Planning The Suburban Garden 10 - Sun And Shade

The main thing that plants need to grow are sun and water (I expect you already know that) and most gardens have these in abundance.

However there are other factors associated with plant growth that need to be at least looked into and considered and sometimes they will affect what you can grow.

Sun and Shade
My house, unfortunately, faces South and so the garden is always in the shade of the building and, in Winter, the shade will cover most of the plot.

While not fatal, that is a factor to take into consideration because the area near to the back of the house gets almost no sunshine for most of the year.

Make sure you know in advance how much sunshine and how much shade your garden will get and remember that there is little you can do about shade (other than remove the offending object) but you can always shade an otherwise sunny area.

Frost
It's also important to know about frost. The cold Winter temperatures affect us all but some areas receive more frost than others. For example, people who live in towns find that their gardens are just a little warmer at night than those who live in the country. There are also 'frost hollows' where the cold air can slip down a gradient and collect in a low lying pool of air. Check to see if your house has a slope on each side leading up and beware.

Wind
It's also worth checking to see how susceptible you are to wind. Most gardens have a border of either wood or plants and this limits the effect of the wind but check on the prevailing wind (in the UK it is mostly from the West) and see how open that side of your plot is.

Man-made problems
Obviously check how much of a problem man-made features like factories and large walls will be to your plot and adjust your garden accordingly. It is often possible to position patios and similar seating and eating areas to take advantage of disadvantageous planting areas.

Most of the above is common sense but it is worth using this as a checklist just to make sure that there will be no unexpected surprises to await you after you have carefully and designed and planted your ground.