Over the winter when thoughts of spring were trapped under days and days of sub-zero weather, I read about how Jamie at An Oregon Cottage used row covers to extend the growing season. I was fascinated and the dreams began to grow. Could I have green beans before July? Tomatoes before September? Oh IMAGINE!
Then I got a catalog with at $25 off coupon. I had to do it. So I purchased the row cover and started looking for ways to make the hoops to hold the cover up over my long garden bed. The home improvement places didn't have anything to help, so I started thinking outside the box and here's what I came up with:
Hula hoops from Dollar Tree! I pulled the ribbon off and stashed it - I have ideas for the ribbon, but that's another post. I separated the hoops placed them over the bed. We had to trim them down a little, but the pruning shears did the job.
Handyman spent some time out in the garden last week with GBaby and turned all the soil. Isn't it pretty! The fabric came in a 10x10 sheet so I cut it in half. The 5x10 sheets will be used as frost protection and I have a second sheet that will be used for more of a "hot-house" type protection.
I took the sheets and sewed fabric scrap strips along the inside to tie the sheets to the hoops. I ended up using some clothespins on the ends too. It needs a little bit more shoring up along the short posts on the end of the bed and I think it will be ready to go.
Last night we had some pretty decent winds and it held up really well. I was afraid that it was going to double as a kite if the winds kicked up, and glad I was wrong. I'm planning on planting broccoli and spinach in the next week-and getting the other two pieces of fabric ready to go. We'll see how that all plays out!
This post is linked up at An Oregon Cottage's Tuesday Garden Party.
I love the out of the box thinking here! Great use of hula hoops!
ReplyDeleteNice - appreciate how you were able to reuse items to suit your circumstances!
ReplyDelete