05 May 2008

Shady Grove


Not too long ago we erected a sunshade to protect the bed of greens and peas. When the rest of the garden fills in we won't have a need for the contraption, but for now the high-noon sun is just a bit too much.

The set up really is as easy as it looks; we just tied a sheet to one end of the fence and ran a line from the corners of the opposite end of the sheet to the fence on the other side. The string running on the left side of the photo is attached to the fence with loops as opposed to tying it on. The loops allow us to slide the string on and off the fence posts so we can pull the shade back on cloudy days.

3 comments:

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

What a simple and terrific idea!

Anonymous said...

Nice.

I struggle with summer greens as well, but happen to have a nice asset. In a moment of panic a few year back I put a grape vine seedling into the edge of a bed (or built a bed next to the grape vine... I can't remember) and plan on building a 5' tall arbor over the 3x20 bed. The Grape Vine will leaf out by the June heat and grant the lettuce bed a dappled shade. Should be a fun experiment.
-Rob

Unknown said...

Twinville,
Thanks, we thought so too.

Rob,
We have something like that now. In between the greens are poling peas which are about a foot and a half tall the last time I checked. The peas should provide the necessary shade. I love your arbor idea, but how does that figure into how you can rotate your beds for following years. I would think that you would be limited to shade only crops.