Confused about sun and veggies

21 years ago

OK I've been doing a TON of reading and it's pretty obvious veggies need lots of sun. My problem is where we were going to put the veggy garden would have a block wall on the west and south sides. Basically once afternoon rolled around it would start shading the garden.

The majority of stuff I'm reading says that isn't a good place BUT I asked my father if his garden was shaded at their old house(they moved years ago and don't have one anymore) and he said yes the west side had a wall blocking the sun. I also asked a freind at work who has a garden and he said his is NOT shaded(but does well) but his neighbor's is shaded from the afternoon sun and he said his neighbor has real good luck as well.

I also found some pages on the internet where they:

"SUNLIGHT

Resist the temptation to hide your vegetable garden from the desert sun. Most vegetables require 6-8 hours of sunlight a day to fully develop.

Best Performance: Eastern exposure (morning sun with relief from the hot afternoon sun)"

So is the info about not shading more for the other parts of the country where they don't live in a desert? My boy is real excited about doing the garden and even though it's a little late to be starting it I think it would help the soil for the spring/summer growing season.

Garden would be up to 20 x 30 if that matters. Not sure that I want to start out that size but that's how much I have to work with at the moment.

Thanks,

Brad

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Comments (2)

jkochan
21 years ago
Brad, Welcome to GW. We have two growing seasons here and now iBrad, Welcome to GW. We have two growing seasons here and now is the time to start getting ready for the fall and cool winter crops. YouÂre right about having some late afternoon shade. It's the late afternoon sun and heat that's tough on the garden. But it's a two edged sword. The non-shaded afternoon garden will do slightly better during the winter because of the extra sun. I start amending the soil now and plant in October. Peas, lettuce, spinach and carrots are what I will often plant for the winter harvest. You can also get a fall tomato crop, but you need to get it in now while itÂs still warm, get an early producer and get the largest plants you can. I donÂt think weÂll have enough warm weather to start them from seed and still have a crop. Hope this helps and have fun.

Jim
RdRnnr
21 years ago
Hi Brad, and welcome. I have an exposure much like yours and will be planting some veggies there. The area is also bordered by an east wall, so it's basically a narrow strip in my case. Much of that area gets around 4-5 hours of sun and that should be ok for most things. The direct sun hits the west wall side from around 10am-2:30pm, and the east wall side gets sun from around 11am-3:30pm (yes, I have obsessed over tracking sun times in each section in the yard, lol).

Reflective material around the area can help max the light. Raising areas can help, too, and so can strategic planting of taller veggies so they do not block light from shorter veggies. But the amount of sun it gets should be ok as it is. (Jim's mention of the 2 edged sword sure is a fact!LOL) Sounds like you have a nice garden area size and it's so satisfying to watch the children's excitement as things begin to sprout. Plus, can't think of a better way to get kids to eat veggies they'd normally avoid...my daughter would eat an onion like an apple if she grew it, lol.

RR
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