It is a very basic idea I gleaned from a few different places... I went to a open day at the Toowoomba organic growers club to help on the Wetpot stand & saw an Irrigation pipe Dome Arbour like structure... From memory they were going to plant Passion fruit & other productive climbers around it to create a small, shaded seating area... I then came across the idea again when investigating the Wicking beds at the Easy-Grow Vegetables website...
We used Green striped Rural pipe for the arches & mix of New & old star pickets... The older ones were made here in Australia by BHP & of a larger (in circumference), more sturdier construction... The Blue stripe Irrigation pipe is stronger but nearly double the price at the Produce/Agg store we purchased it from & not really necessary for a basic shade structure... 50% shade cloth was used due to the price involved in ordering in the 25-30% cloth we really wanted... We might look into getting the other next year if we feel the plants are not going as well as they could...
I found the new pickets fit inside the 2" pipe without a problem but had to wire the smaller1½" pipe to the outside of the pickets... I kept the Larger pickets for use with the smaller pipe as it was easier to secure the pipe between the "wings" of the picket to help hold it in place...
Holes were drilled in the pipe to match up with the holes in the pickets.... It was then secured to the pickets with wire..... I have also wired the smaller pipe to the larger in places to create another arch... These joins appear to be as strong now as when first constructed about a year ago...
The Top Hat sections are fastened to the Pipe with large screws & at the ends some extra wire for strength... The shade cloth is then secured to both the Top Hat & pipe with Large Zip Ties..... We have only just discovered (Thanks Mark B) that they can be reused if you use a small flat screwdriver or small, preferably blunt, knife to release the small tab that keeps them locked....We have joined the sections of shade cloth together with bits of baling twine in some places & smaller Zip Ties in others...
We had some fairly bad storms last summer & never had a problem with the structure shaking or even looking like being damaged... Due to the loose weave of the cloth the wind just blows right through unlike a shade sail that has a very tight weave which adds to the wind resistance...
Hope that answers any questions but feel free to ask more...
Have a great one all....
: )»
Categories:
Aquaponics,
construction,
house,
shade
