Slick!

Does it tend to blow away? Or do you unfurl it at night?

Hi Rick. We had some pretty good wind and never had a problem with it. It is anchored to the raised bed wood frame. As soon as the really hot weather was over I removed the shade cloth, folded it and put it in a sealing plastic tote for the next emergency. : )

It stayed up 24 hours a day for almost 2 months. I took it down in Oct.

I could use some shade now! Maybe the whole yard..I say that every summer. The sun here is brutal!

Texas I can't take that kind of heat. We have such a short period of time in the 90's and an occasional 100 or so degree days. We didn't get any 100 degree days last year.
Hope it goes that way again this year. We haven't even started with summer weather yet.
Well today was like summer, low 80's. But tomorrow it will only be in the low to mid 70's. Nights are in the 50's. When summer gets going the nights will be in the 60's.

It's mostly the new plants that are working at getting new root systems going that I use the shade cloth. I'll have 3 newly planted beds this summer that will require the shade cloth.

Here are the beds without the shade cloth. Very easy with a person at either end to just slide the cloth up and over the pvc frame. It sure was a big help in getting the young plants going.

We finally are out of the 100s.. they came 3-4 weeks early this year. Hope we don't have any more, neither myself nor my roses could take it any more! I didn't lose anyone to the extreme heat - mainly 'cuz I watered them pretty heavily every day and everyone's got a ton of mulch all over the place. But I love the idea of the shade arches. That's like the arches I make for Christmas.

I am so glad to hear things are starting to cool down in your area Toni. What is the outlook for the next week in the weather forecast?

I am hoping I won't have to use the shade cloth this summer, only time will tell. It is ready to go if there is a need.

Yes, thank God for this not-as-hot relief! They confirmed on the TV weather that this June has been hotter than normal...and here it's been dry the whole month. A bunch of deer have moved to the subdivision, even during the day they are out...unusual here. All my wildlife water containers were empty this morning except the 5-gallon bucket.

Lynn - Next week is only between 95-97 degs. Wheeeeeeee The following week, however, is predicting to be rain rain rain.

Maybe?
Hopefully?
Please?
Purdy Please?

I vote for RAIN

I also did a similar shade project, an improvised shade for my orchids in our Growcamp..using some of our blue remnant curtain cloth..and hemmed in some velcro strips so I can affix it on the netted roofing

Very nice tarev. And they look very happy, I can see it really works well for orchids.

It is my temporary fix for now..till I get a better shade material to use. Luckily it has cooled down here, we are like at the edge of extreme heat and cool weather..normally we should be constantly in the very high 90's to 100's come end of June and onwards but so far our forecast is at the higher 80's..a good heat relief in itself!

What a blessing the 80 degree weather is for you.

In the mid 70's today with cloud cover and high humidity. Feels like it's in the high 80's.
Just came in for a break and more cool water. One new bed all planted today.
Soon 2 more will be ready for planting. I think I will need to put the shade cloth up for the new beds, plus the bird netting.

Our garden side is a lot breezy too..like in a wind tunnel of sorts, plus the shadow of trees..so it really helps when it is very hot. So plants get dappled light at the hottest part of the day. On the downside, just a tad difficult to sustain longer blooms.

Is that because of the wind and heat?

Could be a combination too..wind knocks out the petals quickly, dry heat dries them quite fast...and most of the full sun plants like Gaillardia, lantana, yarrow, prefers full sun.. sadly they only get part sun. On the flipside, perfect conditions for the succulents

Just have to love those succulents. They are such tough plants.
I'll have to post a photo when I put the shade cloth up for the newly planted succulent beds.

Lynn,
What are you planting? Is it more semps? Is it from seed? Or are you transferring some of the plants and the offsets from one bed to the new one?

You are going to have to get a growers license pretty soon

I am watching my plants and trying to keep them from burning up. Put most of them into the shady areas. They will get part sun but not so intense. I am feeling like some of them may last. I have a Rubin Red that seems to be doing very well. Also the little Jovi borealis, I think it was called, seems to be OK.

I want to ask Tabby about how she constructs her rabbit domes or covers... I don't want the little critters to get hungry and look at my planting area as their grocery store.

I had 21 new semps to plant, still some that were in pots or trays that also needed to go into the new bed. All done, no more waiting for a permanent home.
I also planted some species Penstemon and tiny species Aquilegia. Oh and some delosperma. It is going to be one colorful bed next year.

No license thank you. I just want to plant them and enjoy them.

Sounds like you did the right thing by moving them to some shade, with the temps that high and the air so dry. Are you misting them like twit recommends? The Jovi (Rollers) are usually amongst the toughest. Once you get past all that horribly hot/dry weather they will all start growing nice roots and look happy. Next year won't be so difficult.

I have little wild rabbits here, squirrels, deer, mice, voles and other such critters. So far I have never had trouble with them eating the plants. But our weather is pretty mild during winter and there is plenty of other things for them to eat.
I do have trouble with the squirrel and blue jays disturbing the smaller/younger plants so they can plant nuts and such. The bird netting took care of that problem.