It's not hard to do but there is a cost. We had spare copper pipe hanging around the garage from something else, so that got cut into 30" lengths and pounded into the ground to anchor the ends of each hoop. Instructions we have found for building something like this suggested rebar or other metal pipe for the anchors, so use what you have handy
The 9 10' sections of 3/4" pvc pipe cost $7.98 each from Rona (like Home Hardware or Lowes) so a total of $71.82 plus tax.
The 4 pvc connectors total cost was $9 plus tax.
The 100' roll of 10' wide vapour barrier cost $56 plus tax.
So total before tax was $136.82 plus tax (which for us in AB is 5% GST).
(edited: forgot the zipper cost, those were $9.95 each, so add another $20 to my total above.)
We have pretty much constant wind here in southern Alberta, thus why we have so many windmills for power generation. So far, winds aren't an issue, and it has been quite windy the past couple of days.
Snow will be the real test, although the snow we get is small light crystals because it is pretty arid here. Occasionally in the spring we'll get heavy wet snow/rain like what we used to get on the coast when we lived in Vancouver, but not often.
The frame on this thing is actually quite strong and we have quite thick plastic on it, I think the frame can hold up to just about anything our local weather can throw at it but the plastic will have to be tested
Going to have to watch my watering in this thing, when I went in to check everything yesterday it was so humid inside that it rained on me when I bumped the plastic!
Hoop house survived the huge windstorm we had Sunday night, and is doing it's job well extending our season! The tomatoes are slowly ripening, the cukes are almost ready, and the carrots will stay in there till the ground freezes up--saving us storage space till then. The cool crops and greens we planted are starting to show, it will be so nice to have those fresh as we head deeper into fall.
Hubs took DD15 to emerg last night, as she was doubled over in stomach pain after school that lasted until dinner and she didn't want to eat. She is quite active and requires a lot of small meals/snacks throughout the day and she/we just thought she was hungry, but her after-school snack and then a stab at dinner did nothing for her so hubs took her in. Fortunately it wasn't busy and they were able to see her right away, they did blood and urine tests as well as an x-ray and determined that she is blocked up and also suffering some acid reflux as a result. Today she's on stool softeners and I've sent her to school with a high fibre lunch.
I can't tell you how worried I was that it was something more serious like an ulcer, as she so often had "hungry" stomach pain and drinks a lot of milk to stave that off until whatever she is eating kicks in. But the doc said no sign of ulcer, just the blockage. And that her hunger levels are normal for how active she is, and that the whole milk she's been drinking is perfect.
I'm glad she's doing ok. ER runs are never fun and I seem to do them with my oldest more than anyone. She's just going to be 9 in December and last night made 2 for head issues, 2 for middle of the night screaming ear infections, 4 for asthma, I think that's all of them... Only gone once for the 5YO and once for the 3YO.