North Facing gardens

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I've never had a North facing garden, we have always managed to get a South or West facing.

Our dream house has just come on the market, it looks lovely. But it's a North facing garden.

It's a new build, so the garden is fairly small. 10 meters long.

Anyone who has N facing garden, please can you tell me, will the garden be in shade all day?

My first house had a north west facing garden. The patio only got the sun at midday in the summer, not helped by the garden sloping up away from the house and in front of a retaining wall.

The plus side was that the upper part did get the sun and there was a little south facing patio up there to take advantage too. It was 6 fence panels deep, so fairly small.

We moved to a house with a south facing garden, but in hot weather, I miss the shade, then on a summer evening we lose the sun in the west. We don't see sunsets at all from the house or garden due to the surroundings.

It's not necessarily a deal breaker.
I would say that for a heavily shaded garden, make sure paving is of a surface that is easily kept swept and washed clean. Grass may struggle to grow well especially with children, so a surface like bark may be better for a heavily used play area.

If it's a new-build, something else will turn up.

I wouldn’t if I had a choice. But I love gardening and I like sitting out after work.

West is my ideal, have south at the moment and tbh it’s a bit hot in the height of summer.

We do. The front of the houses faces South and is lovely and warm and sunny.
The back of the house is colder but that’s the bedrooms and kitchen so doesn’t matter.
The garden has bits of sun during the summer. It’s fine for me as I’m pale and hate direct sunshine. It bugs my husband who is always moving his deckchair around to roast on the sun. I very rarely have the time or inclination to spend all days moving a deckchair around the back garden and so the garden is fine for me.
I once spoke to a council worker who said they’d just had someone turn down a council flat as the garden faced north. It must really be a big issue for some people. I only go outside for a few minutes each day for a few months of the year though so I really don’t mind.

We are north facing and clay and the garden isn’t usable in the winter. It gets extremely waterlogged. It is nice in the summer though as the kids can play out with shade.

I'm another one who would consider a small north facing garden an absolute deal breaker. Working in an office all day in the summer and getting home at 5.30 only to sit and have a drink in a cool dark garden would depress me entirely.

I have a south facing garden and my joy is sitting in sun. For those who say at least north facing garden give shade, so do trees! My garden gets incredibly hot on the patio which I like my when its too much we just sit under the trees instead

Ours goes all the way around but the North side is very shady compared to the rest (although it does get some sun at times and enough for a successful vegetable plot) but when we had a new roof and wall tiles 10 years ago we quickly noticed the weathering was different that side - damper and with some greening to the tiles. There's a noticeable temperature drop too as we go around that side. If I had no other side of the garden I would never choose North facing only.

We have a small north facing garden. It doesn't get any sun in winter and the back of the house can feel cold and dampish.

In summer the back of the house gets morning sun from the east and then there is sun all day in the bottom half of the garden until about 7pm. The garden is pretty sheltered so it can be very hot at the back. We have portioned our garden furniture at the furthest point from the house to maximise exposure.

It wouldn't be my first choice but it's good enough.

I hated the darkness of it and moved because of it but it was lovely and cool in summer.

We have a north facing garden and it works out fine

The patio right next to the house is the only part that doesn’t get sun, though we do get a small amount there in the evening. It means that when it’s roasting outside you can still sit out in it without being cooked or worrying about sun cream. If we want to sit properly in the sun we move some chairs higher up the garden or put a picnic blanket down.

The garden is still great for growing veggies. I do courgettes, beans, tomatoes, sweetcorns and cabbages every year without issue.

Drying washing is also fine.

The direct sun probably goes completely around end of October/November and it’s just starting to come back now.

Not a massive garden at all, first time buyer house. Garden probably about 10m long.

I am a gardener and normally facing is a load of rubbish. Its only relevant if you live on a steep hill or have a tiny garden surrounded by buildings and tall fences. Unfortuntely you are falling in the latter so it will have a big effect.

In mid summer the sun is actually nearly directly overhead and shadows cast on a 6ft fence separating north and south is only 1.5 - 3.5 metres as the day goes by.

West diluted light which shines through something is stunning. Theres something dispersed about it and it catches grasses and backlights flowers in the most stunning way.

Low west evening light is absolutely stunning. In our garden after work our favourite place to sit in the evenings is the shady bit at the end of the garden as watching the sun pick up all the light and disperse it through the trellis is stunning. Its hard to describe. Very atmospheric. When you sit in shade and look at sunny areas its 5 times brighter. So I suppose it depends whether you want sun on your skin or too 'look at sun'.

If you own the hedge you could also switch it for a trellis which will help.

*PinkPlantCase Sat 13-Feb-21 13:01:33

The garden is still great for growing veggies. I do courgettes, beans, tomatoes, sweetcorns and cabbages every year without issue.
*

I am guessing you must live in the South of the UK? Impossible to grow some of these things in the North.

@speakout in the Midlands so not ‘The South’ but not north either.

I start growing quite early to give things a long run.

OP,

You will regret it every day.

All those rooms at the back will be grey if not dark.

You will never have afternoon and evening sunshine.

Having an outside space on a sunny day and evening to potter around, to eat and to drink in, is one of life's great joys.

Going from a sunny back of house to a dark one will be a massive regret to most people.

I wouldn't conside even a dream house if it didn't have a sunny garden.

But for us our sunny back garden is another room from April-Sept.

Good luck.

My front garden and the front of the house is south facing, which is annoying because the sun blinds me when I’m on mid-morning Zoom meetings in my study. Neither of our gardens get any sun at all due to being shaded by houses all around. It’s worse in the winter because it means this bloody snow and ice hangs around for much longer than other nearby areas because it never warms up enough to melt it.

However, we inherited the house and beggars can’t be choosers. We plan to move in 5 years and garden sunlight will be on my list of priorities.

Our garden faces south west. From 2pm every day the sun is in our eyes.
In summer we are constantly trying to get decent shade. We have tried parasols, a sail.

Because the patio is at a much lower level than the garden, we also need vertical shade too.

It was ok until trees at the end of the garden were cut down (not ours)

My garden is north facing but it's very long so it dies get sun. I would not buy a small one it will be cold and dark all the time.

I would never choose north or east facing. There is always compromise when buying a house but that isn’t something I could compromise on.

We have lived in a house that lost sun by 5pm previously and it was so miserable. Coming home on a glorious day wanting a drink in the garden and having to sit in shade. Could never host bbqs as who wants to leave the sun to have a burger in the shade? Even on really hot days the shade was very cold!!! Plus could only peg out in the height of summer. A gloomy kitchen would also be a down point.

We currently have sun from lunchtime until sunset and it’s perfect. That’s when we naturally want to use the garden so it suits us. Trees provide any shade we need and I always stick the paddling pool under there whilst I bask in the sun. Our kitchen is at the back and is gloriously sunny.

The only thing I hate is how it highlights little fingers prints on the patio doors but wouldn’t ever change it!

We have a North facing garden which we don’t really use in the winter as it’s in full shade. Also in early spring we have to jet wash the decking close to the house as its very slippy due to having no sun at all during the winter. Summer is great, directly behind the house is shaded but plenty of sunlight in the rest of the garden.

Our garden is about 80ft long and my washing line runs from the house to about 55ft down the garden. I can hang washing out from early March to mid October- no point after that as it doesn’t dry.

I'm a keen gardener with a north facing garden, and I love my garden! It requires some thought about what you grow, certainly, we have a lot of woodland plants that do well in dappled shade. I have some space at the side and front of the house where I can grow plants that need direct sun.

I grow quite a bit in containers (particularly the veg I grow) so I can move it into the sunniest places.

I find my garden pleasant to sit it, though I suppose it wouldn't work if you were wanting to sunbathe.

I've lived in two north facing gardens and my take on it is that it depends on the layout and size of the garden.

1st house- front living room with plenty of sunlight, dining room separate at the back no sunlight at all and the kitchen and bathroom at the back no sunlight. Tiny garden with a little sunlight. This house was depressing and dull and I just felt sleepy all day.

2nd house- open plan kitchen living/dining. The south facing front helped keep the living/ dining/kitchen area bright all day because the natural light from the front was distributed to the back. The rear garden was in shade upto the half of the garden. So only the patio bit was in shade. I come from a hot Mediterranean country and can't stand eating or drinking coffee in direct sunlight so I preferred this layout. If I wanted to sunbathe, I would take my sun lounger to the grass section at the end of the garden where I was exposed to direct sunlight.

I liked the second option and it works better for me.