Backyard
How to create shade in backyard

How to create shade in backyard

The problem of new garden plots is often the absolute lack of shade. This is especially inconvenient if there are young children, for whom playing in the open sun is simply dangerous. A full-fledged garden will begin to form after five years, so let’s look at what you can do to quickly make shade on the plot.

Gazebos

The easiest thing to do is to install a temporary summer gazebo made of dense material. There are many types of such gazebos, and they vary in size and appearance. It is cheaper to buy a marquee in the autumn, when sales begin in stores. During the winter, it is desirable to dismantle the structure and take it indoors.

You can install a stationary gazebo on the foundation of the size necessary for your family and consistent with the design of the house. Material: wood, stone, polycarbonate on a metal base. 

shade

Awning

The most economical way is to arrange a temporary awning. It can be made with your own hands, using wire and thick fabric. As a point of attachment of the wire will suit the fence, the wall of the house, the barn or specially erected beams. Prefabricated canopy designs with supports are sold in stores. The simplest of them is a beach umbrella. The disadvantage of such designs is the lack of stability during wind.

Canopies and arches with vines

Quickly and inexpensively constructed arches, canopies, pergolas can be supplemented with climbing plants. As a rule, they grow very fast, developed on the proposed support, have dense foliage, creating quality shade.

Of vines the most unpretentious and fast-growing plants: these are maiden five-leaf grapes, Amur grapes, Brown’s honeysuckle, hydrangea petiolate, actinidia Colomicta.

The bonus of planting such lianas, in addition to good shade, will be:

  • amur grape – delicious fruits, reminiscent of the variety “Isabella”,
  • hydrangeas and honeysuckle – beautiful abundant flowering,
  • maiden grape has rich autumn coloring (from orange to purple),
  • the actinidia has fruits rich in vitamin C (many times more than in buckthorn).

The downside of lianas is their abundant spread by whiskers and root shoots, fertile soil nearby will always attract them to let there their offshoots. If shrubs or trees get in the way, they will gladly use them as a support. If you give them the wall of a building as a support, they will gradually destroy its structure, as they are able to penetrate through wood and concrete.

The optimal is to grow lianas on specially prepared trellises made of wood or metal, directing the branches in the right direction and limiting growth in the adult state. Read more about lianas for the midlands here.

“Growing shade” or which trees to plant in the garden for shade

And another option to quickly create shade on the plot for a long time – to plant trees and shrubs that will quickly grow and, in addition to creating shade, will please the eye and decorate the garden.

If you have a large garden, you are not limited in area and do not stand for the cultivation of exclusively useful fruit trees, you can plant the following fast-growing large trees:

  • birch – a significant disadvantage is moisture-loving and, as a consequence, sucking moisture from the soil from the neighbors,
  • white willow – especially interesting weeping species, growth in favorable conditions up to 2 m per year, prefers damp places,
  • pine – gives loose openwork shade,
  • common spruce – dense shade,
  • elm – cases of Dutch elm disease, which destroys the tree, are more frequent,
  • larch – a deciduous plant, gives good shade, but is not decorative in winter,
  • eucalyptus, sycamore, pyramidal poplar – suitable only for warm regions, by the way, the eucalyptus is considered the fastest growing tree on the planet (growth of 4 -5 m per year),
  • linden – gives good shade, smells great during flowering, flowers are useful and can be brewed into tea,
  • manchurian walnut – grows very fast, gives good shade, likes damp soils, taking excess water from them.

If you do not have a very large plot, the large tree on the site will look like a giant, disproportionately stretched out over the rest of the plantings. Therefore, for small plots, you can pay attention to the following trees and shrubs that give shade:

  • low-growing varieties of willow, weeping species are interesting, (if the common willow is trimmed from the top, it will grow like a shrub),
  • robinia – a fast-growing tree with magnificent fragrant bunches of flowers, melliferous, undemanding to soil and moisture, it recovers after frost, has thorns on the trunk,
  • bird cherry – blooms splendidly, has decorative purple leaves, bears fruit, but gives abundant rootstock, crowding the space, likes damp soils,
  • red elderberry – growth up to 1 m a year, beautiful bark, strong branching, repels flies,
  • black elderberry – beautiful crown shape, needs fertile loose moist soil, without light the color of the leaves becomes pale,
  • mountain ash – a beautiful slender tree with an openwork crown, will decorate the garden in winter fruits and feed birds,
  • foxberry – grows quickly, gives useful fruits, but is very fond of aphids, the variety “Buldenge” is especially spectacular,
  • hazel – has species with green and red leaves, forms a large bush, bears fruit in the presence of male and female plants,
  • maples – there are many interesting species, decorating the garden in the fall and creating a dense shade, prefer damp soils,
  • acacia – there are interesting varieties, but very crowded on the plot, as a weed, a honeybee,
  • quince – quickly grows, bears fruit, blooms beautifully,
  • hawthorn – grows better in sunny places and drained soils, fruits are edible,
  • walnut – grows quickly but turns green late, does not bear fruit in the middle belt,
  • lilac – beautiful flowering and fragrance,
  • canadian fig – beautiful bush shape, sweet berries,
  • oleaster narrow-leaved elk – silvery leaves,
  • european birchlet – attractive with bright autumn coloring and unusual fruits.