To say I love hoop houses or high tunnels, is an understatement. I believe that we need to produce as much of our own food locally, when we can. No you can't grow tomatoes in January (without lots of heat and other stuff) but why not grow what you can. I have 6 high tunnels. 4 stationary ones and 2 movable ones. In a single year we will have over 5,000 square feet under plastic. If I have my way (I hope I do) I will put up one more this late summer/fall and replace my smallest one. Three years ago and $200 I built my first two tunnels. They were 12 by 18 and 8 by 12. I still have the 12 by 18. I took down the other one to make room for my 18.5 by 45. I build my own tunnels. They cost around $600 to build. I can't say enough about them. I think everyone should have one. At least on on every block. Yes, a 12 by 18 is enough space to feed a family. In addition to this, we have about another 3/4 of an acre we "Farm". Our produce feeds our family of 6 and I sell at 3-4 Farmers Markets a week. By the way in our zone 5, we are harvesting, zucchini, cucumbers, Pickling cucumbers, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, beets, chard, bok choy, carrots and onions from our tunnels. Pretty unbelievable with the spring we have had. Cool and wet. Check out our blog, I added the link below. Click on High tunnels on the right and page down. You will see all our tunnels. Jay Here is a link that might be useful: High Farming Blog

At this time of year you can only plant things like claytonia, spinach, etc, the very hardiest of plants. And even then, only expect the claytonia to do any real growing. Unfortunately, for a winter harvest, you really need to have planted in August and September and let the plants get to nearly-harvest size before the really cold weather and lower light levels slow the growth to nearly nothing. This year I was late planting seeds so I only have a few mustard, spinach, and carrots, but I was able to find transplants of lettuce, chard, and kale that I put in the first week in September. The kale was hit hard by cabbage worms and aphids early on, but I managed to wash them off and left the cold frame open for a frosty night--that finally did the bugs in, and the plants look great now. The lettuce is a bit sparse because I have been harvesting heavily, expecting a really hard freeze (common here just before/after Thanksgiving), and the lettuce isn't as hardy as kale and spinach. I've never grown chard in my fall/winter garden, so I don't know how hardy it will be, so I'll be making a big harvest this weekend for some braised chard. In about February, start planting your spring greens in the hoop house, as you can get to it. We don't have much snow cover here, so I can get to my cold frame/hoop house just about any time. My fall/winter garden is in my front garden (the south side of my house) so I can reach it conveniently. As I said, I was late planting this year, so I don't have any turnips and winter radishes (I grow black Spanish winter radishes, although I intend to try some new ones next year), and not enough carrots or spinach. I haven't tried claytonia or corn salad, in spite of hearing good things about them. I plant peas in that bed in the spring to help it recover from the heavy feeding greens, then apply compost in late summer and start over again. My early spring garden is in the back yard, on a south-facing slope that is sunny before the trees leaf out, but shady during most of the summer and early fall (therefore not suitable for the fall-garden growing season). I have the ribs of the hoop house up already, but will only put the plastic on in late January or early February, depending on the weather. Hope that helps some Catherine

If you have extra tomatoes, you could plant them now for a fall crop. I am going to be planting carrots this week for a mid to end of August harvesting. Another idea would be to plant some parthenocopic zucchini or cucs and have them in a about 6 weeks. Hear is a great idea, plant green beans now and harvest. Then plant some carrots in Mid August for winter harvest. No heat required, maybe some row cover though. Just a few ideas. Jay

First, welcome and congrats for moving down there. I'm not aware of elk going for veggies in hoops - where I lived in WA state we had elk everywhere and several folks had hoops, all ungulate-free. You have to put mesh/chicken wire/builder's cloth or something in the ground to keep critters out (ask the locals what they use). As far as venting, you'll have to play with it and your budget, but solid ends with operable openings - either by auto vent openers or electric fans - will likely be what you end up with. You'll have to play with the spacing of some crops, as the humidity inside will help you determine closeness. Raised beds are warmer for longer, but dry out faster, so your well capacity will drive your decision on that. You may want to look at the cost of two layers of film (inner layer thinner and clear), as that air gap will go a long way toward extending your season; many inflate the air space with a squirrel blower for more insulation. One other thing to look at in the film is both the IR reflectance and the condensation resistance of the inner film. Drips on little guy seedlings quickly make them unhappy and quit. If you can get light dispersion to minimize shadows, even better (but more cost). I highly recommend doing a search in the Greenhouse forum for this guy and finding his website, as he is an active participant and teaches workshops in high tunnel building in KS, can't guarantee he'll help but worth a shot for his insight on PVC connections and failures. Good luck, Dan