Poly Shade Structure
As part of our decision to have more shade in our garden we have found that using black poly pipe used for irrigation attached to steel star pickets can provide a sturdy frame for shade cloth (a knitted poly fabric product available in various sun filtering intensities) to be attached to.
We had been researching this building method for some time but finally decided to just go and buy 20 metres of 50mm poly pipe at the rural supply store in town. It cost $2.75 (AUD) per metre and thankfully was delivered to our place as it was quite difficult to coil it to a small enough size to fit in our van. So there we had it 20 metres and 10, 165cm star pickets to experiment with.
One area I felt needed shade was the Tank Beds in the Dog Pen Garden. These cut down old rainwater tanks that were too leaky to hold water are an excellent size for filling with soil and compost and growing salad greens and vegies at close proximity to our back door. This is in our zone one. The main problem was that they heated up too much in summer so shade of some description was needed. The perfect spot to try the poly shade structure.
The area measured 2.5 metres by 2 metres and I already had some spare lengths of shade cloth that would fit. We measured 2, 4 metre lengths and these were cut with a hacksaw and fitted easily over the star pickets after they have been firmly hammered into the ground.
The poly pipe doesn't have to go all the way to the ground as it fits quite firmly and there is no way it would ever blow off even in the strongest of winds. If necessary they could be bolted on or attached with wire.
Using 4 metre lengths of poly pipe over a span of 2.5 metres gave a height of 2.2 metres. This would vary with the height of the star pickets and length of poly pipe.
The shade cloth was attached using wire but a better way to attach it is to sew the ends of the shade cloth into a hem on a sewing machine using polyester thread and a triple (stretch) stitch and thread the poly pipe through this hem.
The other end of the shade cloth was trimmed to size standing on a ladder!
I have only used a single length of shade cloth at 180 cm wide here but if I required more shade I could replace this with 360 cm wide cloth or sew 2 lengths together.
The growth of salad greens in this area has improved greatly and I can now face the summer onslaught of heat knowing the plants will survive and I will be using a lot less water.
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6 comments:
Dear Scarecrow,
I live in Darwin and have a gardening problem with wilting from the intense power of the sun in the mid afternoon. I thought maybe your ideas could be of some assistance and I thank you for your posting.
I have experienced the use of your shadehouse design, but using 2" plastic drain pipe over a span of 5m., a more expensive material but not much, if at all, better than your black irrigation pipe except that the latter will certainly soften with high temperatures.
The shade cloth you used would be in the region of 50% or more shade, which, combined with the unsuitable colour, would seem to be detrimental to good growing conditions. Of course, if it works, then that is what counts, but could you comment on the following recent information that I am considering experimenting with:
A lite-weight shade material is being sold online by Greenharvest, and is said to rate about 20% shade as well as being white in colour so as not to chnge light wavelength.
The price is right if you exclude the suggested frame and use something like your suggestion for a support.
Regards
Ray of Darwin
Hi Ray
Interesting points you've raised.
The drain pipe idea sounds good if it's flexible enough to manage easily but so far in our extreme heat of 48C and higher in summer we have had no problems with the black hose softening. The 2 inch pipe in particular doesn't soften at all. We have also used 1.5 inch pipe that does bend a little but still holds everything up even in our strong winds down here.
Yes ideally I would have preferred white 50% (or less) shadecloth but what we have was all that was available here at that time. Last year we were told that 50% shadecloth or less wasn't even made Grrr.
I've since found a supplier of the white 50% s/cloth and will replace it as I am able to afford it. Now that I've used shade cloth over the veg garden I doubt if I'd go back to gardening without it in our summer, it cuts the evaporation rates down greatly.
The 70% cloth works well here particularly over leafy greens and I have heard of folks using 50% over greens and still having wilting problems, so I guess it depends on what you are trying to grow.
I found tomatoes didn't perform well under 70% cloth last year and now have them under 50% cloth, it could be even less than that but it came from a cheap shop and didn't give the shade factor but seems ideal so far.
I noticed that material you mentioned in Green Harvest's catalogue this year too (thanks for reminding me) but would rather see it before I bought it for that price (when you include postage) but if you're happy to try it let me know how you go. It sounds ideal for some veg.
Just today Malcolm Campbell was on Adelaide radio and mentioned that any shadecloth cover will stop bees pollinating plants so that is something to consider as well. I usually hand pollinate cucurbits anyway so hadn't really noticed this before.
That's all I've really got room for here but if you want to discuss this more please email me on the address in my profile on here.
Cheers
Scarecrow
Thank you for showing a detailed step by step on how to do this! I lost all of my pumpkins and melons last week and was trying to visualise the best way to construct a poly shade.
Hello Scarecrow... that's very helpful - now I know what I could do for my veg section while the screen plants grows!
One question - How do you stitch the shades together, or do you staple them? Silly one I know... :D
Cheers!
Hi Darls
When I have to join (or hem) shade cloth together I use a sewing machine with a thicker than normal polyester thread and try to use a triple stitch. I've tried a cotton thread by that disintegrated after a short while in our hot sun :)
Wasn't a silly question at all...
Great blog, and excellent pictures. I was struggling to find a design that was both functional and nice to look at, this is perfect with the added bonus of being cost effective. Thanks!
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