Every year I always get my garden going a lot later than I hope. This year is going to be different – I’m going to be ahead of the game!
This past week I put together a small mini-hoop house in one of my garden beds. My plan is to start some seeds this coming week, and when the plants get big enough, keep them out in the hoop house until it’s safe to plant them in the ground.
Easy peasy - I kept it really simple… I used some scraps of PEX tubing I had leftover from installing my radiant heat system, some pieces of rebar and some zip ties. I pounded the rebar into the ground and just slipped the PEX over them. By using the zip ties for the brace on the top, it’s going to be really easy to take down and apart when it’s not needed anymore. I have leftover heavy weight plastic from another project, so my only cost was for the rebar (10 x .87).
I have all the seeds I want to plant except for two… I know where I want to order them from, but I am waiting to see if I can can a free shipping deal first.
The other project I want to get done this week will then be getting a fence around the garden area to keep out the Stupid-Evil-Garden-Eating rabbits out this year. The most inexpensive thing I could find was plastic garden fencing, so that’s what I’m going to have to use. It won’t be the prettiest thing, but hopefully it will do the job 
4 comments:
Brain Fart in Full Effect:
- around my non-edibles, I use dog "business"... keeps the critters away
- We used fencing around our weed garden last year, it kept the little critters out, but it was a buffet-snot-guard for the deer.
- It's totally gross, but, you can get dried blood at most nurseries. Grandpa pretty much swore by it.
- One year I planted marigolds around my rows. I read someplace that they deter animals and some bugs.
- I also used dog fur in my veggie beds. Good in theory, but it goes with the wind.
The weather is soooo not cooperating - I was hoping to get the fence up this week... maybe this weekend - we'll see!
I've heard about the marigolds and dried blood keeping critters, but not the other things. I'm going to give the fence a chance first before I try anything else - I'm hoping it will work, because I really want to harvest something from my garden this year!
Hi Jill,
Thanks for checking out my blog. Your hoop gardens look very impressive and very professional. Amazing that you put those together with so little expense!
Just a note on the rabbit problem, 4 years ago I bought plastic fencing and posts and Steve and I spent an afternoon installing the fence around the outside of my vegetable garden (which was quite large at the time). Imagine my dismay the next day when I went out and found that the rabbits had chewed holes right through the plastic fence - wow was I ticked!
The only thing I found that works to keep them out is regular wire fencing (with the very small holes on the bottom and larger towards the top) and used kitty litter. I have to reapply the litter on a regular basis but it does really seem to work. Good luck with your gardens.
@ Sapphire - Ugh! I knew that the plastic fencing was only a temporary solution until I had the $$$ for something better - but I thought it would succumb to the elements... I never thought about the rabbits *chewing* through the fencing :(
I'll have to see if I can pick up some cheap chicken wire and maybe run it around the bottom to get me through this summer... Thanks for the head's up!
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