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Got one high tunnel truss frame welded up. Sucker's almost 18' tall by 22' wide. Took some doing to get the five pieces of pipe flat, square and get the dimensions correct etc. Going to use this as a pattern/jig to weld up the other seven. Then I just need to figure out how me and my son are going to stand them up and set them down into holes in the ground. The leg pieces were taken from partials/scrap from my local steel pipe supplier and vary from 6-7 foot long so I'll use the truss frames with 7 foot legs for the ends and disperse the rest evenly, whether it ends up being one in the middle or two evenly spaced in between the ends. The long legged ones that will be almost 18' tall will go almost 3 foot into the ground so that I end up with a 15 foot tall tunnel.

Will need to prime and paint them after spraying them with Ospho rust treatment. I'll have Jason do that. Also read one time that it's a good idea to run tape on the top/outer side of the pipe where the plastic makes contact. Will have to research that and see what kind of tape is recommended. Should be able to get the frame up and ready for plastic by early to mid March. Only 8 days left in Feb and I work five of them. Need to do cross bracing, build end walls, doors, vents and drop down sides.

Might be able to get maters in there even if there's no end walls. If I have plastic over it, I can toss some shade cloth over that if we have another heat wave like last year. Not going to be a season extender for this Spring but will be this Fall.

Ahh geez. "Guardian Felt Tape"

Extend the life of your greenhouse film covering with our Guardian Felt Tape. The acrylic compound adhesive adheres readily to aluminium, steel and timber frame work. The Guardian Felt Tape has excellent resistance to temperature and moisture fluctuation while also performing well when exposed to UV light.

Run this one-sided adhesive felt tape along your greenhouse rafters to reduce wearing and chafing of your greenhouse covering.
Prevents film degrading as film does not rub against pipe.
Comes in easy-to-use 1.5" x 40' rolls.

40 foot for $25 (plus shipping) and I would need a roll for each truss frame, eight of them.

Progress! :)

I have been reading two books for inspiration:

Year-Round Vegetable Gardening - Nicki Jabbour (She gardens in Canada, Eh!)

...and my always fave, ‘Four Season Harvest’ by Eliot Coleman.

Our Spring weather is so unpredictable, but extending things into the fall would be great. I’m primed with my success of growing salad greens until December 23rd this past season.

Yay! :)