A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Sunshine Question

Hello

I am planting my first large scale garden. I am trying to layout the garden on paper and plot the orientation and position for maximum sunlight. The only problem is i just moved into this house this winter and havent seen the suns travel path during the summer. Is there a way that I can use a compass and my latitude on the earth to plot the suns travel for a given date? i need to know pretty precisely, not just east/west because I have three rather large trees that I think will have to removed and thats gonna be pricey.

thanks in advance
JC

Jc

have no idea from where you hale, but lots of stuff can grow in part sun, if that helps .
Try putting some it large pots, or tubs or something this year an you can move them to where the sun seem s to hit.
You can put tomatoes in Large flower pots. They like all day sun.

i think most plants like morning sun.

Thanks But im not really interested in moving things around in pots. Im planting many many plants, and im going thru alot of trouble to fence off the area compost it (a whole dump truck load :D) etc. ill be spending enough time harvesting and keeping weeds out! the biggest concern i have it what side to put my beans on, as i dont want them shading to much. if im gauging it correctly, my garage will provide shade for the entire garden at about 6pm, so i need to get as much light in as i can before then

oh, and i live in north carolina

Ask Bill

He is a professional gardener ..
read his pages.
Wild Willy

First stand at the front of your garden with the compass and tell us what it reads...then how far away are trees or buildings from each side? ....we'll help you from there.

ill draw a picture...im a drafter by trade so it should be to hard ill post tommorrow (have to get a compass) thanks alot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_path
try this site it shows your how to plot the position of your solar panels ...but the info should be helpful .....good luck

perfect! just waht i was looking for! I'll post my drawing tommorrow just the same! thanks!

If not too late to this post-- use bing maps, google earth, or some other satellite imagery to get a "birdseye" view of your property. Often these images were taken at different times of the year, and so you can see the shade affects of your trees.