My lettuce will be happily shaded by my cuc arches, but I see that my kale and my spinach may need some shading - how does one shade when there's no shade (and the beds are all planted)? Thanks - Lynn
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Wisconsin
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Tue, June 10, 2008 - 10:29 AMOne very nice way is it to plant a few sunflowers strategically so they will shade your greens. They do nor require lots of bed space, I plant mine in gaps where seeds did not sprout or any gaps in the corners and such. They also act as a sacrificial aphid attractor, I see lots of lady bugs feasting on the aphids on mine. The aphids prefer them to the brassicas so some of the pests will leave your kale/broccoli etc alone. They can also be used to support your pole beans, and last but not least, they have nice nutritious seeds you can harvest and snack on (after they did their job as shades, poles and aphid sacrificial attractors). Oh, one last thing, let me not forget! they do look very pretty and you can get them in various colors and sizes. The seeds can be sowed directly into the soil too. -
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Tue, June 10, 2008 - 11:19 AMThanks.
My garden is a companion garden, so, actually, now that I think about it, MAYBE the other plants will help already, but I will think about strategically planted sunflowers - do they germinate quickly? -
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Tue, June 10, 2008 - 12:19 PMI just noticed you are in Wisconsin, but hopefully the same principles will apply. Mine germinated in 7-10 days, sowing from seed on the ground directly. I am trying this strategy to shade my newly planted artichokes since my area is a little too sunny for chokes (Southern California). We have also been using them as shade and protection near a couple of greens beds and it is working really well there, for aphids and shade both. On one occasion one of the sunflowers got too tall and it fell over, so i suppose making sure it has good support or a good place to establish roots would be good.
On one of the gardens, the kale bed that is doing the best is being shaded very well by a neighboring patch of corn. I was not thinking this when I planted the corn, so yes, I suppose other tall growing plants will shade your greens depending on the sun path an all that. I am also using the corn (intentionally) to shade the squash growing under it, and to support the beans that I planted next to them. I love companion planting! you can grow so much more in small spaces. Squash, beans and corn doing nicely but unlike the sunflowers, corn cannot be accused of being pretty ...... -
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Wed, June 11, 2008 - 7:54 AMI'm in Oregon and I've had a hard time with planting sunflower seeds directly. The slugs come along and eat the tops right off before they get their second set of leaves. So now I start them in pots in the greenhouse and let them get to about 12-20" before I put them in the ground. The funny thing is the slugs don't seem to bother the ones the birds drop. So I move the volunteer plants into the beds I want them in before they get to tall.
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Tue, June 10, 2008 - 6:46 PMShade cloth is really handy. It is not super cheap, but it lasts a really long time and is very useful for establishing new seedlings, shading seed beds until they sprout, protecting new seedlings from birds, or shading cool weather crops in the summer. It's rated by percent of shade cast. I mostly like the light shade stuff around 30% I think. You can double it or use two sheets if needed if need be. It's always nice to plan your garden to take care of itself, but it's hard to plan everything just right, and the best laid plans.... Sunflowers sound great, but it'll be awhile before they are big enough to shade anything. Large nurseries often have it in bulk rolls.
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Tue, June 10, 2008 - 7:33 PM
Poly pipe is pretty useful stuff. You can make half circles out of it over your beds. Then take some string and tie a taught line between the circles going perpendicular. You can then make X's if you wish. these make great trellises but as Steve mentioned, it will take a while for the shade plants to grow. I would use something fragrant like nasturtiums that grow quickly and attract beneficials. The shade cloth can be used while the plants fill in. Of course, the poly pipe is great for attaching shade cloth on to as well.
I just did a quick google search and found these two sites. The first one is good for planting. The second one is a really great one with shade cloth. I really dig the scarecrow's garden site.
westsidegardener.com/howto/h...use.html
scarecrowsgarden.blogspot.com/200...html -
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Wed, June 11, 2008 - 7:56 AMI use the hooped poly pipe and these cool clips from Territorial Seed to clip my shade cloth over our lettuce bed during the hot summer months.
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Wed, June 11, 2008 - 8:09 AMWhen using hoops over a bed, a really cool way to attach coverings is to make clips from black poly pipe. Cut 3 or 4 inch sections of black poly "usually 3/4", but depends on your arch pipe size. Slit the pieces open along one side. You just spread the clip open and use it to pinch the covering between the clip and the arch. It's not a perfect system and sometimes the covering might blow off in a strong wind, but it works pretty well and is very convenient and fast. My arches are UV resistant pvc that I salvaged somewhere. Regular PVC doesn't last very well in the sun. I keep a set of hollow steel pipes that I drive in the ground into which insert the arches. -
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Sat, July 19, 2008 - 10:00 PMI actually used a set of tiki poles that I'd found in the office dumpster one day, set them up around the paramater of the veggie bed, and used binder clips to attach (in this case plastic for a green house effect in the fall) the material to the poles. Worked quite well, was my first official greenhouse...
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Tue, June 10, 2008 - 8:44 PMI've done it two ways..... and have an idea for the next time...
1. Found a cheapo, thin metal tubing garden arch at Wal-Mart for about $12. The pieces fit together and made an smallish arch. Put it up over a plant that was getting sunburned and zip tied a piece of shade cloth onto the frame. It wasn't the prettiest.. but, it lasted through the summer until the taller plants filled in - and it was cheap and easy.
2. For a bigger planting area.. in a bed that had softer dirt... I pushed in 4 long bamboo poles so the leaned some outward from area and, again.. zip tied a piece of shade cloth to the poles. This piece looked better than the first.. and it worked pretty well.. except when the birds landed on the poles... and it would all skew with the weight.
3. I have a 10x10 pop up (the kind used at flee markets, etc).. sometimes I pop it up when I am working in an area that gets direct sun. I haven't used it yet for shade... but I think it would work.
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Unsu...
Re: How to shade when no shade?
Wed, June 11, 2008 - 7:15 AMI just put out a few stakes and tied weed cloth to the tops and wallaa. Shade. -
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Re: How to shade when no shade?
Wed, June 11, 2008 - 7:52 AMAnother good easy way to do shade cloth that I learned from ecology action is to pound stakes along the edges of the bed and set a headless nail in the top of each. That way you can just poke the shade cloth over the nail at any point which makes it easy to adjust or remove the cloth. Doesn't work for bird protection though as most of the cloth isn't wide enough to hang down the sides.
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