How to Build Low Tunnels Early and Start Summer Vegetables

Get a jump on the summer growing season by building a low tunnel in your vegetable garden. The tunnel looks and functions like a miniature greenhouse, enabling you to grow summer vegetable crops much earlier than normal. Just remember to remove the structure when the weather warms up, or your crops will cook. When autumn arrives, put the low tunnel back up; you'll be able to keep harvesting your summer vegetable crops a few weeks longer than in an unprotected garden bed.

Black plastic
Sturdy metal rod
10-foot lengths of PVC pipe (enough to install one pipe every five feet in the row)
Poly row cover
Sand bags
Two 3-foot wooden stakes
Sturdy rope

Instructions

- 1
  Lay black plastic on the garden bed in late winter or early spring, when the snow starts melting. The black plastic will absorb heat from the sun and transfer it to the soil, helping it to warm up much sooner than bare ground will.
- 2
  Use a sturdy metal rod to bore holes in the ground every 5 feet along the edge of the bed. Bore corresponding holes on the opposite side of the bed in the same manner.
- 3
  Insert a 10-foot length of PVC pipe into one of the prepared holes. Bend the PVC pipe into a hoop shape, and insert the other end into the corresponding hole on the other side of the bed. You may find this step easier to accomplish with the help of an assistant. Install the rest of the hoops in the same manner.
- 4
  Drape poly row-cover material over the hoops. Ensure that the fabric is wide enough to completely cover the hoops, with at least 12 extra inches on the ground on each side. The fabric also should extend beyond the open ends of the structure by at least 36 inches.
- 5
  Place one sand bag at the base of each hoop on both sides of the structure. The sand bags will anchor the row-cover material so it doesn't blow away.
- 6
  Install wooden stakes at the open ends of the structure. Bury at least 1 foot of the stake below ground so the part that stays above ground is 2 feet high.
- 7
  Gather the end of the fabric at one end of the hoop into your hands. Tie it into a bunch with a sturdy rope about 4 feet long. Do the same at the other end of the structure.
- 8
  Tie the other end of the rope to the wooden stake on one end of the structure.
- 9
  Pull the rope taut at the other end of the structure before you secure it to the wooden stake located there. The rope and stakes will provide tension to the structure, which will make it more secure.
- 10
  Plant summer vegetables in the covered row by cutting an “X” into the black plastic. Either insert a transplant or sow seeds in the resulting opening.

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