Light woes

10 years ago

Grrrrrr, i'm so frustrated, we have moved into this new house and I just can't determine how my light is going to be in my yard space. Our house faces east but our home backs up to some woods on the left third of the yard and so I'm just not sure how that's going to affect the light. We also have a very tall retaining wall in the backyard and on top of the retaining wall is a regular fence. On the right side of the backyard (blue) it gets full sun until about 430 or five at this time of year (the structures you can see on that side are are gone so they don't feature). So I'm pretty sure that a veg garden will work for that area. But on the left side I can't tell yet and so I don't know if I am going to be able to plant there. I'm really frustrated and disappointed. On the left side (orange) of the backyard there's grass growing, but it already gets dappled shade from the trees at two or three when the sun hits the tree line, esp the tree with the yellow dot on it. I'm really disappointed that this area might not work for a garden because I was really counting on being able to use that space, there is a tree (marked with an "X" )that we plan to cut down, but I'm not even sure how much effect that has on that garden space except for maybe in the early morning. We want to move the fence line out to the sidewalk maximize our yard. But now I'm wondering if it's even going to be worth it if that whole area is going to be shaded. :( My husband thinks that as the sun gets higher in the sky that it's not going to be an issue, but I'm just not convinced.

Comments (6)

catsgurleygirl
Original Author
10 years ago
Another photo of the backyard (looking left), but I don't know when it was taken or what time was taken. It looks like the yard is getting plenty of light there, but I'm just afraid that it's deceptive.
ltilton
10 years ago
Have you checked with the local authorities to see if you can put a fence right up to the sidewalk?

Since you have a corner lot, both east and south could be considered "front yard" and sometimes there are regs against vegetable gardens there.
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catsgurleygirl
Original Author
10 years ago
We are going to apply for variance, it's a dead-end and there are no driveways or traffic that it would interfere with.
jean001a
10 years ago
A common recommendation is to record light and shade patterns at least once a month. (Once a week is better.) It's helpful to also take photos.
Slimy_Okra
10 years ago
Whose trees are those? Would they allow you to lop the top off, just enough to get you more sun?

Sun from morning to 2 pm isn't TOO bad. You could plant a lot of veggies there except the hardcore sun lovers.

If you know the height of the tree, x
and the distance from a point in the veggie garden to the tree, y
Divide x/y and you'll get a fraction, z.

Go to google and type in "arctan z in degrees" and you'll get a number. This is the sun angle at which that point will start to get shade.

Then go to the link provided below and plug in your latitude, longitude, date, year and time of day. Look at the angle for different times in the afternoon. At the time the sun angle approaches and decreases below the number arrived at above is the time of day you will start to get shade.

The fact that you still get shade after 2-3 pm suggests that a near-full day of sun may be available only in the months of June and July and a maybe a bit of May and August. The current solar angle is approximately the same as it would be in early September.

Here is a link that might be useful: Solar angle

This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Wed, Apr 9, 14 at 23:30
toastyturnip_South Carolina_8a
10 years ago
I had some similar issues when planning out where to put my raised beds. There's a fairly high tree line surrounding the entire yard making it hard to judge hours of direct sun. I downloaded a free android app called sun surveyor lite that acts as a 3D compass for the sun. You can choose any date of the year and estimate hours of light a location will receive. Might be something worth looking into.

Tony