garden direction?

[glamer85]

I'm starting a good sized veggie garden this year. I need some help with the lay out. should i have my rows going north to south or should they go east to west? I have large trees on the south side. and rock wall on the west side and my house is to the north.

 

[mare]

I do my rows running north to south to take full advantace of the morning & afternoon sun. However you have large trees on the south side. Do you know if they are large enough to completely shade the garden? Remember the garden needs atleast 8 hrs of sunlight.

 

[glamer85]

Here is layout of my land. behind the garage and trees are my goats and chickens. this is really the only spot that i have that will be safe from any sneaky animals. the trees are about 10-15' from the garden spot. well... it wont let me post the picture.

 

[April Manier]

There is a great tutorial in the Website & Forum Feedback & Announcements forum. It's the first forum in the list and it has a great tutorial on posting picks.

I would love to see your garden area.

For now, I vote north to south.

 

[lesa]

You have to have a few more posts under your belt, before you can post pics. We had some trouble with spammers. Sorry... You know, if that is the garden space you have, use it. If part of it is shaded, you will figure out what to plant where, with a little practice. The best case is full sun, all day.
That does not mean veggies won't grow with less than that. I have trees that give afternoon sun and I grow wonderful veggies! Make a few more posts and we'll be able to be more helpful...I also vote North to South.

 

[AmyRey]

My rows (short as they are) run north/south, even though I've read that you should run them east-west so that they don't shade each other.

However, here in August, the temperatures border on Hellish so I think a bit of shade will do mine some good.

 

[jomoncon]

Thanks for asking the question & for all the great answers. I'm planning for several raised beds & was sort of confused as to which way to run them. Now, it'll be North to South!

 

[hoodat]

All other things being equal an East West row is best since everything in the row gets an equal amount of sun as it moves across the sky. All things however are never equal. Which direction does your prevailing wind come from? Where is the shade and a lot of other factors have to be taken into consideration and every garden is different. Sometimes just the shape of the garden dictates which way is best to fit in the most planting area.
Also remember that for most of the gardening season the sun is to The South of us so plants on the South side of the row will get stronger sun.

 

[bootstrap]

if there is a slope and you are going to have raised rows they should go in the same direction as the slope for drainage purposes.

 

[beavis]

I do both, east/west and north/south raised beds.

Both ways yield me produce.

Maybe this year I will examine which direction if any works better....