Shade Material

17 years ago

Hi! I've just started square foot gardening this year and really love it! I live in the inner city and have a very small back yard so the intensive method works really well without taking over my whole yard.

I would like to attempt to grow some of the cooler weather lettuces now, even though it is summer. My question is, what do you all use for shade fabric? I asked at a few garden stores, and no one seemed to know what I was talking about. If I could recycle something I already have, that would be even better.

Thanks for your help!

Featured Answer

chrislyn

17 years ago

I am in a warmer zone, growing "heat resistant" varieties like buttercrunch. I use the thick "liner fabric" from the dollar store on top of my sfg hardware cage. The cage itself offers some shading but with the fabric on the top, east and western side of my cage covered the plant are shaded from the sun all day, but still get a great deal of light through the southern exposure. They get cooler air from the northern exposure. They haven't bolted. They withered a bit one day when we hit 102 degrees. but they recovered that night. This didn't work for my spinach though.
The sfg book said use cheese cloth, and I tried this since cheesecloth is pretty cheap but the liner fabric does better in this southern heat and reflects better. I am using a light green and have been wondering if the color of the fabric made any difference too. It is only $1 a roll and I cut the roll in half to use on two cages.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

username_5
17 years ago
You can use thin row covers. They usually come in varying thicknesses. The heavy ones are for retaining heat and extending the early and late seasons. The thin ones are for some shade and insect protection, but don't trap heat.

Better still for lettuce and other cool season crops is a portable sq ft garden. Just build a 6-8" deep box in whatever size is portable for you. You can put handles on the ends to make carrying easier or even wheels on the bottom if that is suitable for your situation. When outdoor temps are above 75F take the box inside to germinate seed and then put it outside in the coolest spot you have. Keep well fed and watered for fast growth and harvest young before bitterness has a chance to set in. Choosing heat resistant varieties helps a lot.

In the past I have tried lettuce and other cool season salad crops in the full sun beds with some success and many failures. I am presently building a portable bed as described above to give it a try for July and August this year and my heat resistant varieties should arrive any day now.

Problem with row covers or any other material for shade is they do nothing to reduce ambient temps. Being able to move the garden to the coolest spot on the property can help and it even allows the garden to be moved indoors during heat waves. The plants will fare better with the lack of sunlight indoors for a few days than they will in a 100F heat wave outside in August.
gumby_ct
17 years ago
I sometimes use an outdoor chair or folding table to shade or keep frost off. Then move when finished. If not too many this may work for you. An old card table may do what you want.

I also fabricated a couple above ground portable kinda 'window boxes' for seed starting or to move to the sun/shade. 6" wide by 4 ft long. Made from scrap wood or just buy a window kinda box. I have a nice shady spot for my lettuce so I don't use it much for that.

I can take a pic, if you have an interest - email me.
Hope that helps,
Gumby_CT
Related Professionals
Windham Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Maple Heights Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Alexandria Landscape Contractors · Williamsburg Landscape Contractors · New Cassel Landscape Contractors · Newberg Landscape Contractors · Peoria Landscape Contractors · Santa Maria Landscape Contractors · Vancouver Landscape Contractors · Tyngsboro Landscape Contractors · Claremont Fence Contractors · Columbia Fence Contractors · Salida Fence Contractors · Santa Maria Fence Contractors · Wake Forest Fence Contractors
gw:holly-2006
17 years ago
I just went to the dollar store and bought a couple of those plastic under-the-bed sweater holders. Drilled drainage holes in them, filled with Mel's Mix and planted away. Portable, comes with lids which are really nice during a downpour. Easy to bring into the house when it gets too hot. Hasn't failed me this season yet.
organic_indygardener
Original Author
17 years ago
gw:holly-2006 - That's a good idea with the sweater boxes. About how deep are they and how deep do you fill them with the mix? I noticed you are in the same zone as me. What would be the weather conditions when you would bring them in the house and for how long do they stay in the house? I live in central Indiana and it is close to 90 today.
gw:holly-2006
17 years ago
Hi again

The ones I get from the dollar store are 30x16.75x6 inches or 10 gallons. I just fill them almost to the top and plant my seeds for lettuce and spinach.
The boxes are inside today because it's about a gazillion degrees here (just outside Toronto), and these little plants like the air-conditioning almost as much as I do.
I usually move them outside onto the deck at night when it gets much cooler (55 degrees). I just leave them at the back door, and move them out in the morning. Sometimes they stay in the house all day near one of the registers when it's gonna be really hot.
I also decided to use this method as I live in a townhouse and didn't want to use up any of my SFG space growing lettuce, when I can be growing something neat like okra.
At the dollar store I picked them up for something like 2.00 Canadian, so that should be only about 20 cents US!
mangogirl
15 years ago
Green will filter out some spectrum of light, better to use white. I use sheer curtains, last several seasons and were cheep at Goodwill.