Trees shading the garden

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

We realized that part of the struggle we've had at gardening seems to be related to not enough sunshine getting to the garden for long enough period of time each day. The spot on our property that is the most open / flat for a garden, also happends to be the west side of the property at the botttom of a hill. A couple of weekends ago, we discovered that more than half the garden was shaded by trees 'til very late AM - nearly noon - from the east and shade creeps in from the west after 4PM. So we decided that, as much as I hate to cut down trees unless there is a real need to do so, I should take down a few on the east side of the garden and one on the west side to try to get the most of the days full sun on the veggies. This got us to the point of getting full sunshine form about 9am until about 7pm as of yeasterday when I finshed cutting -- I know that will change as the season progress' and the angle of the sun moves (there are also lots of tall trees to the south). It certainly will be a vast improvement over last year, but I'm wondering if any other garden growers resort to this? And if so, does this sound like enough, or should I cut back more?

 

[MMagis]

That should be plenty of sun.

 

[crash325]

In my area the garden has to be shaded. :thumbsup: Even then some plants burn.

 

[MarkV]

:confused3:Must be different in your part of the country. You cut down trees because you don't have enough sun and you use shade cloth because you have too much sun?:confused3:

 

[crash325]

:confused3:Must be different in your part of the country. You cut down trees because you don't have enough sun and you use shade cloth because you have too much sun?:confused3:

No trees were cut down for my garden.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Yeah, not nearly as burning hot dry here -- our summer routine weather is hot / humid / sunny with showers fairly often. I doubt I'll be wanting to cover anything back up later......I guess my initial question is somewhat a regional thing.....

 

[Chuck52]

I cut down one nice oak that was just west of my garden that shaded the southwest end of the garden in the afternoon. It made a big difference for that corner of the garden. I don't like cutting good trees, but that one was just in the wrong place.

I have a tree line just south of the garden and there's a really big oak in there that does shade the garden some, but I'll leave that one alone. Judgement call.

Chuck

 

[deepNdirt]

I have 1 tree to the nth west side of my garden, I plant the rows of tomatoes on the south side of this tree,... as the sun moves over all the plants have the morning sun and good sun throughout the day, Until about 3:00 then the tree helps to shade the plants through the hotter portion of the day, Not to mention helps to shade me as well while I'm out watering the garden in the evenings