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The southern california sun already seems so harsh and this is my first year growing. I have built these little hoops over the beds and draped some shade cloth over to keep the worst of the afternoon sun off the zuchini and bean bushes I have. is there any better material you could recomend? the sun comes up before 7am and the shade doesn't really kick in til about 2pm. I have a little light meter and that still reads 'sunny' even under the cloth.
If I'm doing the right thing I will continue with the other beds.
Thank you.
Sam

I'm having the same problem, but mine is a tiny little thing. I really like yours and wish I had that much space.
Years ago I helped a friend of mine install a shade almost exactly like you have there and it worked pretty good. I didn’t do that on mine because of the direction my planter box is and I wanted easy access to everything, but if not for that I’d do it exactly like you have. I have a shed that helps in the late day, but its full sun in the morning until about 3PM

Shade cloth comes in different shading percentages. It looks like you have a 70% shadecloth. I use a 47% shade cloth and cover the entire frame with it. If I need additional shading I can double the shade cloth.
I tested my light varies from 8000-15000 lumens without the shade cloth. With shade cloth I get down to 5000-8000 lumens. It does build up humidity under the shade, but not as bad as with row covers. It helps to keep the shade cloth as high as you can get it. You can leave air space at the bottom (mine faces north) to allow more air to enter.

https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... hade-cloth

I like what you have there. The wind in my area would demand a more secure attachment, but I am trying to figure it out.