Shade Cloth

My strawberries do not like all the hot weather we have been having. They starting frying during the last heat wave................I guess this is why they grow them commercially along the coast.


I thought maybe some shade cloth would protect them. I had a small piece left-over from another project, but it didn't cover the whole bed, so I just kept rotating it over portions, giving some plants a break from the sun each day. I think it might have helped some. I started to get some beautiful strawberries again, instead of brown ones.


So yesterday when I transplanted some basil seedlings and other herb plants, during another heat wave, I decided to protect the plants with the shade cloth. It worked great. I usually try to wait till evening to transplant seedlings in the heat, but I'm so tired by then, and I keep putting it off, now I can just do it in the morning or during the day, and use the shade cloth to protect them from burning. This is fabulous. What are you waiting for..............go get yourself a piece of shade cloth!


My husband picked up a new piece of shade cloth yesterday. It looks more like burlap or potato sack material. I'm using this over the entire strawberry bed now. If this doesn't help, I guess I'll just have to leave the strawberry growing to the people on the coast, who have all that cool foggy weather, that the strawberries prefer.