me fill the WOWs is pretty funny in itself.
I set my toms and peppers out around May 1st last year in WOW and wished I had done it sooner. I have no idea what to expect weather wise this year, so Dan, I'm glad to know your plans. Going earlier seems like a good idea.
Isn't it great to get started with spring again?
Barb

Isn't it great to get started with spring again?

I was out yesterday putting down some fabric to heat the soil to get an early start on crops to go under hoops. Veggies in a large, tall raised bed next to the house and the soil didn't freeze this year. I might keep the habañeros under WOWs for an extra week or so to keep them warmer, depending on the weather, which I'm thinking will be hot early.

:o)

Dan

I'm almost finished with my garden beds with hoops. I'll post a little blog when I get a bit more time. I ended up getting a bunch of the WOW and will be utilizing them with the hoop frames. I am wondering a few things:

1. Should I put black plastic down to warm the soil, or will the hoops be enough?
2. When should I be covering the hoops to get the soil warming started? Now? April 1?
3. What material should I cover the hoops with? I am a poor nursing student who works part time so I'm always strapped for cash. Will the 6mm plastic from Home Depot/Lowe's painting aisle work, or is something better?

Thanks for the help and advice.

Redley.

1. Black plastic too.
2. I'm warming my soil now. I started with warming film and then I'll lift that up and put hoops over.
3. 6 mil plastic will degrade within months. You may get to use it in fall, but the pieces will be everywhere. Start with that but expect to be unhappy and move on.

You'll want to clip the plastic and row cover to the hoops. Maybe I said this, but use black poly pipe same diameter as hoops. Cut 2" pieces, then take out ~20% of diameter lengthwise. Press to hold. Sanding-melting cut ends helps.

You'll figure it out, work out the bugs, and get others to do it. This is the perfect place for these techniques. Except when the wind gusts to 48kts come overnight for 3 hours, then you'll be sad if you didn't secure well enough.

Dan

Dan,
I definitely don't want to be unhappy and move on. What should I start out with on my hoops to be happy with to begin with? Also, is there a special type of black plastic?

I think you have to experiment to see what works best for you, but I'd spend time on the clips and get that down - good clips prevent ripping of film-fabric. You can get thru spring with painters plastic from HD, but likely not the fall, so use the cheap stuff to figger out how hot it gets under there and when to vent and cover and what kind of old sheet to give more warmth and all that sort of thing. The biggest thing may be managing the heat build up - even under hoops it can be 80-85ºF under there right now under partly cloudy skies - too hot for many crops.

Dan

I'm giving the WOWs and black plastic mulch a try this year as well. So it sounds like it would be a good idea to get the plastic on now to heat up the soil, plant in late April, and set the WOWs out a few weeks before that? Thought about doing the hoop house, but I think that might be more than I'm up for.

Already I have some old forgotten carrots that are growing again, and quite a few forgotten onions popping up. Thinking about throwing out a few cilantro and dill seeds to see what happens this early.

I totally agree with Dan that the heat under any sort of a covering which isn't open on the top (like WOW's) is going to be a major problem. I don't know how much of a problem it is at sea level, but with our mile high sun, even on days when it's mostly cloudy it'll get hot enough to kill plants, and on a full sun day, you'll quickly be baking and/or steaming anything that's covered. Some days opening the "ends" may be enough, but on really sunny days you'll probably need to be able to raise the sides to cool it off enough. Keeping stuff warm enough will probably be easier than keeping it cool enough. Pick up a high/low thermometer you can stick under it before you actually plant so you can start to get a feel for the temps you're getting and what kind of adjustments you'll need to make, and when.

Good luck,
Skybird

I have my cattle panel and this weekend will try to construct a low tunnel out of that (mom's working so we'll see how well my helper helps me), with purlins and a vent with an automagic vent opener. I'll post piccies on PhotoBucket, but the point here is that even this low tunnel that will go throughout the winter will get a vent to get rid of heat.

My over-engineered cold frame has a design flaw, in that the small window should open from the top and not the bottom, as now the window does not vent enough heat, even with a row cover on the glazing to cut down the amount of sunlight in the structure. So I have to prop open the big window about 8" to vent heat too.

My low tunnels in western WA state @ 750' elev. had no such heat problems until mid-May - there, it was the Chinook winds off of Chinook pass...now THAT was tremendous wind, albeit not as frequent as here.

Anyway, heat. One day at work with a 50ºF day in early February will cook the little dears, so spring will definitely do it. Accommodations must be made for heat.

Dan

I'm trying some new plastic that I got from Lee Valley. It has vents in it that supposedly open when the warm air starts to rise. I'll let you know if it works :)

Tie that grow film down very well. I have some still but can't keep it together due to the winds out here. I might try it this spring over the new hoops and run string over the top to keep it from shredding.

Dan

Yeah, the wind is harsh here as well. I don't know if the vents will hurt or help. My husband looked at it and said, "Oh, it comes pre-shredded!". We shall see,

"Preshredded," LOL, I love it! I hope, for your sake, he's wrong! As Dan says, tie it down really well, and I'd still keep an eye on the temps under the plastic. The "vents" just may not vent well enough for our unrelenting sun--if it doesn't shred for real, that is!

Good luck,
Skybird

'Preshredded' - niiice.

An aside, but related: I'm bending material to make low tunnels to support things like jnfr's gro-film, remay, etc.

Some may recall I was looking for a cattle panel supplier and I bought some and started bending it up yesterday, in between fiddling with training wheels and playing lacrosse with little girls, and this is what I'm getting:

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and some scale:

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One panel can be cut to 66" length for a smaller tunnel. I'll have a 41" width, 80" length and 21" height structure. You can secure string to the bottom and run it over the top several times and this would secure any material tightly and limit shredding (so the theory goes). I also bent a piece to overwinter spinach and this larger piece will be to overwinter cabbage and greens, after I put two layers of greenhouse film in there and make a vent, and run heavy-duty row cover on the north side for extra insulation. I'll be done with this in a couple days and the soil is warming already, and my peas, potatoes, onions will go out this week and be covered by my hoops.

Beware the ides of March!

Dan

Good and sturdy. I bet that little girl will grow nicely once you get some row cover over her.