The most durable shade cloth I've used is woven black polypropylene. I have some that has lasted 30 years with occasional use. It will last 10 in full sun all year long. For vegetables something about 50% would be right. And don't hang it right on/over the plants. Build a shelter and support the stuff at about 7-8ft height, above head high. It's cheaper to have it flat over your garden area than around each container.

All that said we garden around here all summer in 90-100F blazing sun under two layers of row cover laid over the plants or on low hoops. This lowers water use more than overhead shade cloth will. Temperatures under it are fine for all kinds of greens.

Thanks for the recommendation as to what type of shade cloth to use, as well as the suggestions and advice as to what type of setup to use.

Regarding the shade cloth, could you recommend any vendors that carry the type of material you're talking about, and in the shade you're talking about? Can you recommend any good brands that can be ordered online where the prices are reasonable and shipping isn't ridiculous?

I did have a few other questions in regards to what you said.

I unfortunately really don't understand how I would set up and design the set up you recommended just by you describing it.

Is there anyway you can post a photo as to what you mean by this....

Build a shelter and support the stuff at about 7-8ft height, above head high. It's cheaper to have it flat over your garden area than around each container.

I have a vague idea what you're talking about, but well I'm just really visual, so unfortunately it's not really 'translating' when it's just being described via words on a page.

When you say to set up a shelter that is 7-8 feet in height above the plants, are you talking about making a hoophouse, and that the shelter would be hanging overhead?

Can you give a list of materials that would be needed to construct a hoophouse if that's best route to go?

If you post the list of materials would it please be possible for you to post the lengths (length, width, height) for the materials needed?

We have and 8x8 foot greenhouse. You don't want to put the shade cloth right over the plants, they need room for air circulation. Grower's Supply probably has it. I'm spoiled. We used to have a wholesale nursery and that stuff was coming out my ears! Maybe a local nursery would be willing to sell you a small batch of it? I had a local wholesale nursery give me alot of old greenhouse plastic they had for free! It had ripped off a big greenhouse. I would recommend 30% shade. It does make it cooler inside and it shades the plants. It's a nice place to hang out when it's hot. My hubby just built it with scrap lumber he got cheap. No design plans. He used strapping tape to anchor the shade cloth to the boards. We've even used chair webbing that's made for folding chairs. It worked well. anything you can find cheap. Yard sales maybe or thrift stores?

Shade cloth comes in many different weights, different colors, and different % of sun blocked/shade provided. See link below.

But as other have said you use it by constructing an area sized awning of some kind 8-10 feet above the plants, it cannot lay on the plants directly nor have any direct contact with them. It can be hung from a roof edge, tired off to surrounding trees or posts, draped over a wooden frame, or even like a giant beach umbrella, etc. The point is to suspend it between the sun and the plants 8-10 feet from the plants.

Lots of pics available from Google pics. See pics at

http://www.shadesails.com/
http://www.backyardcity.com/Shade-Canopy-Structures-Canopies.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Shade cloth

First, here is the type of plan I had in mind for making the structure. Link is listed below:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg100449495374.html?3

I'm not sure what type of materials I'd use, I'd just like for them to be sturdy, so they will last for years of wear-and-tear; that will save me money in the long-run, will just be more economical, which is what I'm going for.

I'm a little confused about 30% shade. When you say 30% shade, do you mean that the fabric will say "30%" and whatever color it is? That's what I noticed when I looked thru the different types of shade cloth.

What type of color would be best for cool weather veggies? There are so many different colors that are available......green, white, beige, cream, black, tan, etc.

I don't really care about the color and design. I'm looking for what is best for the veggies. Would a lighter color better be best to reflect the sunlight? Or would darker be better to help block it out? I honestly don't know, like I said, I don't know too much about shade cloth (aside from the info given) and I've never used it.

Regarding the height of the structure, I'd planned to use 8'-10' posts then just drape the fabric over the posts. By using an 8'-10' tall post to prop it up, would it be high enough off the ground, or would it need to be taller? I'm just hazarding a guess at best with this, I really suck at math.

The post you linked to has an entirely different purpose than your - season extension into the fall when the soil has already cooled. It is just for air temp protection, not sun protection.

Your stated purpose is to be able to grow cool season crops in the high heat of summer and to do it in containers. Crops bolt due to soil temps as well as air temps. Container soil is already much warmer than in-ground soil so you would need to block sun AND cool your soil temps.

The % of shade given on the shade cloth is the percentage of sun blocked. The darker the color and the tighter the weave, the more the sun is blocked. 30% brown has a loose weave and blocks much less sun than 60% brown. Otherwise the color is your choice but he darker colors will usually be larger percents blocked. The metallic colors reflect, the other colors do not.

Dave

I am stumped. Unless the OP has moved out of frigid, cloudy Northern Michigan, there is no way anyone there should use shade cloth. Even for a winter garden in summer, there are so many biennials that will not bolt. In fact, apart from lettuce and arugula, and maybe some other mustards, most winter crops will not bolt the first year.

Good points glib. Thought about mentioning it myself since the hot container soil, not the sun exposure at that latitude, is the primary problem anyway. But who knows, maybe they actually have some really hot days there and some shade might help cool off the container soil if nothing else. So I figure let him try the experiment and learn from the experience.

The simple solution, if you have to use containers, is use really big ones, paint them white or insulate them, and grow the crops at the proper time rather than trying to create an artificial environment for forcing them. Works for me even down here.

Dave

Regarding the temperatures in my area, yes it's cool in early spring and early summer. However it's only very cold until about mid to early April until about mid June. The weather is really hot from July until about mid to late September.

During July-September the temperature can reach as high as low to high 80's, sometimes (though not as often) low to mid 90's.

Um okay I'm extremely confused now. Just to clarify, I hadn't planned to use the materials that you'd use to make a hoophouse. I'd just planned to use the basic design in the photo.

Unfortunately nobody has really given me any ideas for what sort of structure should be constructed for growing cool weather crops in the summer. I was given the basic dimensions for the length and width, that it needs to be a minimum of 8' x 8' or 8' x 10'. I was told that the shade cloth needs to be put above the plants, about 8'-10' feet above the plants, not directly on them. Other than these two things given, I've received little information as to what type of structure I should use, what design should be with it etc. Could use advice, help, etc. with this; I"m not a do it yourself person.

If somebody could provide some sort of photo as to what the shape and design of the structure should be for growing cool weather crops in the summer that would help immensely.

The links given have just been for shade cloth. Somebody just said "I'd recommend something that uses 30% shade". However that didn't really tell me what color would be best to use, and how tight of a weave I should use.

Regarding the shade cloth, I'm still a bit confused about it. I get what it does, and now I know what it looks like. However I'm still not sure, what type of weave to use, and what color would be best.

As I said before, I don't care what it looks like, I just want the color, the percentage (percentage that blocks out sunlight), and weave that will work best for the plants.

I don't know what color is best to use, nor do I know what weave (tight or loose) is better to use. I've never used shade cloth before, so I don't know what is the best color to go with to block out the sun. I'd like the sun to be blocked out so that it will cool down the plants, but I don't want it to be so dark, that they're not receiving any sunlight at all, as this will just kill them if they receive no sun.

I use simple garden fabric (row covers) as shade cloth when needed.

Here is a link that might be useful: row covers

Unfortunately nobody has really given me any ideas for what sort of structure should be constructed for growing cool weather crops in the summer. I was given the basic dimensions for the length and width, that it needs to be a minimum of 8' x 8' or 8' x 10'. I was told that the shade cloth needs to be put above the plants, about 8'-10' feet above the plants, not directly on them. Other than these two things given, I've received little information as to what type of structure I should use, what design should be with it etc.

No one can do that. We don't have any way of knowing what your gardening area looks like, what direction it faces, what surrounds it, its size, how much shade you needs, how much exposure you have, what the angle of the sun is to your plants, etc. That is all something we have to figure out for ourselves.

Basically you are just hanging a piece of fabric to block the sun. You aren't building any sort of structure such as you linked to above. So measure the area you want shaded, buy a piece of shade cloth that big and hang it up between the plants and the sun. You may have to tip it some depending on the sun's angle, you may have to move it in a little closer or move it out a little further to shade the area you want. Surely all those pictures I linked to above gave you some ideas of how to make it work, how to hang it, etc.

30% shade cloth gives you approximately 5 degrees of cooling, 60% averages 10-12 degrees. If 80+ degrees is all you have to worry about then 30-40% shade cloth should be more than enough. We use 60-75% here but our temps are 100 degrees, 20-25 degrees hotter than yours. The color is your choice, the shape is your choice, and the way you hang it is your choice.

The best plan however is to grow your cool season crops in the cool season just as everyone else does and save the summer for summer crops.

Dave