Great idea! Since I'm probably moving and have only one more summer in AZ, I opted for old white bedsheets. I have a bunch of them from the Medical clinic that I used to own, so they're free. Free is always good. Summer is never a pretty time in an AZ garden, it's survival time. The way I have the sheets and where my veggie gardens are, they're not very obvious and not visible from anywhere except the side of the house. We have six foot fences and they barely show the poles but not the sheets above the tops of the fences.
It's only for a short part of the year. From Sept through May, everything looks so much nicer.

This is a fantastic idea...my garden is roughly 100' x 200' (I measured it once but forgot), so I am mulling over mega shade cloth options for next year.

How do you all support your shade cloth?

Jo

Jo, I think if it were me (and it probably will be) I'd cut it into manageable sections instead of trying to put up one huge piece. Unless, that is, you happen to have a solid wall or fence to anchor it into. We have the 6' chain link behind the garden, and I may anchor one end securely to that. It will give me a solid base to pull the rest of it out and anchor it to t-posts.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd certainly rather pay $30 for a huge camo net that will do the whole thing and then some, rather than spend $50 for a section of shade cloth that's 10 x 16', plus the shipping charges. Kenny does get pretty creative and inventive with garden projects now and then. Wonder where he gets it?? Hmmm. :-)

Pat

Pat...that is SUCH a good idea. On the north side of my property, my garden is bordered by a 6' tall round rail/chainlink fence. I could cut strips and attach them to the fence and to something else through out the garden...maybe t posts. I am WAY too cheap to spend hundreds or thousands on actual shade cloth.

Jo

If you used a parachute I'd cut some holes in it to let the Okie wind through.

Jo, who was it that built the 'tomato henge'? Did you see how strips of rebar were welded at right angles on to the t-posts? I'm thinking that if something like that was done across the tops of the posts, it would give something to wrap around and a more solid anchor for the shade.

Betty's right. If it's parachute fabric, it might need some air holes to prevent it from ending up in Arkansas. I could use it in a small area where it would be stapled to a wooden frame, like over the chicken pens I'm going to turn into potting areas. I've seen just how long one of those portable screen rooms lasts here. About 30 minutes if a good breeze is blowing.

But I'm really fascinated with the idea of finding camo netting and using it. I remember seeing some photos taken in LA during WWII when there were whole city blocks and factories with parking lots hidden under it. The light was just filtered, not heavy shade, and from the air, the whole thing was invisible. It was pretty amazing. Not that I have anything to hide, but it would probably be a lot more durable in the wind, simply because it's more porous and lets the wind and rain through instead of catching it. Now I'm going to be on a quest to find some of it. I forgot that hunters love to use this stuff when they are setting up blinds, so the new and fancy stuff can be pricey. I've been told that Tinker has a surplus store on base. Need to check it out. I'll post any info I get about it.

Pat

Sounds like a great idea. I wonder how much light it lets through? I would also be careful how I mounted it. So that hot air doesn't get trapped under it. Being nylon it will depend on how it is woven. I originally put a shade cloth(60%) over my container plants a few weeks ago. On hot days when I would get home in the evening it was hot and very humid under it. I checked with some hoop house sites and they say even with shade cloth many times you will need to create air flow with a fan, ect. I think in this area if you have it high enough and flat on top and don't go down on the sides any you might be ok. I removed mine. I have seen disease problems if it stays too humid. I cut the cloth into 3 ft squares and put one over each 2 ft cage. The plants love it. Not some are going out the top of the cages and I'm having to remove them. Hopefully it will continue to cool down and I won't need to find a way to mount them higher. Jay

I think Tomatohenge was Diane/Owiebrain. Now that was a feat of engineering that I could NEVER hope to come close to! Amazing stuff. I will go buy her house (and garden) if she ever moves again. :P

Jo

If we all start hanging camo netting over our gardens, I can see the feds knocing on our doors asking for a closer look. :P

Jo

Yeah, Tomatohenge was Diane.

Here is a link that might be useful: tomatohenge

For my shade, I have t-posts, extended the length with PVC pipe that I tucked into the notch of the t-pots. I then z-tied the sheet onto each corner of the PVC. The attachment of the sheets is the area that I would like to improve. In high winds, they get blown down, so I have to put the shade back up after storms. At least this keeps it from getting torn or breaking the post, though. I remember, when I was in grade school, the gym teacher had one and we would play with it. It was one of my favorite gym exercises.

Hey Jo. Actually, I thought the same things about the Feds. Might be a shock if they found out it was only a shade for garden plants. :-)

I'm posting a photo of some stuff I found that is similar to what I'm looking for.
It's very well ventilated, waterproof and mold and mildew-proof. There's one in a lighter weight that comes in assorted colors, including white, but I don't know if it would provide much shade. It should not build heat under it unless it was domed down over the plants. I don't know whether it would work or not, but it's something to consider. A 10' x 20' piece is $58. A 12 x 18' white garden shade cloth is going for $78. Not cheap if you need it for a big garden. I think there must be another answer. I need to keep looking. Either that or a whole bunch of us are going to be using old curtains and bedsheets!

{{gwi:1125546}}

Pat

I love the camo netting idea. My brother & sister in law have them as curtains in their house (they're bambi killers & the whole house is decorated in dead animals & hunting weapons) so I've seen how well they filter light. I'll have to look into getting some for myself.

The whole idea reminds me of living in some kind of End of the World, Survivalist Armed Camp, Waco Texas, David Koresh, Ranch-Style Gardening Apocalypse and I would find it creepy looking outside seeing all this ridiculous military paraphernalia. You guys are getting bizarre and your brains are cooked. Seems like some people are over reacting to this summer and will be out there next spring, over doing it by going over the top with gadgetry trying to "win" a war with nature, gunned up and ready.

I can't wait for the next big gust of wind and reading the stories of parachute material taking to the skies.

I remember K2 and all those idiots stocking up on water and canned vegetables feeding fear and panic. We are having a bad summer. It happens every so often. It doesn't mean you have to go to extremes from here on out.

I was going to buy shade cloth anyway, even before it turned as hot as it has been this year. If I can find a cheaper and equally effective alternate for it, and get twice as much for the same price, I'm all in favor of it. Since I can't see my veggie garden from the house, and none of the neighbors see it either, it hardly matters to me whether it's expensive 'real' shade cloth or cheaper military surplus stuff. And I did say that it comes in solid color (blue, green, or white) netting for those who can't stand the camo look.

The parachute fabric would only work if it was riddled with small slits to let the wind and rain through it. Anyplace but the central plains it would probably be fine. Not here. If I could get one for really cheap, I might try it. Otherwise, probably not. It wouldn't be worth the work to make it usable.

Pat

Well scuzzzzzzz me.

This is certainly not the first year that people have used shade cloth in Oklahoma, but since the heat started so early and has continued for so long, more people have become interested in it this year.

It's been a lot of years since I went to a military surplus store, but the parachute idea sounds like a good one to me.

Jo,

We're thinking along the same lines. The camo cloth would pretty much guarantee close range fly overs by agency helicopters. We get those on occasion anyway, with my unconventional landscaping. The first time it happened, the helicopter hovered so closely that the windows in my house shook violently. At first I thought it was an earthquake. But now we've had so many earthquakes, I can tell the difference. Sigh.

Seedmama

I think that dark color also tends to hold in a lot more heat, not to mention annoying the Feds. The least expensive shade cloth I've found so far is a 50% white from the Greenhouse Megastore. I'm going to need it for my potting area that is wide open to the sky. The white is supposed to be much cooler under it than the darker variety. I haven't checked to see what the shipping cost would be, and the web site doesn't say until an order is placed. I wish they wouldn't do that.

Not that this has anything to do with us, but I've seen big commercial nursery set-ups in hot climates that have a high shade-cloth with a misting system under it. It sure makes shopping more pleasant, and keeps the plants in good shape.

Pat

Oklahoma summers are often very bad, this year we happened to have a terrible one. Shade cloth has been used effectively by some of the most experienced and productive gardeners for a long time.

I personally have lost hundreds of dollars of plants and trees, hundreds of hours of time, and years invested. Others have lost livestock and poultry. If we can mitigate those losses in a creative way at a lower cost, why wouldn't this be something we would want to explore and share?

No one is talking about gardening underground or erecting a huge walk in cooler for our plants. We are discussing sensible, time-proven methods to combat the heat and drought. Shade cloth and irrigation. That doesn't sound very radical to me.

Jo

Thanks, Jo. I've used gardening aids for I can't remember how long. A really long time. Wall-o-water to set plants out early, Garden Quilt to winter over the tender perennials, and drip irrigation. I haven't needed shade cloth before, but now I do. It's only reasonable to put it up over the area where the new potting benches will be. Otherwise I may as well not bother putting them in.
If I can manage to redesign the veggie garden area and get the shade up over a big chunk of it, it's going to have a double benefit, both for the plants and for me. My meds cause me to be sun sensitive, and it's hard on me to work out there for more than a few minutes at a time on a sunny day. It's a drag, but I certainly won't quit gardening because of it. If I can't change my health, then I'll change my garden working conditions instead.

Pat

Catusgarden,

I am going to go all MadMax/Waterworld on you if this weather does not change. You have been warned.

Jo

My dad's sister used landscape fabric for her shade cloth. Great idea, since the stuff is worthless as a weed barrier when bermuda is nearby.

I have been warned? Not sure what that means. Its getting a bit creepy here.

I have a giant roll of landscape fabric on hand, in a lighter weight than I need for a weed barrier. I just don't know about using it though, since it's black.. I'm afraid I'd be creating a terrible oven under it. If it was white to reflect the heat . . . . Ah, well. But it will also tear in a wind, and start to break down if it's exposed to the elements for very long. It's made to be covered with a mulch, so the sun doesn't hit it.

Anybody need some 3 oz WeedBarrier Pro?

Pat

cactusgarden,

I was making a joke and referencing two post-apocalyptic movies (Mad Max and Waterworld), since I was hoping your post about the crazies and the extreme survivalist/apocalypse behavior was somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

I was just saying that if the weather did not change I MIGHT become one of those post-apocalyptic survivor types that haul a potted tree around for 8 months and lives in a bomb shelter. Never mind.

Jo

We have been accumulating old sheets for years to use to haul leaves in and cover the garden when frost threatens. I wish I had thought early enough to put tall tomato cages over my blueberries and clothespin the sheets to them before half of them died. Sigh Next year.

Speaking of hauling leaves,I saw this product in an issue of Urban Farm.

BRILLIANT.

Please note, it is cheaper on Amazon, with free shipping too.

http://www.ezleafhauler.com/

Well, my sheets are yet to tear. Came down in the worst of our "Haboob" with 75 mph winds, but not tear. Was working on the tomatoes yesterday and they are in surprisingly good shape, other than the section I lost to Southern Blight. Not even much leaf curl, despite 110 degree heat all week, nearly all summer and plenty of 115 degree heat, one day it was 121.
I water 15 minutes every third day with soaker hoses, less if I have flood irrigation or a rain. Hoping for a bumper fall crop when it cools down. Summer is all about survival! I'm starting to fertilize and prune, getting them shaped up for September.

Tracy, I have managed to keep a couple of cherry tomato plants alive under the shade cloth and have been considering feeding them, particularly since I got the analysis back and learned that my garden soil is hugely deficient across the board. I've never pruned a tomato before, but I may clean these up a bit also. That's what you're doing with yours?

Are you just using MG Tomato Food, or what? Two of my squash plants are still alive and trying to bloom, even though they're struggling. I probably have nothing to lose by feeding those also and see if it helps. Never thought I'd see the day when I'd consider feeding a squash!
I had to pull out everything else. Even the strawberry bed is in really bad shape, with half the leaves burnt and curled. I hope it will recover with some cooler weather. Next year it gets mulch, and the runners can just deal with it or I'll clip them off.
Peppers are still surviving, although they turn into limp blobs if I don't water every couple of days. They have zero shade. I finally found out what the little hot ones are. They're Cascabella, and downright toasty hot.

Pat

I will toss in my 2 cents worth on the T post supports. Almost all my T post have a short piece of 1/2 PVC attached to the top so I can drop in a piece of #4 re-bar to extend the height. If you weld anything to the top of the T post it is much harder to drive. I also leave the PVC about 1/4 " below the top of the T post so the driver does not hit it. My driver fits over a post with the PVC attached.

I keep extra T posts, 17 gauge wire, PVC, re-bar and binder twine, along with many other things to keep from running back and forth to town.

Larry

Good idea, Larry. I like that way of extending it. If you were going to create a T at the top to give an anchor for a shade (or anything else) how would you go about it? It would need to be solid enough that any wind would not just pick the whole thing up and rip it off. I don't know that PVC could handle that sort of strain. I wouldn't want to bet on it. I really don't know if just anchoring the grommets to the posts will be enough to hold it, unless we use a few more posts. I won't be doing the entire garden. Just some sections of it.

When we were talking about assorted gardening aids a while back, I never thought to mention the most over-the-top one I think I've ever seen, literally. The man I worked for at the time had constructed a surround for all of his fruit trees. It was about 12'w x 12'H by roughly 50' long and housed a half-dozen assorted fully grown dwarf trees. It looked like a giant chicken pen, all built of 2x4 and 4x4 framing and totally enclosed in chicken-wire, but it was to keep birds out of his trees, rather than to pen them in. Do I need to add that the guy had money to burn? He didn't live on the ranch; just visited once in a while. Boy, oh boy.

Pat

Pat, If I were going to try to make a cover support I would use the T post and extension as mentioned above, then I would make a short 1/2" PVC T and slide a piece of #4 re-bar through it, or I would take a piece of 2x4 and drill a 1/2" hole almost through it at the center along the 3.5 inch side. I would then drive a piece of #4 re-bar into the hole and drop the assembly into the piece of re-bar attached to the T post. This assembly will spin in the PVC so some measure will be needed to contend with that.

I am telling you this method because it is material I keep on hand. I'm sure there dozens of ways to accomplish the same thing and many may better than this

Larry

Thanks, Larry. I appreciate it. I was wondering if a PVC t-joint wouldn't work if it's reinforced the way you suggest. Sounds like it will, and I think we probably have a good bit of it around that we're not using. I'd just like to get it up far enough to comfortably walk under without ducking. Since I'm only 5' tall, it doesn't need a lot.

My brain appears to be so fuzzy from the combination of rain and much lower temperature that I can barely think straight today! It may take a few days to get used to the idea of more normal weather.

Pat

Any place to buy cheap camo cloth or parachute cloth in arizona?

I bought my 60% shade cloth from Gempler's year before last. It was expensive, but IMO was WELL worth the investment. The improvement in my tomatoes in 2011 and 2012 was HUGE. I'll post a pic or two in the next few days so you can see what I did with it over my two 8'x8' plots.

That is such a good idea! I have been cutting and using weed block cloth, but it is not big enough and you have to be careful of light, but in a pinch, it works.

I bought some cloth painters cloth, and stapled it on my pergola, to have some shade on my patio last year.

It worked great. When I get back home, I will put it up again. It also shades my AC, which I think, makes it work better.

Moni

Ok as promised, my setup:

Two 8'x8' plots. I use2"x2"x8' poles in each corner, middle on each long side, and a double post in the center as supports for the shade cloth. I use 2-piece clamshell clamps to bite the cloth where needed to attach to the poled. I also use quite a few 3" long sturdy bungie-ball type straps to tie thing down on the poles. The cloth is ~4' longer and wider than the plots, but I've rolled it up this year on the north and west sides to allow a bit more sunshine on plants. I drive the poles about 15" in to the ground, and that is sufficient to be mostly stable except in the worst winds. I've added ropes to each pole in these last 2 springs, to guard against damage from high winds; so far, so good!

For the first time this year, I've also planted pole beans at the base of most of my support poles (that's what you see climbing the poles). No beans yet, but I'm hoping to see a LOT of bloom set this weekend! The ropes also have a side benefit; when the pole beans get high enough to reach the cloth, I train them sideways to follow the ropes!

Hope this was useful to someone!

Chris

That is a sweet little set up, Chris. I have been trying to figure out how to shade out my tomatoes when the 100 degree days come back and a set up like that just may do the trick...NICE!