building a high tunnel

We started by joining two 10 foot pieces of 1 inch PVC together. We needed two with a 3way attachment (for the ends) and five with a 4way attachment (for the middle sections). To glue them together we used Oatey purple primer and Oatey regular clear PVC cement.

Next we cut six 1 inch PVC pieces at 5 feet, to act as spacers in between the hoops.

To start off the build we drove in five foot T posts into the ground every five feet.(we used one of the 5 foot PVC spacers to help measure) After they were pounded in we put caps on the top so that there would not be sharp edges.

The next day we were working on the two end openings so they would be sealed for the winter.

We had a door that was left over from our greenhouse build (https://sites.google.com/view/anna's-library/tutorials/wood/building-a-greenhouse). We framed in the door using 2x4s.

We attached the wood to the T post by using a little scrap of chicken wire with screws and washers.

We stood up the door and secured it with 3 foot T posts and screws. Then we put a header board up to support the door. I am not sure how this will hold up but we attached the wood to the PVC pipe using zip ties.

We wanted to be able to open and close the sides so in the summer it could get air flow. We used a scrap piece of wood to sandwich the plastic to the header board. We then used big clips to hold the plastic on to the T posts and PVC.

The back was secured using both the PVC clips and big clips. The big clips enable us to release the plastic and roll up the sides in the summer. Then we trimmed away any of the extra plastic to give it a finished look.

To secure the plastic to the ground we taped the plastic to a piece of PVC all the way around. This will also allow us to roll up the sides in the summer. In the corners we used a 90 degree angle PVC adapter so that the sides could clip into each other. This helps keep the sides from flapping around in the wind.

*To find more information on high tunnel builds and growing check out Eliot Coleman’s book Four-season Harvest: Organic Vegetables From Your Home Garden all Year Around at your local library.