Shade house for the garden

Cyngbaeld · #1 08/14/10, 07:05 PM

Anybody here ever build one? Got pix? How well did it work?

Jenn · #2 08/15/10, 12:32 PM

I put shade cloth on a 8' frame over the bed. Helped me garden more in midsummer. Was 10 years ago cen TX.

Cyngbaeld · #3 08/15/10, 06:21 PM

Did you find it increased your harvest?

motdaugrnds · #4 08/15/10, 06:32 PM

I've had much of my garden damaged by the extreme heat this summer; thus, I am considering some sort of temperary shade myself. I will be watching this thread. Thanks for starting it.

The only ideas I've had so far has to do with a roll of sheeting attached to pvc pipes that can be stobbed into the ground at a slant kind of like a leanto one might set up for animals only without any ends. I would want to be able to take it down easily, roll it up and store it for the next time I needed it.

Gercarson · #5 08/15/10, 06:38 PM

Ever since "someone" said they got a better and extended tomato harvest with "shade" this has been on my mind. If you have a "shade house" for your garden - please share - please.

Cyngbaeld · #6 08/15/10, 09:49 PM

I'm thinking of making more of an arbor and growing runner beans and sweet potatoes over it next summer. Thought I'd set some grape vines too, but they wouldn't be big enough to shade for a couple of years. We get some ferocious straight line winds whenever a cold front moves thru and they can rip stuff to shreds. That's why I gave up keeping shingles on coops. Switching to metal.

Rod Torgeson · #7 08/15/10, 10:07 PM

I built a shade house for a friend of mine in California(Redding area). I built it out of pressure treated 2x4s, uprights(in the ground) and the cross pieces. All the 2x4s are 8 feet long. I don't have any pictures of it. The whole shade house is 24 feet by 24 feet. I believe she ordered the shade cloth(black) at 26 x 26 feet. The sides are covered with half inch chicken wire. This shade house is for her blueberry plants. She has tried other things in there with good results. Hope this helps.

Rod<---in Appleton, WA

hippygirl · #8 08/15/10, 10:26 PM

So I assume that shade cloth will still let in enough sunlight for proper plant growth, right? Otherwise, wouldn't shading plants that require full sun cause problems?

motdaugrnds · #9 08/16/10, 01:03 AM

I forgot to mention: You can plant your garden in ways that one type of vegetable helps shades another, i.e. corn to shade pumpkins comes to mind at the moment. (I also read somewhere that coons will not cross a pumpkin patch to get to corn; and I'm going to find out next year.)

MELOC · #10 08/16/10, 01:31 AM

i imagine if you had a smaller area, you could build one with wooden slats angled such that the growing area was only shaded in the time of the day you wish it to be.

Belfrybat · #11 08/16/10, 06:23 AM

I'm going t build one for next summer (too late this year). I'll use 1/2" conduit for the frame and 50% shade cloth. It will be angled towards the SW, so it's only shaded in the afternoon. Most garden veggies need 4-6 hours sun for optimal growth. I got my ideas from the Square Foot Gardening forum. If I wanted a more permanent structure, I'd build a pergola running the cross beams closer together than most pergolas. That would produce 30% or more shade. A brush arbour would probably work well also for a more natural look.

Ozarkquilter46 · #12 08/16/10, 06:38 AM

I drove by a garden a few weeks ago and every tomato had a unbrella over them LOL Looked real cute now I know why they did that.

Txsteader · #13 08/16/10, 07:10 AM

We only shade our tomatoes. DH built something that sounds similar to Rod's, but we're able to dismantle it at the end of each season (we just took it down & surprisingly, I don't have any pics from previous years). The sides are covered w/ chicken wire on the lower half, bird netting on the upper half. We use 60/40 cloth.

Anyway, it extends the tomato harvest by, at least, a couple of months here. It helps keep the ground moist longer, keeps the temps down enough that fruit will continue to set.

TheMartianChick · #14 08/16/10, 09:30 AM

We don't need anything shaded where we live now, but I've often thought that one of those screened porches (like people have pools in) in Florida would be good for something like this. I just envision adding the fabric over the top and the screen would keep the bugs out. Of course, if growing plants that need pollination, one would need to order up a box-hive of bumble bees to get the job done.