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nne facing garden - good or bad?

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Comments

  • JF77
    JF77 Posts: 303 Forumite
    My last house was built in 1995 and had a small north facing garden. I am glad to be rid of it TBH. You need to consider the space to the sides of it as well. We had an integral garage so only had a paths width at one side and then each neighbours drive so not much sun seeping through.

    My new house also has a small north facing garden lol! but it has a garage to the side so sun comes over it. Also has a lovely big secluded front garden where I will be spending most of my garden time!

    You can guarantee the builders will be squeezing as many houses in as they can!
    Excited for Florida - May 2012 :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
  • not_loaded
    not_loaded Posts: 1,187
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    jenner wrote: »
    our garden is north facing, ive just checked on google maps and it seems to be nnw. i had never had a garden before this one and i must admit that it was something i worried about, that i was moving somewhere where the garden would be dull.
    last summer, we got the sun from late morning onwards, until about 6 or 7 as it got caught behind the shadows of houses to the west, the section right near the house got the sun by afternoon, prior to that it moved up from the back of the garden.
    our garden is only 25' long so we placed our patio stuff where we see the sun coming, which seems to be right in the corner near the house.
    the winter has been dark, no doubt about it, but the plus side is that the front of the house is very light, the front room is always bright because its south facing.
    i also like the fact that the kitchen is at the north side of the house, meaning it doesnt get too hot, cant stand very warm rooms, it also means our bedroom which is at the back, is at the north, again, nice and cool
    we knew that we wanted to grow things in the garden, we have just placed things where we know there will be more light, but also i am planning to grow things in the front garden,,, why not!?
    not sure if any of this really helps but someone somewhere has to have a north facing garden, otherwise only one side of a street would ever be built!!!
    Yep, all very good points!

    For growing fruit and veg you really don’t want direct scorching sun. You’ll be watering all the time till the hosepipe ban kicks in!
  • puddy
    puddy Posts: 12,709 Forumite
    not_loaded wrote: »
    Yep, all very good points!

    For growing fruit and veg you really don’t want direct scorching sun. You’ll be watering all the time till the hosepipe ban kicks in!

    thats a good point, i didnt think of that, the front may be too hot. my plan was to grow things at the front which really need the sun, tomatoes, chillis, blueberries and jerusalem artichokes, although these grow anywhere apparently. im wondering now whether the front is also too hot for my planned herb garden
  • kmmr
    kmmr Posts: 1,373 Forumite
    jenner wrote: »
    thats a good point, i didnt think of that, the front may be too hot. my plan was to grow things at the front which really need the sun, tomatoes, chillis, blueberries and jerusalem artichokes, although these grow anywhere apparently. im wondering now whether the front is also too hot for my planned herb garden

    Are you buying this house in Madrid? If you are talking about an English house, I don't think all this talk of 'scorching' heat is really a major issue!!
  • Milliewilly
    Milliewilly Posts: 1,081 Forumite
    I would say bad.

    My OH wont even consider a house unless it has a south west facing garden.

    If you browse rightmove if the garden is SW facing its ALWAYS mentioned in the blurb.
  • not_loaded
    not_loaded Posts: 1,187
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    jenner wrote: »
    thats a good point, i didnt think of that, the front may be too hot. my plan was to grow things at the front which really need the sun, tomatoes, chillis, blueberries and jerusalem artichokes, although these grow anywhere apparently. im wondering now whether the front is also too hot for my planned herb garden
    You can mulch to retain moisture, and put up trellis or similar to gain some respite from the sun.
    kmmr wrote: »
    Are you buying this house in Madrid? If you are talking about an English house, I don't think all this talk of 'scorching' heat is really a major issue!!
    Dunno where you are, but here we get around 8 to 10 weeks per annum (sometimes more) of pretty relentless sun, not enough to sell package hols admittedly, but enough to ruin a water-needing crop.
  • jonewer
    jonewer Posts: 1,485 Forumite
    not_loaded wrote: »

    Dunno where you are, but here we get around 8 to 10 weeks per annum (sometimes more) of pretty relentless sun, not enough to sell package hols admittedly, but enough to ruin a water-needing crop.

    Wish to live in the same place you do some time.

    Frickin'ell! Even in the south east we only got about 10 days of summer in 2009, and they were faaar between! It must be 2006 since we had a decent summer.
    Mortgage debt - [STRIKE]£8,811.47 [/STRIKE] Paid off!
  • Pennylane
    Pennylane Posts: 2,707
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    Personally I wouldn't. The first house we ever bought had a N facing garden which was small. We used to get a tiny shaft of sun in the afternoon, which wasn't ideal with kids wanting to play in the sandpit etc.

    The kitchen was on the back of the house overlooking garden and that room was always cold too because it never saw the sun.

    We were young and it taught us a valuable lesson though. Every house we've had since has had a sunny garden.

    Our present house gets the sun all day long and it is warm and bright. Two near neighbours live in north facing cottages & they have very shaded gardens and they never ever see the sun in any window of their homes. I couldn't bear that!
  • not_loaded
    not_loaded Posts: 1,187
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    jonewer wrote: »
    Wish to live in the same place you do some time.
    Frickin'ell! Even in the south east we only got about 10 days of summer in 2009, and they were faaar between! It must be 2006 since we had a decent summer.
    Perhaps we live in a ‘pocket’ of good weather. Maybe I should have clarified a bit that the weeks aren’t one long spell!

    When gardening/working we often sit in the garden in the sun in late Feb/early March. (though not this year yet) April/May brings warmer dryer weeks, and then through to September we may well have to be watering to some degree to keep things going. There’s nothing quite like fresh home grown vegetables!

    It’d be hard to cope with a fully south facing garden in those circumstances other than to start building shade of various sorts.

    Too many people seem to convert their gardens into car parking now unfortunately.

    Good luck with your decision silvertree. I think I’d go for something in between to be honest, and there are obviously a lot more issues than just garden direction to be thinking about.
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