My garden keeps getting shadier each season due to neighboring trees and bushes growing bigger.
I have several spots that have partial sun during the day.
Anyone know the number of hours (minimum) of sunlight required by veggies like lettuces, bok choy etc.? I believe it is something like 4 hours a day, but I am not sure.
Any help much appreciated.
How much sun for greens?
Pugzley,
I've grown mustards and collards in patented Earthboxes for 3 seasons now. They were in full sun, but, I've also grown cabbages in only bright, filtered light. No sunshine at all.
Google "number of sunlight hours required for lettuce dave's garden" and you should get a link to a discussion on Dave's garden.
How weird, I wonder if that guy had permission to post a DG article on his website....
Pugsley, greens like lettuce and turnip/kale, etc will need about 5 hrs of light, your bok choy/cabbage would be better off getting 6 if possible.
Shoe
Shoe,
Would you mind taking a look at this raised bed I'll be using for my fall/winter veggies, only through this next season (ending around April). Then I'll be relocating, and the bed will remain where it is to be used as a flowerbed.
The bed sits on the south side of the yard. This pic was taken at 10:45 a.m. There was full on sun between 7 and then, and I believe for more hours after that. Do you think I should be concerned about that shadow on the bed? It's sort of a moot point, because the bed is alfeady in place and can't be moved.
I plan to grow brassicas (cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli) root crops (turnips, beets, and carrots) and spinach and lettuce there. The bed measures 4' x 18'.
What would be the best placement of the plants I'd like to grow? I'll be purchasing the brassica seedlings this weekend for plantout this weekend, and sowing seeds for the root crops probably in the next 2 weekends.
Thanks!
Linda
Howdy, Linda...
Nice boxed bed ya got there! Looking good!
"Do you think I should be concerned about that shadow on the bed?"
Nope, not at all. Being on the south side it looks like it'll be getting good sun (unless there are trees east or west that would block it that I can't see). As for the shadow, as fall/winter comes on the sun will be lower in the sky so I bet that shadow will be much smaller or nil. It looks like it is from the overhang/eave of the house, right?
"What would be the best placement of the plants I'd like to grow?"
In a bed like that you could easily place brassica plants as close as 18" apart; I like planting in a zig-zag pattern myself. If you choose you could sprinkle in some carrot seeds in between the plants or around the outer edges. Lettuce goes well along the edges also (Pic below shows snap beans in the center of a bed with red lettuce happily growing around the perimeter.)
You could also keep an area at one end or the other and plant what I consider a "multi-crop" area, broadcasting seeds of carrots, beets, turnip, radish, lettuce, etc all in a given area. As the seeds declare (most likely radish first) you'll soon see a garden patch chock full of life and excitement. As that area grows you can easily pull some lettuce as needed opening up an area for the beets (for example) to gain in size as you do so , or the carrots. Each time you harvest something it will cultivate, aerate, and allow what's left behind to gain in size. I'd begin picking as soon as something is big enough to eat (baby carrots, yummy! lettuce leaves, turnip tops, radish...instant salad).
Hope this is helpful. Sorry for the delay in replying.
Shoe
This message was edited Sep 1, 2010 7:53 PM
Here is a great pic of one of my "multi-crop" beds containing carrot, Swiss chard, romaine and Deer Tongue lettuce, onion greens, etc. Hope this gives you an idea just how much food you can get out of a small area like this.
Best!
Shoe, off into the heat of the day, again!
Wow Shoe you definitely put my raise beds to shame in comparison to yours, they look so organize and every inch seems to be utilized. This is something that I am trying to achieve with mine but still have not gotten the gang off.
What carmen said - totally WOW, 'shoe!
C & S,
Check out that lettuce border! How's THAT for efficient use of space?
I think the multi-crop planting is a tremendously efficient way to use a small space!
Since I haven't established any raised beds yet in my yard, these pics certainly give me something to shoot for as I plan the layout!
Thanks again, Shoe!
Ok,
I'm gonna take a stab and guess that the bricks are used to hold down your hoop house cover?
Or to throw at birds going near your veggies?
Thanks for the info on the sunlight required. That's kind of what I figured.
I need raised beds due to gophers. They just decimated my okra for the 2nd year in a row. Curses!
Everything has to be grown in bags except 1 small area he's not bothering for some reason. I have no illusions that this is a permanent condition.
Good luck with those gophers, Pugzley. I hope they don't take a liking to your soft soil in those raised beds. I know of a product called Shake Away that is supposed to work pretty good for gophers (safe, non-poisonous) but don't have any personal experience with it. Maybe someone else here does.
Linda/GG, Sequee, and Carminator, thanks for the comments on my beds. (Psst..I won't post pictures of the really ugly ones though! In one area of raised beds ("Hankville") it was so overgrown with weeds and such I spent yesterday morning pulling them out and cleaning them up. I should'a took a before and after pic just to let folks know my garden is like others at time, an eyesore!
Off to pick purple hulls...
Shoe
And yep, Linda, those blocks were to weigh down the remay when I had it up.