Shadecloth Shelters for Desert Vegetables

In Scottsdale, Arizona, Master Gardeners Christina and John Grubb use shadecloth tents over raised beds for seasonal protection. Heavy shadecloth provides frost protection for cool-season crops (herbs, nasturtiums, salad greens, root crops) on freezing nights. Later, same shadecloth screens warm-season vegetables (tomatoes, peppers) from intense sun and drying winds.

Hoops made from 10-foot ½-inch PVC pipe bent into 42-inch arcs, inserted into brackets on 4-foot-wide beds. Plastic grommets on shadecloth edges; plastic locking ties through grommets secure fabric loosely to pipes, allowing sliding up/down as needed.