Sun shifting...

Right now as the sun rises and sets, the southern part of my garden plot is partial shade for a good part of the day because of a HUGE tree 30 ft across the property line. I've noticed the sun setting further North every day. How much difference is summer sun going to affect my plot? This is our first spring in this home so I don't know what kind of summer sun my plot gets. Any thoughts?

As spring progresses, the sun will get higher and higher off the horizon throughout the day. Maybe for the first year, plant cool crops in the currently shady area. My hunch is, you'll soon have plenty of sun across the whole garden.

My house and gardens get no direct sun Dec. through mid-February because of trees. My gardens end up getting plenty enough sun for warm season crops.

...Thanks for confirming. I imagined needing to plant things that do okay with partial shade and hope for the best.

I'm on schedule to start laying bricks for my boxes this weekend. My daughter suggested, and I liked, the idea to use my test project for pillers on either side of my gate. Maybe if I make them high enough, I can find something to use as a trellis over the top (maybe to support a grape vine? or climbing roses? I'll come up with something by next spring). If all goes well I will meet the date before end of the month to plant my cool weather peas.

Got supplies to start my seedlings, just need to figure out how to hang the lights so they can be adjustable to get them going.

Happy Planting!

jinx wrote:I've noticed the sun setting further North every day. How much difference is summer sun going to affect my plot? This is our first spring in this home so I don't know what kind of summer sun my plot gets. Any thoughts?

One thought since I'm in a new home too and I'm glad you reminded me. Get your digital camera and take a picture of the sun's progression across your yard. I'd say once a week or every other week. Take those pics and put them into your "gardening file" you have one right?.......ugh where's my journal haha! After your first season you'll be able to tell exactly where the sun is going to be so you can place your gardens accordingly.

jinx wrote:...Thanks for confirming. I imagined needing to plant things that do okay with partial shade and hope for the best.

I'm on schedule to start laying bricks for my boxes this weekend. My daughter suggested, and I liked, the idea to use my test project for pillers on either side of my gate. Maybe if I make them high enough, I can find something to use as a trellis over the top (maybe to support a grape vine? or climbing roses? I'll come up with something by next spring). If all goes well I will meet the date before end of the month to plant my cool weather peas.

Got supplies to start my seedlings, just need to figure out how to hang the lights so they can be adjustable to get them going.

Happy Planting!

Jenn - I said i would post some pics for ya but in case you need to know before i get a chance to do that I have chains hanging down from the beams in my basement ceiling (its unfinished) and the tops of the lights have hooks. As my plants grow I can just insert the hook into a higher link in the chain. You can get lightweight chain at any big box home store. Light fixtures are so light you dont need anything super heavy duty.

jerzyjen wrote:Jenn - I said i would post some pics for ya but in case you need to know before i get a chance to do that I have chains hanging down from the beams in my basement ceiling (its unfinished) and the tops of the lights have hooks. As my plants grow I can just insert the hook into a higher link in the chain. You can get lightweight chain at any big box home store. Light fixtures are so light you dont need anything super heavy duty.

That sounds easy enough... my problem is that our basement remodel is scheduled to start in the next few weeks and I may need something more portable. Maybe I can finally get the garage organized enough and set it up out there, that is unfinished with exposed beams... Do ya think it will be warm enough in the garage to do seedlings?

I guess it depends on your garage, but I bought a cheap thermometer to keep an eye on temps. My basement runs around 55-60. All my seeds have been germinated on top of my fridge where its close to 70, but once they sprout then i move them down to the basement. I bought long plastic boxes at Walmart for my plants to be nice and portable for hardening off purposes. They are sitting on my patio table, which is temporary because once the weather gets warm I'll want to move that table outside to use it! I'm sure if you wanted to put your plants in a finished space (or a space with a hard ceiling) you could buy those plant hooks that screw into the drywall and hang from them, but I'm thinking if you have a finished space you might not want to be doing garden type work there.

I won't lie. I got alot of my ideas for this from a SFG blogger. http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/ I have found that besides this forum, Emily's blog has been EXTREMELY helpful to me.