A Final Peek Under The Hoops

Time to take the plastic off.

This pic shows kale on the left side.  My notes read ‘Vates Kale’, but I didn’t note the seed vender.  I like this kale.  A few carrots are in the very front right side.  The empty space after the carrots is where spinach was planted.  Under all 3 of my hoops this past winter, I had a real problem with aphids.  They, of course, never freeze out under the hoops – nothing freezes under the hoop.  A bit further back, with the red stems, are Detroit beets.  I don’t know if they will mature in a month – within a month I will be pulling out everything except some kale and chard so that I can plant my spring crop of squash and peppers.  These cool weather crops had their chance.  If the beets don’t mature their roots, I will at least be able to harvest the greens.

I am really having a problem trying to figure out how to grow under the hoop in Texas.  This past winter started out in October with a rough week or 2 of freezes, then it was very warm for a few months and winter finished with a few weeks of freezing weather.  This lack of consistency causes problems like early  bolting and stunting.  I’m going to have to think this thru for next winter.  I also learned this winter to NOT grow broccoli or cabbage under the hoop.  (The cabbage & broccoli grown outside of the hoops is doing great.) I also can’t grow spinach under the hoop.  I’ll also have to be more vigilant about the aphids.  Also, the cos lettuce didn’t need to be under the hoops – it didn’t do well.  I think that the main reason that I planted all of these things under the hoops was to protect them from rabbits.  Last fall the rabbits ate all of my lettuce and spinach.  This winter they didn’t even touch any of the cabbage or broccoli that was planted in the open.  The only rabbit issue I had was one blue berry plant eaten.

Some of this gorgeous kale is bolting and some isn’t.  While I like this kale, I don’t believe a few plants will be enough to save for seeds.  Also, I just don’t have the room to let this leaf crop sprout it’s seed heads – that takes a lot of space.

This is a close up of the kale and small beets.

There is no reason to show pics of the other 2 hoop garden beds – they aren’t this impressive.

Last winter this bed provided me a bountiful crop of chard that I spent weeks dehydrating in the food dryer.  Chard will be one of my main hoop crops next winter.

Again, my hoop garden is 5′ wide & 16′ long.  A 10′ length of gray plastic conduit fits perfectly from one bottom edge to the other, held in place by a 2′ section of 3/8″ rebar cut into 2′ sections with 12″ of each piece pounded into the ground.  I bought a $40 box of thick plastic.  The 100′ roll was cut into four 25′ sections.  The 12′ width fit perfectly over the hoops with a foot on each end resting on the ground, weighted down with old 2×4 pieces of lumber.  The extra 3 to 4′ of plastic on each end was gathered and weighed down with a few bricks or rocks.

I like the idea of the hoop gardens, but I need to rethink this and work it some other way next winter.

Lettuce After The Rabbits Visited

Last winter rabbits ate all of my lettuce and spinach growing in this bed.  These few cos lettuce plants regrew, as did 2 spinach plants at the far end of the bed – top right of this pic.

It is time to pick this lettuce – I don’t need the seeds so I’m not going to let it go to seed.  I planted peppers, basil, onions and squash around the lettuce.  (The peppers and onions were started from seed.  These basil are volunteers.)

Those are t-posts holding up a 16 foot cattle panel that the winter squash planted directly under it is going to grow up on.  I keep my beds heavily mulched with old leaves.  Raised beds are not the best idea here in hot, dry Texas, but it is how I have chosen to grow my garden in this red CLAY soil here.

My Hoop Garden Is Taking Shape

I have prepared two of my raised beds for hoop gardens. I plan to do this for my 3rd bed that doesn’t have a raised cattle panel running down the middle of it.

The beds are made out of 16′ lengths of 1×6 treated lumber.  The boxes are 5′ wide.  I purchased four 20′ sections of 3/8″ rebar and had one of my sons cut them into 2′ sections.  I decided to put 7 hoops on each 16′ bed.  I pounded the 2′ sections of rebar 1′ into the ground, leaving 1′ above ground – the height of the bed side.   I used 10′ sections of gray electrical conduit to bend over the bed for the arch.  Each end of the conduit covers the raised 1′ section.  Hopefully this will be satisfactory to anchor the pressured ends of the conduit.  I plan to tie a piece of the gray conduit along the top of the arch to keep the pipes properly spaced.  I will then cover the arches with clear plastic.  I need to find a thick 50′ roll of plastic.  Twenty-five feet will cover each bed with enough to gather at the ends.  I need a roll that is at least 12′ wide so that it will cover the 10′ arch and leave at least a foot to lay on the ground and be weighed down by old garden timbers or lengths of wood.

I still need to work the ground around these beds – putting mulch around the beds.

Another view:

The winters here have been getting colder each year for a while now, so I am hoping these covered hoop beds will allow me to grow winter crops better.  On the list for my winter crops are:  cabbage, broccoli, spinach, lettuce – both leaf and cos, turnips, carrots, fava beans, peas and whatever else I can’t think of at the moment.  Garlic doesn’t need to be protected from the freezes.

Lettuce Sprouting All Over The Place

This past summer I let almost a dozen Parris Isle cos lettuce plants go to seed. I harvested over a quarter cup of seeds. Plenty of other seeds landed all over the place and sprouted in the walkway, in empty pots, in beds, just where ever they landed.

Here are a couple of pics of lettuce sprouting in walkways:

As a curious note: I have noticed that these saved seeds that I have deliberately scattered around in patches in the garden have produced a lettuce plant that never seems to fully mature into the large, 12″+ high, large heads that the plants they came from did. Lettuce self pollinates, so I don’t see how it could be a matter of bad or limited genetics. Then, after growing to 8 to 10 inches, the plants quickly die out. I’ll try to get a pic up. I’m not saving seed from these plants. I have fresh seed for next season.

Looking At The Greenhouse – See The Lettuce Inside

Looking at the lettuce in the greenhouse – an outside view:

See all of that green stuff in around the greenhouse? Most of it is weeds. Weeds don’t freeze out around here, just vegetables do.

Lets Talk About The Lettuce In The Greenhouse

I grow my leaf lettuce in the greenhouse because leaf lettuce can freeze. I grow most of my cos lettuce outside because cos lettuce can freeze solid and thaw out perfectly in the sun the next day. It is amazing.

Two views of the lettuce I grow on shelves in the greenhouse:

The leaf lettuce is further in on the shelves, the cos lettuce is closer to the camera.

These cos lettuce seedlings need to be planted in the ground outside:

A closeup of leaf lettuce: