4 hours of sun... is that enough for a vegetable garden?
gardening_dizzle
14 years ago
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WestEnder
14 years agoesthermgr
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Hours to Maintain 1000 sq ft vegetable garden
Comments (14)While I can't give you the number of hours, I can tell you that my experience with a large garden has been very different from others who have answered here. My garden is a lot of work at planting and a lot of work processing (freezing/canning/etc) the harvest, but otherwise, does not take much time. I have space larger than 1000 sqft as my garden; however, all of it is in some sort of raised bed: mostly 4x8, 4x12, 4x14 except the tomato/zucchini trellis areas that are 2.5 x~20. I have 620 square feet in vegetable growing space and an additional 100 square feet edging the garden in flowers/herb (and sometimes veggies) that attract pollinator/predator insects. I plant by the square foot gardening method (you may want to buy the book, I only follow the spacing in it, not the other stuff) and because I plant very closely together, I do very little, if any, weeding. I have not noticed any reduction in harvest from the close planting. My paths are all mulched with wood chips, so again, no weeding. I add compost in the spring or fall and then do not fertilize during the growing season. My garden is 100% organic, so my main time-spender during the growing season is hand picking pests. I also spend time watering if the rain is low. To give you some background on the amount of time I have to spend: I have a full time job that keeps me at work for more than full time hours (gotta love science). I am the only person working on my garden, just me. In addition, I have a neuromuscular autoimmune disease that has wiped me out from June until September for the last two years. When it is bad, I have a very hard time walking. Despite all this, once the garden is planted, I am able to keep it going with small amounts of time invested. As for spacing of tomatoes and peppers in 4 foot beds, I place peppers one per square foot. I do this for hot and sweet peppers and it works great. The Habaneros were crowded and had quite a canopy, but underneath was a bonanza harvest last year. My first year, I spaced my tomatoes in cages in a four foot wide bed at one per 4 square feet block. It was really too close, but they did fine that year. If you are just starting gardening, only put some of the garden in this year. Start slow. But, with the right set up, you can do a larger space. Happy gardening! Bellatrix Here is a link that might be useful: Square Foot Gardening...See MoreIs 4 hours of mid day sun enough for growing yarrow?
Comments (12)ida.. can you translate your second entry ... i cant tell if you changed your mind to agree??? my point.. was if you like the leaves alone.. and they are deer resistent ... then just plant them.. they may or may not bloom with vigor.. but they will still have the lacy foliage ... in other words.. almost all flowering plants.. need full sun.. to generate the energy to put on that big flower show .... and as you reduce the sun power.. the flower show will decline ... but that doesnt necessarily mean that the greenery will not thrive ... maybe it will, maybe it wont.. depending on the intensity of the shade and if the experiment doesnt work out the way you thought.. they most likely will not be dead.. and you can move them in fall or next spring .. or its such a dark grotto.. that nothing will thrive there ... which i doubt with 4 hours of the most intense sun of the day ... ken...See More4 hours of direct sun enough for Penny Lane?
Comments (2)If I were attempting to plant a rose in an area where it would get less than six hours of sunlight daily but more after it grew taller, I'd grow it in a sunnier location in a rally large pot until it reached that height then plant it. Some plants, such as clematis, like shady feet and will grow to the sun. Roses? Not so much. Get it healthy and growing well, then put it in less ideal conditions where the upper growth will get the sun for longer periods. Without proper amounts of sun your bush will never reach it potential and you'll always be unhappy with it. If not happy your Penny Lane may grow but will probably never give you the blooms it could under better conditions. I have a few climbers growing in shadier areas that are quite tall now. I did as suggested above and grew them in pots until they were tall enough to reach the sun at their permanant locations. My Berlin and Compassion are both well over 9 feet tall right now and show no signs of slowing down. They are both in constant bloom....See MoreLimited morning sun( 4-5 hours) verse shaded afternoon sun (6+)
Comments (5)I'm not much of a fan of self watering containers. If the water gets hot the plants seam to die really fast. Some people really like them though so it may be just me. Its easier to care for tomatoes in really large containers. The smaller the container the more often you have to water and fertilize. You picked good varieties for containers though so if you watch them really close you may have good success. When I read the reviews on Bush Goliath it made me wish that I had planted some. Best of luck to you....See Morelrvjim
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5 years ago
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