Light of our lives

Hourly photos in the winter solstice gives you an idea of the extreme winter sunlight. That year, the cold-deciduous trees were fooled by an unseasonal heatwave and had a second spring.

One of the first things you do when planning your garden is observe where the sunlight falls. Most vegetables and herbs want full sun. When you look at photos of many proud home gardeners' plots, you will see a large cleared area for their garden beds. Many of us do not live on acreage and sometimes it irritates me when some of these gardeners provide advice or make comments with assumptions that everyone already has or can have an acreage.

I am fortunate enough to have some areas of the yard with direct sunlight. Where I have placed my vegetables receives almost too much summer sun, especially in the afternoon, and in winter, the sometimes-deciduous trees shade one particular wicking bed more than the other. I planted broccoli and cauliflower in each of the beds and can see the difference the light makes. The shaded plants are 25% smaller and will probably be a week behind in harvesting... though that helps staggering the crop a little!

In the future, pruning the trees if they don't shed their leaves each winter may have to be the way to go.