I like the idea, but does it keep out too much sunlight?

That's really great, and boy, is it good looking! I love the alternating dark and lighter wood tones in your raised beds too. Everything is so neat and tidy - great job!

rhizo 1 yes it does allow enough sun I don't think that it would work for some areas of the country but our summers just bake some plants and the squash are not wilting and they are flowering and setting fruit so I see no negative effects but it would not work for tomatoes or peppers.
Thanks spaghetina I have seen pics of your garden and its so pretty and neat and so very full of veggies I am tryng to catch up with you. lol:o)Deanna

For those who are less handy, they might consider this. It's very inexpensive, and Lee Valley has free shipping right now. I have one, and ordered two more because I like it so much. Right now it's protecting my chard. A similar thing is for sale on the Gardener's Supply site for about 3 times the price.

Folds into a neat little circle in its own storage pouch. I don't know how it would stand up to winter, though. I don't intend to use it that way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pop up shelter

I just ordered a couple of those pop-up shelters too! At $9.50 Cdn each, they were a steal. I plan to use it on my brocolli and brassicas to protect from the cabbage worm butterfly and then, who knows what else. I'm planning to grow smaller cultivars so they will fit under it. I can even use it to protect my strawberries from birds (and maybe human pickers at my community garden!) I hope it works!

Judith

What a great idea and construction, Deanna.

Susan, thanks for sharing the link to the popup shelter. I'm too lazy to build a nice one like Deanna's and might just buy an easy one instead. Do you know if the netting is on all five sides? Also how does it stand up to wind and how do you fasten it to the ground? I may use it for the winter/spring greens that're always devoured by bugs. But our cool seasons are awfully windy and destructive.

Yes, there is netting on all 5 sides. It's actually pretty large (the site gives the dimensions). It comes with 8 ground stakes. They are not particularly long or strong (the shelter has tabs that they hook through - one on the center of each side, one on each corner), but work in my fairly windy yard. (Don't forget, the screen allows air through, so there's less "lift" than you might have from a solid wall.) If you need more, you could put a rock over the stake?

Free shipping until the 11th, so don't dawdle if you want one ... or a few.

eyesofthewolf .... The old saying comes to mind "pretty is as pretty does" ... and yours is both attractive and useful. All it needs is a pet chicken or two....well maybe not. The squash looks very happy in it's own 'hideyhole'. Actually the plants outside the cage look happy, too. Nice yard.

susan .... thanks for the link ... all gardeners on my Christmas list will get one or two. Very similar to a laundry basket that was the hit of Christmas gifting a few years ago. Light, strong, easy to store.

You can get those laundry basket things at the dollar store so much cheaper than $10 each!

borderbarb thanks for the compliments. I have been trying to talk my family into some chickens but everyone seems to think that would be a bad idea. I do wish I had room and I didn't live in a subdivision. I even researched the best type of chicken to have but it was still a no sale here.
I tried the laundry baskets but the squash out grow those pretty quick and storage for baskets and wire cages ect.. are at a premium. :o)Deanna

I've been wanting chickens too, but my main issue - aside from my total lack of space - is that I won't know what to do with them when they stop laying. I don't want to keep adding more chickens to the flock so that I'll keep getting eggs while keeping the old ones alive for the next 15 years, and I can't fathom killing something that served me so well, let alone consider eating it. Any animal I keep automatically becomes sort of a pet to me, so realistically, I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to have chickens.