What Size Hoop House Do I Need to Grow My Own Food?

Are you thinking about growing your own food?

Not sure how much space you’ll need?

Whether you're dreaming of fresh-picked tomatoes and crisp lettuce for your kitchen or planning to sell produce at a local market, one of the first questions you’ll need to answer is: how big of a hoop house do I actually need?

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to choose the right hoop house size based on your goals—whether you're growing just for your family or aiming for small-scale sales.

Why a Hoop House Over a Green House?

A hoop house (also known as a high tunnel) is a greenhouse-like structure made with a steel frame and covered with plastic coverings. It shields plants from extreme weather, extends your growing season, and allows you to grow food nearly year-round in most parts of the country, even without supplemental heat. Greenhouses often use glass or rigid panels and concrete floors, driving up the cost and complexity of your project.

What Are Your Growing Goals?

If you're growing food for your family or experimenting with season extension, our 16-foot-wide hoop house is a great entry point. It's ideal for smaller garden plots or backyard spaces but still provides room for serious production, especially with proper planning and crop rotation.
If you’re looking to grow a wider variety of crops, a22.5-foot-wide hoop house gives you more space, without being overwhelming. It’s perfect for hobby farmers or those looking to supply friends, family, or a small CSA.
For growers interested in scaling up for market sales, restaurants, or larger community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, our 30-foot-wide models provide the volume and versatility needed to grow efficiently and maximize your harvest. These hoop houses retain heat better than narrower structures, and can support large planting areas, walkways, and multiple growing zones.

What Do You Want to Grow?

The type of crops you plan to grow can significantly impact the size you’ll need.

Tomatoes need around 4 square feet per plant, especially if you're staking or trellising them.
Bunching greens like kale or swiss chard prefer to have around 2 square feet per plant.
Head vegetables like lettuce or pac choi are compact and only need around a square foot per plant, making them great space-savers.
Peppers need about 2 square feet per plant.
Cucumbers, especially if you trellis them, need around 2 to 3 square feet per plant.
Root vegetables can be tightly planted and work well in smaller beds.

If you're growing a mix of crops and want space for crop rotation or succession planting, make sure to allow about 25–35% more room than the minimum requirement.

Where Are You Growing?

Your local climate will also affect the ideal hoop house size. In colder regions, a larger hoop house helps retain heat, which can be essential for early spring or late fall growing. In warmer zones, you may not need the extra space for heat retention, but you’ll need to prioritize ventilation to keep plants from overheating.

Grow Confident with a Nifty Hoops Hoop House