Earlier this Spring when I was getting ready to plant my garden, I had a plan for where in my yard I would put the garden. I also had a plan for where I would put each type of plant. But, as I watched my yard throughout the day, I realized much of my garden was in the shade for certain parts of the day. Obviously, for most vegetable garden plants, shade isn’t a good thing. So, I decided to try mapping out the sun in my yard.
Sun mapping your yard can be very useful. Especially, if you haven’t planted a garden before, you can use it to determine where your garden should go. If you already have a garden plot established, it can help determine where to put certain plants.
How to create a sun map of your yard
The concept is pretty simple. Over the course of a day, you’re going to identify shady and sunny spaces in your yard. The first step is to sketch out your yard. Your sketch doesn’t have to be fancy, or even to scale. You just need to be able to understand it. Here is my yard sketch:
Once you’ve got you’re yard sketched out you’re ready to start mapping. I recommend starting as early as you can in the morning. I started mine at 8:00 am. It was early May, so the sun wasn’t coming up super early yet. Take a look at your yard every hour or so and lightly draw in shady areas and sunny areas. I used dashed lines to mark shady areas. Areas on one side of the line were shady and areas on the other side were sunny. You’ll want to mark the hour the lines represent on each line. Repeat this process throughout the day until you have a thorough map of the shady and sunny parts of your yard.
Uses for your Sun Map
When I finished my sun map, I realized the part of my garden I planned to plant my tomatoes, actually got the most shade. Obviously tomatoes need a lot of sun to thrive and later on to ripen. I realized, they would need to be in a different spot. So, I rearranged my garden plan. The sun mapping worked really well for my vegetable garden.
There was one flaw with the sun map, however. The shade map did not account for trees that did not yet have all of their leaves. My flower garden had a few tall bushes and a large tree in it. For the most part, when I mapped the sun, this garden got a lot of sun in the morning and a little in the evening. Once the trees leafed out though, it was full shade all day long. Unfortunately, I have som very unhappy sun plants in my flower garden. Next year, I will need to find more shade plants and move the sun-loving plants to the front yard where they can enjoy sunshine all day.
What plants need Sun
So, what plants need a lot of sun and what plants do ok in the shade? Most of your vegetable garden plants will thrive on Sun. Tomatoes especially need a lot of sunshine. Squash also appreciate the heat. Peppers will do well with a lot of sun just like tomatoes. These plants will need at least 6 hours of sunlight per day. Ideally, afternoon sun.
Some of your vegetables don’t need a full 6 hours though. Lettuce, Spinach and other greens tend to bolt in the summer. So, giving them a little bit more shade can help them last longer. Carrots are also content with a bit less sunshine. I planted my greens and some carrots on the end of my garden that received the most shade. I also planted some carrots in between my tomatoes. The tomatoes shade the carrots a little, but the carrots are perfectly happy.
Fewer than 6 hours of sunlight is considered part sun or part shade. 2 hours of sunshine, especially if it’s in the morning, is generally considered full shade. A lot of flowers require full sun. So, if your flower garden happens to be in full shade like mine, you’ll have to pick your flowers a little more carefully.
Now you’re all set to try sun mapping your yard!
