Get your garden started | part 4: sunlight
Bow before the mighty sun king (and don't plant eggplants in the shade)
This garden guide is the fourth in an 8-part series I will be releasing over the next month. It covers the essentials of starting a successful garden. The 8 guides will be available to all paying subscribers and members of the Wild Garden club, and there will be some previews and sneak peeks for free subscribers. Want to access all my garden guides, tours and recipes? Click the button below to upgrade your membership.
Hello and welcome back to the How to get your garden started series that I will be sharing with you over the next four weeks. This is a simple, pared-back series that covers the topics that I think are essential when starting a garden. Think of it as a bit of a primer - a guide to the fundamental starting points to get you motivated and started in your garden this autumn.
If you’re just joining us, you can catch up on parts one, two and three here:
If you want to access the full 8 parts in this series, you can upgrade your subscription to paid by clicking the button below. It’s also worth noting that if you subscribe now, the price of your subscription will always stay the same - it’ll never increase - even if the subscription fees do go up in the future :)
Now, onto part four - understanding the levels of sunlight in your garden
Get your garden started | part four
If you are a plant, the sun is king. It fuels photosynthesis; the process by which plants turn water and CO2 into oxygen and sugars. No sunshine = no plants (and no oxygen, which would kind of suck for us).
The funny thing about sunshine is that it's often something gardeners overlook at the beginning. Our eyes adapt to different light levels so easily that we can totally miss the subtle difference in light from one area of our garden to another. We tend to view our gardens as a single space when, in truth, they are almost always a series of distinct microclimates with different levels of sunlight, wind and water.
Start paying attention to the way the sun falls in your garden and you will be much better-equipped to select plants that will thrive in every microclimate your yard contains.
The fact is there's just no point trying to grow a plant in the wrong light levels. You may get a little wiggle room; some plants will enjoy full sun or dappled shade, but if you get the light levels totally wrong (like if you try to grow a sun-loving zucchini in full shade, or a shade-loving monstera in full sun) you are setting yourself up for a struggle. Some things about plants are simply immutable, and the ideal amount of sunlight each plant needs to grow optimally is one of those things. Pick your battles wisely, and don't battle the sun.
Fortunately, the broader gardening community is well aware of the significant role the sun plays in the health and vigour of our plants, so any plant (or packet of seeds) you buy will almost always contain information about how much sunlight is needed for optimal growth.
Sun loving plants
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