South facing garden

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MikeC

South facing garden

Post by MikeC »

Going from a north facing garden on a steep north facing hill to a south facing garden on a south facing slope of a hill.

Here's the sun at 10.30am today.

Because of the slope, sun seems higher in the sky.
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Yorkshire Kris
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Re: South facing garden

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

Yes please!
jungle jas

Re: South facing garden

Post by jungle jas »

Lucky you, You have the best possible combination!!!!!!!!! Except for Hostas. :lol: :lol: :lol: icon_thumright
RogerBacardy

Re: South facing garden

Post by RogerBacardy »

It's interesting, when I first mentioned south-facing slopes as being advantageous, I was met with scepticism here, now it seems some have come round to my way of thinking.

The way I see it is that in the Northern Hemisphere, we're on an arc, tilting away from the Sun, the further south you are, the more intensely sunlight hits your garden, as the more perpendicular your land is relative to the Sun's rays.

Latitude is key, for each (approx) 69 miles further south you travel, your latitude improves by 1 degree. Aberdeen is 57 degrees off the equator, but London, being further South is at 51 degrees.

However, if you can find a piece of land sloping to the south, you can achieve the same effect as moving further south, in terms of light intensity. Daylight hours would be the same, but your garden would really benefit from the increased concentration of sunlight.

Find a piece of land in London (51 degrees latitude) on a 10 degree gradient, and it's like being much further south, in fact the angle of sunlight would be on a par with Rome (41 degrees latitude)!

Think of how vineyards are on south-facing slopes and how solar panels are on the southern aspect of an apex roof. :)
Conifers
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Re: South facing garden

Post by Conifers »

RogerBacardy wrote:Latitude is key, for each (approx) 69 miles further south you travel, your latitude improves by 1 degree. Aberdeen is 57 degrees off the equator, but London, being further South is at 51 degrees.

However, if you can find a piece of land sloping to the south, you can achieve the same effect as moving further south, in terms of light intensity. Daylight hours would be the same, but your garden would really benefit from the increased concentration of sunlight.

Find a piece of land in London (51 degrees latitude) on a 10 degree gradient, and it's like being much further south, in fact the angle of sunlight would be on a par with Rome (41 degrees latitude)!
It's not quite as simple as that, because while the angle of incidence does change with slope, the loss of solar energy through absorbtion by the atmosphere doesn't. So while the angle of sunlight on a ten degree slope is the same as in Rome, the intensity of that sunlight isn't, it is the same as on the flat ground - or north-facing slopes - nearby.

Also the further north you go, the less difference it makes in the summer, as proportionally less of the sunlight comes from the south. To take it to the extreme, flat ground at the pole gets 24h sun per day in summer, but a slope only gets 12h sun per day, the rest of the time the sun is hidden behind the slope (assuming the slope is steep enough).
MikeC

Re: South facing garden

Post by MikeC »

RogerBacardy wrote:
Think of how vineyards are on south-facing slopes and how solar panels are on the southern aspect of an apex roof. :)
Every other house has solar panels round here, and it's something I'm looking at too.

My ideal house would be on the south coast, steeply sloping large garden facing the sea.

Oh well, a tidly albeit south facing garden in Swindon will have to do.

I wouldn't even consider a house now that doesn't face south on the south side of a hill.

Next year I will be landscaping it all with raised planters and then finally my mobile garden of potted palms and plants will have a home.

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shanks

Re: South facing garden

Post by shanks »

our back garden is south facing, from early morning to evening every part of the garden gets a good degree of sun (when it is out) council are putting solar panels on roof soon too would be great if i could get a outside plug to heat the greenhouse up from the free power
:)
Addictedtopalms26

Re: South facing garden

Post by Addictedtopalms26 »

I've got a sloping garden to the south which is good for getting sunlight. However as it's only slightly sloping (about 1 metres drop), it's very difficult to landscape. I think i'd prefer a flat south facing garden :P :lol:
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karl66
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Re: South facing garden

Post by karl66 »

I've also got a south facing sloping garden. I personally think they suffer more in the winter months . We also get lots of sun from early till late, our problem is one side of the garden is shaded by next doors giant tree's!. The one advantage is i've turned this area into a fern area & for other shade loving plants. karl.
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Dave Brown
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Re: South facing garden

Post by Dave Brown »

Conifers wrote: It's not quite as simple as that, because while the angle of incidence does change with slope, the loss of solar energy through absorbtion by the atmosphere doesn't. So while the angle of sunlight on a ten degree slope is the same as in Rome, the intensity of that sunlight isn't, it is the same as on the flat ground - or north-facing slopes - nearby.

Also the further north you go, the less difference it makes in the summer, as proportionally less of the sunlight comes from the south. To take it to the extreme, flat ground at the pole gets 24h sun per day in summer, but a slope only gets 12h sun per day, the rest of the time the sun is hidden behind the slope (assuming the slope is steep enough).
However, south sloping ground is nearer to perpendicular to the sun at it's highest, than flat ground so will warm up quicker, and be warmer :wink: That makes a huge difference to when plants emerge in spring.

Unfortunately, my garden slopes north by about 4 degrees, so compared to a garden sloping 5 degrees south I may be a month behind on soil heating potential. :roll:
Best regards
Dave
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jungle jas

Re: South facing garden

Post by jungle jas »

What ever way you look at it, Its as good as it gets in the UK for iffy plants. icon_thumright
GREVILLE

Re: South facing garden

Post by GREVILLE »

Have a look at the kitchen gardens that are attached to these old stately homes. Most of them use any south facing slope to grow their vegetables and if it's flat they build raised beds that slope south.

My 90'x30' allotment plot slopes slightly lengthways to the SSW. My neighbour has a plot on a different site just over a mile away that slopes a little more steeply to the NW. I am always about 10-14 cropping days ahead of him.
Kristen

Re: South facing garden

Post by Kristen »

shanks wrote:council are putting solar panels on roof soon too would be great if i could get a outside plug to heat the greenhouse up from the free power
Unlikely to be enough "power" in the sun during the winter. and shorter days too, and more "grey days" too - just when you want to heat the greenhouse (well, depends on the area of your panels compared to the size of your greenhouse of course)

A really sunny day at this time of the year I get 7kWh off my solar [thermal] panels; on a sunny day mid Summer I easily get 70 kWh ...
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