Bridget and I met up with Astrid and Tim of Greenview Aquaponics at the Sarasota Extension Office for their SHADE GARDENING presentation. We are going to do one row of this during the summer and see how well it works. Tim and Astrid are advising me on their experiences using shade fabric at their farm.
Highlights of what I learned so far:
- Use gray, UV plastic conduit instead of non-UV PVC
- Secure ends of conduit with rebar (if no concrete is used, it is not a permanent structure and no problems with code enforcement)
- Black UV SHADE fabric reduces the temperature under the "tent" more than other colors
- There are UV zip ties!
- 40% shade works well in our area for plants
- My rows run East to West and face South so I only need to cover the front and top which allows me access to the plants on the back side (using a 10' conduit, a 6' wide fabric will work perfectly)
