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where to place the garden

post #1 of 9
3/30/08 at 12:00am
Thread Starter 
Ok... so we just moved into an older home with mature landscaping. There are large trees around the property. whats the best way to go about locating the best place to place the garden? how , other than sitting outside all day watching the sun do i find this out. although... it would be a good excuse to throw back a few cold ones, and relax...what are you doing...im trying to figure out the best plae to put our garden dear...this is all for science.
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post #2 of 9
3/30/08 at 6:43am
Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), sitting outside watching the yard is the only way you can learn it. Unless you want to chop down those trees.

As a general guideline, in the northern hemisphere, the summer sun rises in the southeast, describes an arc across the sky, and sets in the southwest.

So you garden, to maximize explosure, should be oriented in a n/s direction, rather than e/w.

Vegetables need at least 6 hours/day of sunlight. So you have to observe potential garden areas both in the morning and the afternoon, to see how much exposure they get.

Also keep in mind that there's no rule saying the garden has to be one big piece. You could have scattered plots. Or, as usually makes the most sense with conditions you describe, containers.
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post #3 of 9
3/31/08 at 11:24am
I use something called Suncalc. It's a thing you stick in the ground and it measures sunlight for you. Made specifically for this type of thing.

SunCalc - The Sunlight Calculator

"It accurately measures the amount of accumulated light that falls on a gardener's specific location of their property, providing you with the ability to match a plant's light requirements (full sun, partial sun, etc.) with the actual light conditions as measured by SunCalc. "
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post #4 of 9
4/2/08 at 9:21pm
Containers sound like a good idea until/unless you get that spare day to sink a few coldies and watch the sun rise and set, and watch the shadows move across the yard (take a good book with you - it would be worse than watching grass grow). The containers can be moved to the best spots, as you find them. I'm doing the same thing at the moment, trying to figure out where to plant, so things are in containers.

I'm almost tempted to dampen a heap of squares of kitchen towels, stake them out across the garden, and see which areas dry out the fastest :) Sounds nuts, but it could work.
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post #5 of 9
4/3/08 at 7:45pm
What, you don't like the Suncalc? Or you didn't believe me that such a device exists?

I put a link so you can see it. You stick it into the ground and let it measure the light over a 24 hour period. Worked beautifully for me.
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post #6 of 9
4/4/08 at 5:41am
At 30 bucks a pop, Free Rider, how many of them did you buy?

Just one? Which means you still have to spend a lot of time, one day at a time, figuring out where the sun shines best. Personally, I can't see spending that kind of money when the "tool" doesn't really perform any better than other, no-cost, alternatives.

It's like those fancy wooden tools for making newspaper pots. They're now $17-22, and don't do the job any better than a can of veggies. Why would any rational human being buy one of them?
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post #7 of 9
4/4/08 at 9:44am
A lot of time? It takes a couple of seconds to stick it in the ground whereas having to sit for an entire day watching the sun takes much longer. I get paid more than $30 a day, so I figure the few seconds are worth it.

More than just figuring out where to place the garden, I set up my gardens and was able to choose the right plants to place in them (without having to sit for a day).
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post #8 of 9
4/7/08 at 10:06am
Nice information here :)
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post #9 of 9
4/13/08 at 8:17am
Thank you for this
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