Extend the Growing season
with a Double-Covered Low Tunnel

The concept of a low tunnel for the garden really excited me for it was easy to make and inexpensive. I first read about it in a review of a seminar that Eliot Coleman gave for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener at their Common Ground Country Fair.

This is the procedure I used to make mine.

We prepared a soil bed in the garden 30 feet long and 4 feet wide. On either side of the bed we made 12 inch deep holes in the soil spaced 4 feet apart. We then took a 10 foot long, half inch diameter,PVC Electrical conduit and bent it to go into each of the holes.This left eight feet of pipe curving over the top.

We were able to get eight PVC electrical conduit at our local building supply for $8.10.

If the weather becomes too warm this winter, we can remove some of the bricks and prop open the sides.

The cost of the cover cloth was $9.00.

When the weather turns very cold, we will cover the Agribon with plastic. We put new plastic on the big greenhouse this spring and saved the old plastic,which we will now use as our double-cover during the deep cold of winter.

So we were able to make the low tunnel for $17.10. This is a lot less than the cost of our recently acquired hoop house and will prove just as effective,according to Eliot Coleman.

We have planted half spinach and half carrots in our new protected bed and expect that we will be able to harvest both in March.

I am looking forward to our early harvest. My organic garden will be able to offer more choice to my customers.