[-Cat-]

Ihave been watching out onto my garden the last couple of days to see how much sunshine it gets and what way round the sun goes.

And its not good. I think my garden is North facing? The sun comes up to the right hand side of it so its in sun frst thing but within a couple of hours its in shade as the sun goes round the back of the house and does come round the otherside till later in the afternoon. so its in shade most of the day.

Im guessing that scuppers my veg and fruit gardening plans?

[Trillium]

Sun patterns will change for a while yet and your garden may get a bit more later when the sun is more directly overhead. Keep watching and noting where the most sun appears.
I have a friend who has a beautiful large garden mostly in light shade and it produces well. Toms go into the sunniest spot, leafies into the least sunny spots. Hers crop a little later than mine, but it does crop well. Lots of manure!

[crowndale]

don't give up yet, you may find you get more sun in the spring and summer than now, i know my garden sees much less direct sun in winter than summer.

[digital_biscuit]

at the moment the sun is very low in the sky, middle of summer it will be right above so you will have loads of sun, dont worry!

[Bombers]

Don't worry Cat. Your garden sounds exactly the same as mine!. and I had great results last year. Partly because it's well sheltered  ( on the West side of the garden) and although the sun only shines on the top right hand side most of th day, you can plan around this to your advantage. I grow mostly salad leaves and runner beans. - the stuff that neads loads of water in the beds, and tomatoes etc. you'll sort it out!

[GrannieAnnie]

Yes Cat, I agree with the others.  We used to live in North Essex and our garden was north facing.  Pretty dark and chilly during the winter, but the sun WILL be overhead in the late spring and all summer and part of the autumn, which is when your plants will be growing and ripening!

Just work out which plants need the mot sun for ripening, e.g. sweetcorn and tomatoes etc, and put them in the sunniest spots!

You'll be fine!

[Nikkithefoot]

My garden is roughly NE ish with pine trees at the north end. The sun shines over most of the veggie plot from about 10am in summer to about 4pm, it's in shade the rest of the time. A friend who lives on the opposite side of the road obviously has a south ish facing garden. As a rule of thumb, by the end of the main growing season my friends garden is about 3 weeks ahead of mine. To compensate I usually start things off a little earlier, and protect from frost at all costs

Nikki

[compostqueen]

I grew my J artichokes in the shade by a hedge and despite this they grew absolutely fine  

[-Cat-]

Oh glad to hear! Just got my gardening book arrie in the post today so Im now busy working out what plants will be most suitable for me to grow. Actually watching the garden today it was later than I though when it went into shade. Plus the longer summer evenings will mean it gets that bit more in the day anyway. Just means I wount be planting my fruit bushes right by the house afterall.