Shade in the Garden

I learned a lot about Sun Mapping my garden in order to better understand how and where to plant flowers, shrubs, and trees. If I were to plant a tree or shrub or flower in the sun, and if the plant cannot tolerate sun, the plant would die. This information also guided me when it came to understanding the plant's need for water. For instance, The front, south-facing side of my house was much warmer during the day (no shade) than the west side of my house. The plants need much more water in this area. The west side of my house has shade until late morning (when the sun actually came over the house), and again more shade toward late afternoon (after 4p.m.) because of the trees. The plants in the shade need much less water.

Of course, the front of my house is also more protected than the west side of my house by the house itself. The rock area also adds to the heat build up. 

early-morning shade

late afternoon shade
This is probably close to 7pm at night in August, Alaska time



I used suncalc.org to get a good sense of the sun's time to hit certain areas of my yard. However, in the second year, I did a check of shade and sun by looking at the yard a few times a day. On a specific day each week over the spring and summer, I annotated where the shade was located. Of course, I had to keep the trees in mind for this project. No matter how high or low the sun was, the trees are a large factor in gardening. 

The backyard is the most affected by shade. There are so many trees on the east side of the backyard, and the house itself creates shade back there. The picture below gives an idea of the trees. 


This picture shows the yard before we laid down gravel/rock around the house. During the spring melt, it used to be a muddy mess. There was also moss growing closer to the house/garage area (just off picture view left). The newer rock foundation reduced mud and increased drainage. 




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