picnic table-come-plant stand

room for more hangers

Hi everyone.

Adam - What's wrong with what you have? From your pic's it looks like it could be renovated instead of going to the expense of building something new.

Apart from any replacement of rotted timber and a new paint job, I would use clear Poly Carbonate sheeting for the roof, with a cover of 75% beige shade cloth which can be removed during winter to add extra light. It looks like you have green shade cloth on your walls as well, and this I would replace with 75% beige shade cloth.

The extra light will improve the colour of your brom's out of sight.

If you are looking at building something new well then it can be as cheap as a "shade shelter" built off the fence to a very expensive and elaborate shade house with auto sprinklers and anything in between.

The most important thing is aspect, and it needs to get as much uninterrupted sunlight during the day as possible with a north facing aspect (In Aust) being preferred.

I personally have shade shelters built off fences covered with 50% green shade cloth as well as a couple of simple shade house built from re-cycled timber and covered with 75% beige shade cloth, and I must say the colour of the plants beneath the beige shade cloth is far superior to that of the plants growing beneath the green shade cloth.

As well as making sturdy benching to hold your plants, it's very important that you leave adequate space between benches to walk without knocking plants over (with about three feet being the minimum).

If you have strong overhead timber or pipe, you can greatly increase the capacity of your shade house to accommodate plants by using the vertical space as suspension points for hanging extra plants. This is done simply by fitting pots with a plastic hanger.

I will post three Pic's; The two first showing a simple shade shelter built off a paling fence; the third is inside a simply constructed shade house covered with 75% beige shade cloth showing plants on benches as well as many more suspended from roof timbers.

All the best, Nev.

This is pic 2

Finally, Pic.3

Wow. What a great looking collection.

The wooden pergola supports are rotting because they were just buried in the sand, not fixed to stirrups in concrete. You can see in the first pic that one of the beams is sagging at one end. The shade cloth also needs to be reaffixed.

I am thinking I will get the wooden supports replaced and reuse the shade cloth if it still looks ok. But I might have to go for beige.

The main issue I have at the minute is the hot afternoon sun comes in the gap between the top and the side and scorches sensitive plants. I will have to rectify that.

I have to admit I like having the shade cloth. I used to have a polycarbonate greenhouse which was great for keeping temperamental orchids dry, but the broms seem to love the rain. Plus it cuts down on my watering.

Hi All.

Adam - I only suggested polycarbonate because I though you already had some sort of sheeting on the roof. If you don't get extremely cold winter temperatures I would just go for the beige shade cloth.

All the best, Nev.