Designing A New Big Garden - Part 3
In this series I contemplate what I would do if I had to start all over again, with the goal of creating a new garden. In this final installment, I discuss where things should go.
So far in this series we have discussed various aspects of finding the right spot, and getting that spot ready for planting. These decisions require a lot of thoughtful contemplation, because the activities associated with them will be a lot of work; but also - and perhaps most importantly - if you get them right, they will save you a lot of work over the long run and result in an excellent garden. Still, we’ve left out one important part of designing a new garden, and that is the task of deciding where the plants should go in terms of how much of the garden space will be allocated for perennials, annuals, and over-wintering plants like garlic.
Where is the sun?
All plants get their energy from the sun. For this reason, deciding where plants should go in the garden is a function of the position of the sun, and the height of the plants, relative to the stages of the growing season. Understanding how the path of the sun changes throughout the growing season is crucial for figuring this out.
The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. We all memorize this as children, and it’s a good rule of thumb, but unless you live at the equator, it really doesn’t do that for most of the year, and the further you are from the equator, the less that rule of thumb applies.
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