Most vegetables, and some of the best flowers for cutting, need six or more hours of direct sun each day and would be happy with more. Sun loving plants in general have thicker but smaller leaves that tolerate more light than shade plants. Contact your county Extension office with specific questions. When selecting plants for any location, also consider all other requirements for their success: soil type and pH, hardiness zone, moisture needs, and possible pests and diseases. Therefore, analyze the degree of shade in your garden periodically to determine if you need to move or change plants. Also, landscapes change their degrees of sun and shade over time: a sunny garden becomes shadier as trees and shrubs mature and the removal of a tree may cause a shady area to become suddenly sunny. You may wish, therefore, to assess your garden for light with each season. Bear in mind, the angle of the sun affects the results, so that northern exposures become shadier in winter and southern exposures have more sun in summer. Total the number of hours that each area has sun to determine which condition applies. Draw a simple diagram of your garden then go outside every hour, starting at 7:00 a.m., and mark which sections have sun or shade. You can purchase an instrument that measures light, but your own observations are just as useful. It is important to note that all plants need some light to survive.īefore buying plants, it is a good idea to actually measure the amount of sun your garden receives.
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