Which is best to keep garden soil cool: mulch or shade cloth? I use a soil thermometer to find out!

In this video I perform an experiment to test whether mulch, shade cloth or a combination works best to keep soil temperatures cool. Many of us have a home vegetable garden, and as we transition to summer, many cool weather plants will prematurely flower and fail to thrive due to rising soil temperatures. So finding ways to keep plants such as lettuce and broccoli cool will help you get a good harvest. Using a soil thermometer, I test four different scenarios: no mulch and no shade cloth, shade cloth but no mulch, mulch and shade cloth or mulch and no shade cloth.
The shade cloth I used is a 50% shade cloth, purchased on Amazon. Mulch is a basic straw mulch.

[@MidwestGardener]

Great video! Looks like a great way to extend the season for some of the spring crops. There is some valuable information in this video. I did a little experimenting with shade cloth in hopes of increasing fruit set in extreme temperatures (90 tp 100 degrees F.). It did seem to help a little, but it didn't make a dramatic difference. You're plants are still looking great. Keep up the good work!

[@TheGardenFamily]

Thanks Jim! Yeah, I was wondering about doing a shade cloth on very hot days as I've heard tomatoes will not germinate past a certain temp but I don't really have a good infrastructure since the tomatoes are single stemmed on 8 foot stakes. That being said, maybe I'll do some dwarf tomatoes (per your suggestion) in the beds with the row covers and try shade cloth if temps are 90+. Thanks for watching, look forward to your next update!

[@dougingoldsby7029]

90 degrees at 6:00pm! Dang!! Stay cool! Jump in that big beautiful pond!

[@TheGardenFamily]

For sure! Very weird May / early June. Haven’t had a good rain since when you were out! Starting to look like Fresno out there… 😬