Hoop Houses

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks.   School began on September 9th and that has pretty much trumped everything.  Also, the summer gardens have been ending.  I am very lucky to live in a cooperative apartment community where we have a fairly large common backyard and courtyard.  The backyard is available for garden plots and also has a nice area for the children complete with sandbox and jungle gym.  There is also picnic table seating and benches.  At the school where I work, last year's 3rd grade teacher had made cold frames for the children's garden plots.  They were way out of my league.  They were made from wood and old glass windows. Also the frames were cut on an angle.   But I really thought it would be great to have some fresh lettuce in November...so I thought I would look it up.  God Bless Google..I found this video on YouTUBE:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6bWeYCV53A.  After watching this, I really truly could envision myself creating one of these.  I even day dreamed about it.  I truly believe that is part of exercising the will...going through the "motions" in your head and seeing yourself doing what you want to accomplish.

Well young Curtis and I made a trip to Home Depot and got all the necessary tools and materials.   And I have to say I am pretty pleased with how the hoop house turned out.  I purchased the wrong width plastic sheeting, and had to overlap three strips of plastic...but I will tape those seams shut once the really cold winds start to blow.

Here are some shots of the hoop house and the backyard in general.  Enjoy:

The finished hoop house (There is actually lettuce sprouting up.  I also planted some Zinnias.  Wouldn't it be great to have some fresh cut flowers when it is chilly outside.

Here is a picture of the garden plot before the hoop house was placed upon it.  The wheelbarrow is full of the old vegetation from the summer garden.

This is Curt's garden .  One of our generous neighbors let him garden on the unused half of her plot.   Here are the resident garden gnomes. 

Here is the play area....The sandbox, benches and kinder gym.  

The cheap Adirondack knock-off chairs that are oh so comfy after a long day in the Waldorf Nursery.  It is great to just kick back in one of those with some knitting and watch the children play in the garden.   

I am really proud of this.  I had the idea to make these little vine houses for the children in the spring and even purchased the fake bamboo for the project..but it got so hot so quickly...I just didn't get to it.  But a neighbor asked me to water her gardens for three weeks this summer.  I agreed and one of the gardens was a potted garden that was overrun with morning glories.  Then I had a eureka moment.  So I set up the little pole house and started to train the already well-established morning-glories ..and lo and behold they took off.  The children love this little "hidey-hole."  

Here are the remnants from our corn and pumpkin garden.   The corn came up..about 14 stalks  and we even got some small stunted but delicious corn and two tiny pumpkins.  They look very nice on the nature table.  I hope we get some real pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns next year.  

Here is Curt and the "robot" he made from some bricks we found and dug out in the backyard.  There must have been a border a long time ago near the fence...but these bricks were buried and overgrown by the existing plantings there.  Curt found them and we spent two hours digging them up the other day...what fun.  Now if I could just convince folks here to let me put down a brick patio and place a very safe fire pit on there...we might truly have some autumn ambiance in the garden.  

See that octagon picnic table in the background...it is sooooo cool.  There is another garden gnome.  How did he get up there?  

I am so grateful for the green space here.  I grew up in the heart of the city and never had enough green space.  It's a shame the Curt and I are about the only two residents who regularly come out into the backyard.  The rest like to hang out in the court yard.  The courtyard has a concrete walkway...grass and trees and benches.  It is very nice...but there is a bit of an echo as it is surrounded by three four story buildings...and while the concrete is great for riding bikes...I prefer to have grass under my feet.  Oh well.  Curt and I do love the backyard...we have been known to spend 4 hours at a time out there.   

Blessings.