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  • #1

    North Facing Garden - how to deal with it and what to do.



    This is my first post so hello to you all. I have very keen parents who grown vegetable and flowers in a large kitchen garden complete with polytunnels, seating areas, woodland and a large patch of vegetables servicing the kitchen with the works. I have decided to give it a go myself as I feel inspired by their work and the results they get.

    Me and my partner have just made an offer in to this property which I have attached, I have worked out from my compass that when I look at my garden in theory from the back the compass is pointing north therefore it is north facing ? Can someone confirm that for me.

    I am aware this makes things a lot harder with growing vegetables and herbs however there are options which we can use from a bit of googling. What interests me is that the previous owner has a vegetable patch at the bottom of his garden and was growing green beans on the right hand side up a trellis. He had courgettes and did say that he had spuds in his soil which is reassuring. Behind the patch there is another trellis with some other bushes which I will be stripping back to extend.

    What is peoples advice, guidance and thoughts. I'd be interested to hear it in layman terms !
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    Last edited by tom_birmingham; 22-10-2013, 01:47 PM.
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  • #2
    ...forgot to add. Greenbeans on a trellis next to the outside loo a few feet from where the image was captured.

    Thanks in advance. Looking forward to spending some time on here.

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    • #3
      Hi Tom and welcome! If the compass points to the north, then the conifers are at the north end of the garden, so your garden faces south towards the house. The hedge on the left is west and the fence is east (I think)
      You can see the shadow of the house on the lawn, so that is the shady part - hence the veg at the far end.

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      • #4
        Hello Tom and welcome.

        I don't know what time of day you took your photo, but the garden does appear to get some sunshine so you should be fine to grow vegetables.

        If I were you I would trim that hedge on the left - make it thinner and slightly lower.

        Any idea what the bushes are that you intend to "strip back"? They may be fruit bushes, in which case it would be worth keeping them.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by veggiechicken View Post
          Hi Tom and welcome! If the compass points to the north, then the conifers are at the north end of the garden, so your garden faces south towards the house. The hedge on the left is west and the fence is east (I think)
          You can see the shadow of the house on the lawn, so that is the shady part - hence the veg at the far end.
          So if I am looking at my house from the bottom of the garden and the compass is pointing south it is south facing ? I hope so.

          Thanks for this.

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          • #6
            It's general foliage, no fruit bushes as far as I can remember. I will be going at the hedge, it's fairly busy !

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            • #7
              Originally posted by tom_birmingham View Post
              So if I am looking at my house from the bottom of the garden and the compass is pointing south it is south facing ? I hope so.

              Thanks for this.
              Doesn't really matter which way it faces, as long as it gets a decent amount of light and preferably sunshine.

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              • #8
                If that is the shadow of the house at around mid day then yes your garden is north facing. The front of the house will be getting all the sun. From your picture the end bit gets some sun so plant sun loving plants at the end. In the shade you could grow red currants, rhubarb, and other plants that will tolerate some shade. As a previous poster has suggested reduce the size of the privet hedge to get more light in and think about mirrors. Reflected sunlight is nearly as good as the real thing.

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                • #9
                  When they say a north facing garden they mean that the garden side face of the house faces north, your garden is on the north side of the house. So the sun cast a shadow of the house onto your garden, but it looks quite long so I am sure it gets some sun. My first thoughts were that hedge! Is it possible to reduce its height a lot? all that hedge growth will be robbing the soil of moisture and light. My garden faces south but I have two huge trees blocking the sun for half the day, things still seem to grow though. In the summer when the sun is high the house will cast a short shadow anyway.
                  photo album of my garden in my profile http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...my+garden.html

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                  • #10
                    Thanks to all for their helpful responses.

                    I think we will be in at January at the earliest which will give me some time to prepare the garden in some sort of fashion for the year ahead. I had a look at quotes for removing and trimming down the hedge to a mangable point. It is a shame this garden does have some hurdles but I will be able to adapt as much as I can do I think.

                    It's really exciting to have my first garden, I am in rented accomodation and have managed a few herbs this year but that is about it.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by tom_birmingham View Post
                      I am aware this makes things a lot harder with growing vegetables
                      Yes it does. You need to find out exactly how shaded the garden is.

                      You've got huge trees and a big hedge too, which won't help you any. They are going to be sucking a lot of moisture out of the ground as well as potentially casting additional shade.


                      My front garden is north facing. It gets a little sun in the morning in summer, none at all in the winter and I can't grow any vegetables in it, but woodland plants* do fairly well


                      * primroses, bluebells. Foxgloves will grow, but they lean at 45 degrees towards the sunlight
                      All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Four Seasons View Post
                        The front of the house will be getting all the sun.
                        So Tom, can you grow veg in the front garden? Or isn't there a front garden?

                        I chose our house because it has a bit of south-facing garden, for my greenhouse. The veggies are grown at the allotment (can you put your name down for one?)
                        All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                        • #13
                          i have a north facing garden .... i have a big veggie patch at the end which gets sun all year round .... in spring i move loads of seedlings into large pots, which start off in the veggie patch .... then they get moved onto the end of the lawn .... and in summer, they move to the back of the house where they'll get summer sun every day .... as we move into autumn and get less sunlight at the back of the house, and stuff gets harvested from the veggie patch, they get moved back to the veggie patch again .... this allows me to grow a lot more than i could just using the veggie patch .... hope all that makes sense!
                          http://MeAndMyVeggies.blogspot.com

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                          • #14
                            From what I can tell the sunlight starts where the patch starts in October sunshine. He mentioned that he had some potatoes in the patch and as I said there were courgettes growing too. He also on the right hand side of the garden had some late stringy green beans growing up a trellis next to what would of been the downstairs loo alongside the fence.

                            I have access to some great vegetables from my parents and a local organic grocer who assists massively when needed. The 3 farmers markets which are in a 3 mile radius also help too !

                            It's an ongoing ideas thread, all have been very helpful so far.
                            Last edited by tom_birmingham; 24-10-2013, 04:50 PM.

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                            • #15
                              Also just thinking out loud here. If I decided to put some raised beds in at the bottom of the garden. Whilst readying the beds I then put some black lining or the like at the bottom of the actual raised bed containers (to keep good nutrients in as much as possible) would that help things a long the way ?

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