Sun block ☀️ in the south facing garden

[Usher458]

Hi Everyone,

My first thread, so please be kind ;) !!

Im about to buy a south facing garden, but during survey on first look it seems the house behind might shadow my garden and downstairs all together.

My question is if this will be temporary as sun moves from east to west? Or because it's January the pics are taken it looks so bad as Sun has not elevated enough??

Pics taken around 13:00 to 14:00

How big is your garden/how much space is there between your house and the edge that's south?

It could very well be because it's winter (I have a south facing garden and my own fence blocks most of the sun during winter) but in summer it's hard to escape it 🙈

Also welcome to mumsnet, ignore the losers if they start hahaha

The sun is very low in the sky at the moment. Your garden should be fine in the height of summer. Our north facing garden gets sun all day in the summer, it's just winter when the sun is low down, and in front of our house, so the house blocks the sun low in the south from getting to the garden behind and to the north of the house. Does that make sense?

I have just realised, I didn't upload the pics.... Thanks for the reply

Thanks for the message, I have posted the pics if that helps?

I'm pretty sure the sun will be above the roofs of those houses behind you for all of the summer, going from east to west, so that there'll be shade from the fences on different sides in the morning and evening. There's no other shade at all in that garden, so you'll be wanting to create some :)

I think you'll have plenty of sun in the summer!! :)

Sun will be much higher in the summer, you will get sun all day.
We also live in a south/south west facing garden and it is hot in the summer. We have a lovely tree for shade and you'll be glad of it in the height of summer

You may not get the hot heat of the sunset in summer with the other houses in sunset. But that's a good thing! West facing direction
We may need a diagram? 🤣

The shortest day when the sun is at its lowest is usually about 23rd Dec or thereabouts. So going forward the sun will soon be over the houses and reaching your garden.

You'll definitely get sun in the summer from those pictures OP. My garden is north facing and we also viewed in January, I thought we'd get no sun at all when I saw the garden in so much shade but we get plenty, just with different parts of the garden in shade at different times. Remember the sun is very low at the moment, but you have nothing to worry about.

My best advice is to wait a year once you've moved in to see what parts of the garden are sunniest at different times of year to judge where best to have borders, table and chairs and what to plant. It was only after we'd been through a whole summer in our house I knew where the best place for our patio and garden dining set would be to maximise sun, so I was glad I watched and waited.

Ours is similarly shaded, from end of November to beginning of March no sun at all in back garden…then it bakes. We’ve planted trees for shade . The winter bit can be a bit miserable.

You should get morning sun from the east and afternoon sun from the west in winter, if there are no buildings in those directions.

My west facing garden is a sun trap all summer but at this time of year it is in a lot of shade most of the day. Come June you'll be debating pergolas lol.