In the spring it gives my peppers and eggplants a headstart by warming the soil and giving them frost protection in late may. This year (2006) eggplants went into the soil on May 9th.

The photo above is from fall of 2005 when eggplants were not ready before the Sept 10th frost but the mini-greenhouses allowed them to continue to ripen until well into October.

Construction is very simple. I recycle huge sheets of heavy duty bubble wrap, roughly 6' wide by 20' long. (Sorry, can't reveal my source, selfish bastard that I am.) The 6' long legs are 1x3 furring strips held together with a long nail at one end, bent over where it pokes through second strip, allowing the pieces to rotate. I space these about 4 or 5' apart. A long piece of rough cut wood about 2x2 is nailed across the top of the legs in the little notch created when they are spread to cover the 4' beds.

Using some scrap furring strip, I make some stakes about 18" long, pound them into the soil and nail the legs to them to anchor them against the wind. (I learned this the hard way.) Nail some scrap wood diagonally for bracing and that's the basic frame.

I lay out out a length of bubblewrap on one side, running it about 4' past the end of the frames, and tack the top edge to the horizontal 2x2. I do the same on the opposite side and then over the double thickness of bubblewrap at the ridge, I nail down another strip of wood to secure them. Don't be cheap with the nails. If I think of it, I wrap the second layer of bupplewrap around the top strip before nailing which offers a bit more protection against the wind.

I sandwich each of the lower edges of the plastic between two strips of wood and the weight holds the sides down in a breeze, but stakes or a rock will help in stronger winds. I like to be able to flip the side up over the top on a sunny day so I don't stake then down.

To close it up, I take the ends of the plastic, wrap them across the open ends and put a heavy stone on the bunched material on the ground. It's easier than my first go-round, when I used packing tape to seal it each time.

I admit, Lord and Burnham it ain't. It may not be pretty but I wanted free and easy and these things knock together quickly, can be made in any length and do the trick.

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