North, South, East or West?

**Two_Sheds** · 08-02-2009, 04:08 PM

Obviously south-facing gives you maximum sun (provided you aren't shaded by trees/buildings)

My back garden gets sun from dawn to dusk in summer, but my lotty (also south-facing) is partially shaded on the east side by houses until about midday

**Rossa** · 08-02-2009, 04:53 PM

That's a good question, that I'm interested in too.

My front veg bed faces South and just starting a side bed that runs South to North. Had good crops last year from root veg but don't seem to do to well with things that need sun to ripen like tomatoes and sweetcorn. That's 'cos we've got massive limes and sycamores about 10m away down edge of our drive. As they're TPO'd I can't even get them trimmed back. Don't even get me started on what the sap has done to the paintwork on our cars!!

From what I've read, as long as there is light from all ways round, direct sun isn't always needed, though two sheds may differ.

I'm trying a range of soft fruit in the S/N border and brassicas so will see how they get on.

**selfraising** · 08-02-2009, 06:13 PM

Hi Rossa
My back garden bends so it starts at the top facing west and then bend round towards the North near the bottom. My front garden faces east. Perhaps for some veg it's the heat as well as the light they need. Bit of a b**ger about the trees. Could you not move the sweetcorn and toms round to the front bed? I would have thought for some veg too much sun isn't great either, although I'm a bit of a novice, so I may have got this wrong.

**Jenegade** · 08-02-2009, 07:57 PM

My garden faces west, but there is nothing shading it to the south, except a small hedge which gives it a bit of shade at this time of year, but is much better during the summer. South facing would definitely be best!

**gojiberry** · 09-02-2009, 03:52 PM

The length of my lottie runs north south and before I built raised beds everything was planted in rows east west. This does however create shadow especially with a row of climbing beans running right across the width. Now I have raised beds the beans are grown in 6ft rows (width of the raised beds) going north south and they only cast partial shade on the other beds to the north.

Ian

**janeyo** · 09-02-2009, 04:00 PM

Rossa you should be able to get yours trimmed back you just have to jump through hoops first. Contact a tree surgeon who will fill out the forms for the council for you.

We had 8, 125 year old oaks on neighbouring property in our old houe all with TPO's and I managed to get permission to cut back 3 times in 4 years. We also got prmission ot coppice 2 huge limes at the front. They then grew outwards instead of up.

**janeyo** · 09-02-2009, 04:02 PM

My back garden faces south west and it's only the bit right down the end sthat is shaded by a house, but the chooks are there so it doesn't really affect my veggies.
My front garden is another matter and I have trouble getting anything to grow except moss.

**Moon Grower** · 09-02-2009, 05:33 PM

We've got two veggie plots the moon bed where everything is going to be grown following the lunar cycle In Tune With The Moon and a control bed to compare results. The moon bed will only get sun for part of the day and is orientated north south whilst the control bed (which is in a neighbour's garden will get sun for most of the day and the rows will be east west. Both ourselves and our neighbour have cats so it is going to be interesting to see just how much damage they do.

**kentvegplot** · 10-02-2009, 08:27 AM

If you have a choice, the ideal orientation is North-South, so that one crop doesn't shade another. Having said that, most of us have to use whatever we've got!

**Mike and Louise** · 10-02-2009, 10:09 AM

We have a north facing garden with north/south alined veg beds.

Our crops have been rather good each year. Our beds are at the bottom of the garden and they get a good amount of direct sunlight on them.

When we can, we plant the tallest veg at the north end of the beds so that they don't cast shadow onto the other smaller veg in the same bed.

**Eyren** · 10-02-2009, 02:24 PM

My garden faces south-east and my lottie could be described as that (it's out in the middle of the site, but is angled about 30 degrees from true and slopes very slightly from NW to SE) - so my beds are never aligned N-S or E-W!

For me, micro-climate is more important than orientation: my back garden is sheltered, so ideal for tender crops (tomatoes if we get a hot summer, leafy salad if we get a wet one); the allotment is more open and windy, but gets more light and sun all round, so it's best for tough winter crops or things like squash and sweetcorn that need lots of space and light.

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