Worried about sunlight, or the lack thereof
May 16th, 2009Now that the leaves are growing in and I see how fully the neighbor’s tree will block the sun during the height of summer, I’m worried that my garden plot won’t receive enough direct light to support sun-loving vegetables. My tomatoes last year didn’t take off until late summer, and I surmise it is because of the angle of the sun. Once our local star passeed this latitude, the tomatoes fell into shade, and it wasn’t until the sun returned to a more southerly position, thusly addressing the tomatoes in full, did they start to produce. A late crop is better than none at all, but this year I had hoped to improve the situation.
Tomatoes need 8 hours of full sunlight each day for optimum production. Sections of my garden spot may receive that amount at times, but the shifting position of the sun, and the location of the trees and house, make it a moving target. So I’ve decided to set tomatoes out in containers this year, so I can keep them on the patio in full sunlight, and move them if necessary.
I’m still going to try my hand at corn and squash in the garden area and hope for the best. There’s a narrow slice of earth that I suspect may capture the sunlight sufficiently for my purposes, and that is where I will sow. The lettuces I now have growing vigorously in the vacinity should reach maturity around the time the sun ducks behind the trees, which will conincide with the hottest days of summer, so that may be a boon. The strawberries will be in the summer shadow as well, except for a few hours in the morning, so I’m hopeful they will survive. But all this is moot if the slugs discover either crop.






