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I continue to be a believer in shade cloth for gardens in Owens Valley.

My unimpressive garden (pictured, unfortunately) has been a disaster this year. After a wave of cutworms decimated most of the garden, a ground squirrel decided that my jalapeños would be a nice snack. Then it got hot. Really hot.

My garden sits in a corner between a fence and the house. All those surfaces reflect heat back into the garden, roasting most plants. In past years, I've had okra burn up, which takes an impressive amount of heat to do. My beds were getting so hot already this week that the peppers I watered in the morning were already wilting by the time I got home from work. My garlic has burnt up leaf tips. Did I mention my garden gets hot?

That's why I acquired a cheapie 40% shade cloth. I don't imagine it will last a long time, but as little as I spent on it, it's not a major investment. I guess I'll get 4 or 5 years out of it. It held up really well last season.

I finally put it up this morning for this season, but really I should have put it up a few weeks ago. Unless we have a wind storm, I'll keep it on the garden through August.

I was feeling sciency this morning so took some temperature readings from my sorry looking pepper bed. Before the shade cloth went up at 10:45 this morning the soil surface was already 110°F. (The yet to be planted, dry bed next to it was 150°F at the surface! That will cook seeds, but seems to have no effect on killing nutsedge.) After putting up the shade cloth, the soil surface had immediately dropped to a more reasonable 92°F.

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Before shade cloth...

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...and after shade cloth.

What's also important is that the garden was more pleasant for me to work in. I don't like melting.

If you're interested in shading your crops, you have 2 real options:

1. You can install hoops over your beds for a low tunnel and use that to support the shade cloth; or
2. You can install it overhead and be under the shade yourself with the plants.

The first option is usually easier and is simpler to manage when it's windy. The second makes for a nicer experience for me so that's the route I went. Keep in mind that if you surround a bed or whole garden with shade cloth, it could block some pests, but it will almost certainly block pollinators. I take my shade down and secure it when it's windy since my "support system" isn't exactly engineer-approved.

I'd recommend 30% or 40% cloth. If you're planning to suspend it over your garden, get one with grommets already installed. It makes installation easier.

Now that the cloth is up, I guess I should plant the rest of my garden (again). And hope the insects and squirrels keep out this time. This replanting thing is getting expensive!