How to save your garden in 3 steps with a 1x2m canvas tarp

The recent heatwave in France started to devastate our garden (and me!) – now that the second one is upon us, after adding a quick DIY garden feature, our veggie patch is thriving!

One of the best things about moving to the French countryside is the having the space to grown our own vegetables, but we underestimated how harsh the 2026 summer was going to be across Europe, particularly in France. Rather than coming up with a fancy way to protect our garden from the sun, I used a couple tree branches and a canvas tarp to solve the problem, and here’s how you can do it too!

Fast. Easy. Affordable.

The problem:

The afternoon sun is too harsh for my newly planted vegetables. Watering them during the day when the full sun is shining on them isn’t a good idea, as the water acts like a magnifying glass and burns the leaves.

The solution:

Instead of creating an overhead shelter that will block too much sun (especially when we’re not in a heatwave), creating a wall along the side of the vegetable garden provides some protection from the afternoon sun and hot wind. Most importantly, if it ever rains again, there’s nothing stopping the water from reaching the plants.

Creating a side wall with a canvas tarp will give you plenty more hours in the day to be able to water the garden when the plants are in the shade.

How to use a canvas tarp to protect you garden from the sun

Here’s exactly what you’ll need to make a quick, easy and affordable DIY garden shelter to give your garden some shade from the harsh sun this summer, and how to do it.

What you’ll need:

• some garden stakes
• canvas tarp
• rope
• timber saw
• hammer

Exactly what I used:

• 2x tree branches cut into 4 posts
• One 1×2 metre canvas tarp
• rope from the tarp packaging
• a timber saw and hammer that I had in the shed

Cost

• 49,99€ for the canvas tarp
• a few euro for a bandage after slipping on sweat and cutting my hand while sawing the branches
• if you have to buy garden stakes, they’re only a few euro each, and you won’t need a saw
  • if you’re using tree branches, they’re free, and you’ll need a saw or simply snap them to size
• if you don’t have a hammer, use a rock

Pro tip: cut one end of each branch on an angle so that it’ll drive into the ground easier.

Step 1: Making DIY garden stakes for the tarp structure

All you need is some sticks made of any material that are long enough to hold up the tarp. This could be some old timber posts that you have lying around or metal poles from the shed. If you absolutely can’t find anything to use, go buy some from a garden supply or hardware store, they’re not expensive at all and you’ll be able to use them on plenty of other DIY home garden tasks in the future.

I had two old tree branches in the backyard that I cut in half to end up with four DIY garden stakes to use as the frame that the tarp can be attached to.

I cut one end of each branch to give them a sharp angle, making them a lot easier to bang into the ground.

Step 2: Creating the structure

Start by lying the tarp on the ground, exactly where you want to place it and give shade to your garden, allowing you to line the stakes/branches up with brass eyelets on the tarp that you’ll use to attach them to.

Once you’re confident that you know where each stake should be placed, hammer them into the ground. If you don’t have a hammer, use a rock.

Step 3: Pitching the tarp

Each WAY&FARER canvas tarp is packaged in thick paper and tied up with some rope. You can cut this rope into pieces (if not using some rope or heavy duty string that you already have on hand) and use it to tie the tarp the stakes that you’ve just banged into the ground.

I cut the rope into 8 pieces and tied each eyelet along the top of the tarp to the stakes, one in each bottom corner, and another in the middle of each end.
It came up a treat! Other than cutting the stakes, pitching the tarp took no more than 5-10 minutes.

It was about 44°C when I was creating this garden shelter, so every second that I could save was crucial. Nonetheless, I’m really happy with how easy this DIY garden shelter was to make, and it looks great! A very satisfying task.

In the photo above, you’ll notice that the leaves on my pumpkin plant (could be a zucchini – not sure yet) are looking very dry! Since making this shelter, the plants in this vegetable garden have been protected from the sun from about 2pm onwards each day, and the results are incredible! Everything is now thriving and we’ll soon be filling up the wheel barrow to deliver pumpkins and zucchinis to all of our neighbours throughout our little village of Liglet, deep in the French countryside.

I’ll take some photos soon and update them to this blog post – make sure that you come back and take a look to see the results and big impact that this shelter had on the garden.

If you’re planning on doing something like this soon, have already done it or have some questions, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section below or you can contact us here.

Next up: In the last blog post, I used a lightweight tarp to make a backyard pool shelter. Unfortunately, some super strong winds came past and the tarp has already begun to tear, as the lightweight tarps aren’t made to handle strong winds, unlike the canvas tarps. I’m going to use some more tree branches to set up a canvas tarp (just like the tarp used in this post, but bigger – I’m thinking a 3×4 metre heavy duty canvas tarp). I’ll probably wait for a slightly cooler day or do it when some clouds are about, then come back here and show you all in another blog post.