Subbing as a Shade Cloth

Have you priced shade cloth lately?  I've checked several sources and haven't found anything for less than the price of a small car.   So instead, I'm using the Agribond row cover fabric I bought for frost protection and subbing it for shade protection.

I think it's working just fine.

This time of year is tricky for me.  I need to get my broccoli and cabbage planted for fall.  If I plant too late, it will overwinter and not do a damn thing until February.  If I get it in now, I'll have lots of yummy broccoli come November.  The problem is, we aren't out of the danger of massive heat waves.  This week, the temp in my garden got up to 100 which will ruin cool crop starts.

So I set up this shade panel.  It's perfect.  It's just a sheet of cloth wired to rebar and set at this angle to shade the starts during the hottest part of the day.  And in the winter, I can use the same fabric to protect my peas from freeze.  Bonus!