Hinged Hoop House for Raised Beds

 Materials

• Two 6 Foot Long 2 x 4’s- These will form the length of the hoop house. 

• Two 24 Inch 2 x 4’s - These will form the width of the hoop house. 

• 3 Inch Decking Screws - Use these to attach the boards to the frame firmly. 

• 4 "L" Brackets • 1⁄2 Inch PVC - This will form the arches of the hoop house. 

• 6 End Caps for 1⁄2 Inch PVC - These will hold the PVC frame in place on your hoop house frame. 

• Coated 1 5⁄8 Inch Screws - Use these to attach the end caps to the frame. 

• 1⁄2 Inch PVC T-Connectors - Used to connect the four pieces of each arch of the hoop house. 

• PVC Cross Connectors - Use for the center arch of your hoop house. 

• PVC Cutter - Use to cut the PVC pipe into 16-inch pieces. 

• Two 6-foot Long Furring Strips - Used to hold the plastic covering to the frame of the hoop house. 

• Two 24 Inch Furring Strips - Used to hold the plastic covering to the frame of the hoop house. 

• 8-10 Foot by 25 Foot Roll of 6 Mil Plastic Sheeting - Used to cover the hoop house. 

• Two 3 Inch Metal Hinges - Used to attach the hoop house to the frame. 

• Handle - Any handle will work. This will make it easier to open your hoop house. 

• 2 Screw Eyes - Used to secure a rope between the raised garden bed and the hoop house frame. 

• Rope - Used to attach the frame of the hoop house and the frame of the raised bed.

The first thing you need to do is to make a frame with 2x4s on top of the existing bed that is the same outer dimensions In order to strengthen the corners, put the L brackets in the corners with some1and 5/8 inch coated screws. You want to make sure that the longest 2x4s are on the outside and they're sandwiching the end 2x4s between them. The next thing we're going to add are the PVC end cap.  First pre-drill a hole in the bottom on all six of them. Drill one in each of the inside corners and one in about the center of the long sides. Next cut your PVC pipe this is/ in PVC into 16in sections (these measurements are for a 4x8 bed). Start on one end and put the PVC pipe segment down into the end cap and then use a "T". Put that "T" at each junction on one side, and then the other. Now that you have two arches do the middle one and it's going to be done the same way except instead of T's use the X's so

So now we have three arches the ones on the end the t's facing the middle and the one in the middle the t's facing left and right. Now take six pieces of/ in PVC and they're cut to about 44 and 1/2 in in length. Link these together and you can use PVC glue, however I don't think it's necessary. Now use the furring strips (about an inch by 3/4 of an inch) around the edge on the outside of the PVC end caps.  Make sure that you pre-drill your holes in these furring strips because furring strips have a tendency to split when you drill a screw straight into them.  Make sure that they're perfectly framing the end caps of of the uh PVC once you're fairly certain of that and you have them pre-drilled set them down on the sides of the bed for the next step. Add the plastic, the shade cloth or the netting. If you are adding plastic, you want to use a 6 mil plastic. A 10ft x 25ft roll will probably do two. You also need some scissors and you want to make sure it drapes down pretty far on both sides. In fact I'd say it's safe to drape it all the way to the ground. Unwrap it and try to line the creases in the plastic with the PVC underneath. It's just going to keep everything centered nd lined up. Use the furring strip to tighten these down. The first one is the least important the last one is the most important so you want to make sure it lines up with the end of the the frame. Drill in the center making sure this it is pushed all the way up against the PVC cap down at the end. Push it against that PVC cap and then two more in the middle one on each side. Go to the other side and line it up on the ends and then take this plastic and pull it as tight as you can get it and then press it down this is to clamp it down and push it against the PVC keep it pressed really tight all the way across the arch. On the ends pull down on the center and then fold this as neatly as possible, like a fan fold one side and then the other. Once you've got that, get a furring strip and press down and then pull push it right up against those PVCs in the corner and drill it in here. It doesn't have to be perfect. Now cut this about an inch away from the furring strip. Now put a 3-in hinge or two on the back side of the bed screw into the bed itself and then into the
cover and then to make this easy to open and close, add a simple metal handle from Home Depot or any hardware store. Once you do that, you can simply raise and lower the cover over the bed. Sometimes when you're going to want this bed to be completely open. For instance when you're planting it and so just take some eyebolts or screw eyes and put in the base of the cover one into the raised bed I use some heavy cord, such as parachute cord to keep it from flopping back, and  if in the daytime if it's closed and it heat up too much, all you need is just a scrap piece of wood or a brick just lift it. You can plant weeks earlier in the ground because what this when this is on here you're heating up the soil inside.
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