I've got a lot of little tomatos and eggplants that got started late (lost first planting to weeks of no sun, replanting was too late, and third batch was saved seeds that got wet so started them as well) and I doubt frost will hold off long enough for them to amount to anything.

I'm putting most of them in containers that I can move fairly easily, so IF, IF, I could only give them JUST A LITTLE protection for two/three weeks in Sept, it might make the difference between getting something from them or nothing at all.

And, thinking futher ahead, the same thing that could save these plants could also give me a two-month head start on the natural growing season. We often get a lot clear, sunny weather when soil and air temps are still just a tad too cold for tender plants to be running around naked and the risk of frost remains (and when it does freeze, it freezes pretty hard), with the last frost followed by a prolonged cool, wet, cloudy spell -- just at the time new seedlings most desperately need sunshine.

I am not looking to keep plants through the coldest months (late Dec through early March), but I would have to leave the structure up all winter, because there could be three feet of snow on the ground at the time it would need to go up in the spring. However, I do have horses, so if I could rig up something like a giant hotbed using horse manure and waste hay/straw/shavings to creat heat, I have the materials in great plenty.

A second problem presents itself in the form of the barn cats, who I'm sure would look at a giant plastic bubble as just the most fun climbing and claw-excersising colossus EVER invented and would have it shredded in no time. (The fun they had with a garbage bag filled with used hay twines was just a teaser!)

I'm not looking to put a whole lot of money into this notion, because the whole idea of working this hard on gardening is to save money on groceries, not fill up my spare time with a hobby. I've seen these 10'x20' covered things they call "carports" covered with some kind of white material. I can stand the price at $140, but would it let enough light in? The sides appear to be removable, so the whole south side could be opened up on days when the only thing keeping it from being a heck of a nice day is a bit of wind from the north. Is this idea feasible? Are there other ideas that would serve my purpose?