Not sure if this comes under gardening really but thinking ahead to (longing for) those hot hot late spring days we get around May/June. At that time of year my garden is in full sunshine for most of the day with not a scrap of shade to be had.
It's not a huge garden but the orientation of the garden and our house (and I guess the neighbours houses) means no shade. I was looking those folding awnings you can get that attach to the house but the orientation is all wrong because the sun comes from the other side.
An umbrella doesn't offer enough shade for my outdoor-loving but heat-hating kids and a gazebo requires too much upkeep - putting it up and down, worrying it will fly away etc.
Has anyone got any novel ideas? What about those 'sail' things you sometimes see - are they a nightmare with wind? I would want it to be easy to put up and down so that I can get some sun sometimes!!