We put up a pergola and are growing kiwis over it to absorb solar energy as well as make food and block sun from the house in future. I just put up some cheap bamboo fencing over the west-facing back doors, to serve as exterior shades. I hope it will help keep heat out of the house; a lot of sun heat comes in that way. I really love how it looks!
Obviously we dry laundry there and have container gardens. Tomorrow I'm planning to try solar cooking out here to keep using this sun trap as much a possible. Most exciting, I'm hoping this summer to get a solar dehydrator built.
Any other ideas for how to use a sun trap? I'm not interested in solar panels at this time.
