Below is how we make our hoop frames. They are simple to build, are flexible in size and can be moved easily

We make our frames to fit the length of garden beds. They are very easy to take down and re-erect anywhere.
If your garden bed is too long for the standard sizes you can buy custom cut lengths to fit. Remember to allow for the height of the hoop house at both ends.

*note: GrowCover HD though tougher, only comes in 2m, 4m and 8m widths

To work out length of GrowCover you need:
Garden bed length + twice the height of the frame + an extra 2Ocm for securing the ends.

Example: For a 4 metre long garden bed with a hoop 95 cm high you need 6.3 metres of GrowCover
or 4m + 95cm+ 95cm+ 40cm = 6.3m.

This allows 20 cm of fabric at each end that can be secured with butterfly clips, timber, bricks or an earth staple.

How much fabric do I need?
Below is a guide to which width and length of GrowCover you need

Q & A See some questions customer have asked and the answers	Ready to make your own hoop house? Go to the Quick Cart to order

Note that 10 metres is the minimum custom cut length for GrowCover and 5 metres for GrowCover HD.

Making a supporting hoop frame

You can use GrowCover without a frame, just throw it over the plants as a floating row cover.This is quite handy when you have fruiting plants like tomatoes that need protection from birds or a newly seeded area which benefits from the extra water retention.

In our experience for growing vegetables a frame works better. Just lift the fabric when you need to weed, harvest etc. and clip it to the frame to keep it out of your way.

Cloche or Poly pipe hoop frame

We use 25mm rural black poly pipe which is rigid enough to support the structure and smooth so that the GrowCover does not catch, making it easy to lift on or off.

We cut the poly pipe 20 or 40 centimeters shorter than the width of the GrowCover fabric so there is a ground flap left over of 10 or 20 centimeters each side. So, if our GrowCover is 3 metres wide we cut the poly pipes to 2.6 metres. For 2 metre GrowCover we cut the pipe 1.8 metres.

As a rule of thumb we install the hoops of poly pipe at intervals of about one metre, then adjusted to the length of the bed. 

• Use 5 hoops for 2m x 5m GrowCover with about 50 cm drop at both ends.
• Use 10 hoops for 2m x 10m GrowCover with about 50 cm drop at both ends.
• Use 6 hoops for 3m x 7m GrowCover with about 100 cm drop at both ends.
• Use 4 hoops for 4m x 5m GrowCover with about 100 cm drop at both ends.

We find this gives good stability while giving easy access to the plants growing under the GrowCover hoop house.

The width of the bed under the GrowCover hoop house is up to you.The narrower you make it the higher the hoops at the apex.

To hold the hoops upright we use galvanised metal rods 40 centimeters long pushed (or driven) into the ground leaving about 15 centimeters above the surface. Normally the rods would be perpendicular, but if you decided to have a very wide and low hoop tunnel you may find it better to lean them slightly inwards.

The pictures above show poly pipe sliding over a metal spike to support a hoop.

Once all the hoops are installed you are ready to cover with the GrowCover fabric.
We allow a 10cm or 20cm flap of fabric on each side at ground level that this can be held down by bricks, pegs or lengths of timber to make it more difficult for pests to crawl underneath and chomp on your young plants.
We do not usually need to do this but just  secure the fabric with Jumbo clips to the frame at ground level.

The GrowCover can be attached in various other ways too.

Ways to secure GrowCover to poly pipe hoops or cloche frames and the ground

Jumbo clips are exceptionally easy and quick to attach and replace and do not tear the fabric. We use them to clamp the GrowCover fabric to 25mm poly pipe hoops.

Butterfly clips can be attached to the edge of the fabric and pegged into the ground. Double over the fabric for extra strength.

Cut lengths of poly pipe. You can try cutting short lengths of poly pipe, splitting them lengthways and inserting them over the fabric and onto the frame pipe. There is I think a commercial version of this concept.

The fabric at the ends of the cloches or hoop houses can be secured in a number of ways, the simplest is to put a loose piece of timber or bricks on the end  or roll the timber up in any spare fabric to secure it more if you live somewhere windy. Alternatively you can gather the fabric together tie with string or a strong rubber band and peg into the ground.

More stylish methods we have tried are shown below.

A garden stake can be inserted into a seam at the end of the fabric to keep the end flaps in place.
This also makes it easy to handle the fabric when removing or installing. If the stake is wider than the cloche or hoop house it stops the wind blowing the ends inwards.

Butterfly clips can easily be attached to the fabric, threaded with tape or string, pulled together or spread out and pegged into the ground. Remember the fewer pegs you have to remove for tending the plants the better.

Make a seam and thread with tape or string (rubber spline used for fly screens works well ) to gather the fabric together and peg it into the ground.

Use Earth Staples - the easiest of all, and keeps the fabric secure against wind and small animals.

Use the same method for frames made from pvc or metal pipe.

You can of course put more than one cloche or hoop tunnel in a wide garden bed, for example if you prefer to have two small frames side by side in stead of one big one it works just fine.

Alternative frames we have tried - just experiment and see what works for you. If you are growing up against a wall other designs would work - something like a roman blind perhaps.