Well, this depends on your garden plot and what your are growing.

in the summer i imagine it makes little difference. in the early spring or late fall the sun will be much farther to the south. folks with greenhouses or tunnels will often orient them east west so that they can take advantage of the south sun in the winter.

if you grow tall vegetables or grow vegetables vertically up a trellis then orienting your beds north south can create shade on the other beds for as much as half the day. in such cases, most would recommend an east west bed with the trellis on the north side of it. then your trellis or tall vegetables can shade the path on the north side of the bed.

in the summer i have sun from sunup to sundown so i don't mind my trellises shading my other beds for part of the day since they all get plenty of sun anyhow.

i don't think there is a clear cut answer to this. design your garden how it pleases you and just plant accordingly.

although i'd say that if you want to have a low tunnel or greenhouse to orient it east west for sure.

jon

Yes, that's what I was trying to figure out. I plan on having trellises for beans and large tomato cages for tomatoes. I wanted one long bed of each, and running them east to west, but one behind the other will still shade the one in back. So I thought I might put one east to west and then one north to south on one side of the plot. Maybe the west side, because with trees to my west, the sun sets about 3 or 4pm anyway.

I don't get full sun all day. I have trees and a house that shade things and the most I get is 6hrs tops. And in the fall I get less. So I won't be putting in a greenhouse or hoop house, just doesn't seem worth it.