Dollar Tree Shower Pouf Garden Shade Net DIY

As a newbie gardener during the pandemic, I tried to save money and limit how much time I spent in stores. Garden centers had crowds, so I looked for ways to limit errands and spend less. When I needed a net to protect strawberries from birds, I used a Dollar Tree shower pouf for a DIY garden shade net that lasted all year and is going strong. You can find these at any store for about a dollar, or you may have one around your house to repurpose. I was very thrifty and tried many things from Dollar Tree in my garden. You can read my top suggestions here.

Dollar Tree Shower Pouf Shade Net VS Garden Netting

The only thing I would change is that I’d add another shower pouf to make it bigger, like a shower pouf quilt, but my Dollar Tree shower pouf shade net has been a hard worker and worth the effort. I liked it better than the shade net I bought later to put around my tomatoes, because the close weave of the mesh kept plants from growing through it, and it offered just a little protection from too-harsh sunshine. My tomatoes grew through their net constantly, so that’s been a big deal! My strawberries didn’t want a real shade net, but they didn’t always like full sun exposure and did better with that tiny bit of shade.

**PLASTICS IMPACT** To reduce my plastic consumption, after my plastic shade cloths are worn out, I WON’T be throwing them into the trash where they would go to a landfill and possibly harm wildlife (birds). I’ll add them to the bottom of pots. They could also be stuffed into outdoor pillows. Moving forward, I’ll use white sheer fabric, a thrifted sheer curtain, or repurpose a used pouf.

Supplies Needed

• Shower pouf (clean with bleach if used)
• brown paper
• sewing machine
• thread
• scissors

How to Make a Shower Pouf Garden Shade Net

1. Cut shower pouf open carefully. Look in the middle for the stitch that’s holding it together and snip that. You’ll be able to open it up until you have a long tube.

2. Cut the tube in half so you have 2 tubes.

3. Cut each tube open so you have 2 rectangles. They’re wrinkled now, but over time they will flatten.

4. Cut strips of brown paper bag. These don’t need to be exact, but they need to be straight.

5. Overlap the 2 sections of shower pouf and place a strip of paper underneath for stabilizer, then sew with zigzag stitch.

This is what you will have. You could stop right here if you want this to give a bit better shade coverage. My intent was a little shade and to deter snails and birds. It did all of that.

6. Tear or cut away excess paper. I gently tore it. The needles stitching make a dotted line for the paper to tear away. If you pull too hard and fast, the stitches may rip out.

That’s it! It’s ready to use! I put mine to use right away on a small row of strawberries planted in the ground. It’s still scrunched up from being a shower pouf, but with time it loosens. You can also use stakes or clips to stretch it.

Then I moved them to this hanging basket and wrapped the shower pouf shade net around to give it just enough protection from the sun and birds. You can barely see the yellow peeking through the leaves. I pulled it back to take this shot of my lone berry. There was no reason to grow strawberries in Oceanside, CA when I could buy beautiful organic berries at a farm stand for a great price. Organic fresh produce is the one thing that costs less in California. I had to get the photo ops since I wasn’t going to be making a strawberry pie with my “crop”.

And here are the strawberries wrapped like a mummy in my Dollar Tree shower pouf shade cloth. This worked brilliantly on the hanging basket, and a wider one wouldn’t have been helpful. If you have hanging plants to shade and an old shower pouf, it could be worth your 10 minutes of haphazard cutting and sewing to do this.

Of my 3 nets, the shower pouf shade cloth was my favorite and the most versatile. It held up better than my green shade cloth which completely fell apart. Here it is in zone 8a working for yet another growing season covering a tomato after working hard in zone 10a.

Just to show the full size, I stretched it over my tomato cages, . This also shows the wear and tear. There are some holes, but I’m not having a pest problem. Scorching laser beams from the sky is the primary problem. I’m considering an afternoon beach umbrella during the triple digit weather to guard my unhappy tomatoes. Still, considering this was a bath pouf, this covers quite a bit of area. You can also see how it has relaxed and is smooth. It’s no longer uptight.

And if you want more shade coverage, here it is doubled over my jade plants on my plant cart. The top gets full sun in the morning, but the other shelves have shade, and with the heatwave this week, I tried shading them while they had their morning sun. Yes, I fuss and adjust my plants. We’re all getting used to this new grow zone. (That poor little plant that looks dead really isn’t. I need to deadhead it.)

Here are the shaded jades. Their pots provide shade for the bottom shelves. I wheel this around and move plants on and off. It had been totally full, but I like to rearrange them. You can see the one pot got too much sun. I was too slow to get that shade cloth on. It’s time for a good watering.

So, before you toss that bath pouf in the trash, maybe you can repurpose it into a shade cloth. This could certainly be stitched by hand with jute or string. If sewing really isn’t your thang, cut it open and cut pieces to cover the bottom of pots. I’d probably use 2 per pot to have drainage but keep dirt from falling out. Or maybe you can find another creative use for it. Please share any ideas you have to repurpose a shower pouf, because there are a lot of those hitting the landfills.