A year or so ago, a friend was throwing out a dozen ten-foot-long, one inch-diameter, galvanized pipes. I said I would take them with the thought in mind of building an affordable hoop house. Having filled my 300-square-foot heated greenhouse with more than 200 plants, and with more plants than I intended in my unheated greenhouse, a hoop house seemed a very useful addition to provide more gardening space. My plan was to construct it over a pair of 4’ wide, 40-foot-long raised beds in my garden, enabling me to keep vegetables growing there at least until the beginning of January. Recently, I got this hoop house project underway.
What I had was straight pipe, so I needed to bend it. But in my long-ago teenage years, I had learned how to bend electrical conduit. That skill would come in handy now, so I purchased the required device for pipe bending. After a morning’s hard work and some $2 pipe connectors to fasten together half-hoops at the top, I had six twelve-foot-wide, six-foot-high, finished hoops for $2 apiece.
I then bought strips of 1”x2” furring to serve as purlins. After a day’s effort assembling the structure, I had a strong frame at a very low cost. My previous hoop houses, having been framed with PVC pipe, were not very strong, and strength is quite important living on the coast where spring winds can sometimes reach 20 to 30 mph. In fact, one of my PVC hoop houses blew away completely in a winter storm! I expected my new metal-framed hoop house to last much longer.
In the past, I’ve used polythene sheeting as a cover over temporary hoop houses. But with the expectation of reasonable longevity for my new metal-framed one, I decided to buy a greenhouse-quality cover, which would normally cost about $300. After some online searching, though, I managed to find a very good option for half that price and free shipping. Hopefully, it will last long enough to avoid frequent replacement.
When I add up the cost of building this hoop house, I think about eventually recouping what I’ve spent with the yield of vegetables I’m able to grow inside it. But you can make the same kind of return-on-investment (ROI) calculation even if you’re building a hoop house to grow plants, such as beautiful flowers, that simply give you pleasure. In fact, the same ROI calculation comes into play when deciding to own a greenhouse, which is far more expensive to build than a hoop house. If my 40-some orchids, for instance, give me great pleasure, then the expense of owning a greenhouse to grow them is well worth it to me. I think that most of us greenhouse owners feel the same way no matter what we enjoy growing.