North facing garden

[TeaChocKitKat]

I am hoping to move house soon. Ive seen a house i love in a great location which ticks all of my boxes but Ive realised the garden is north facing. Im no sun worshipper but I am a fairly keen gardener. The garden is quite overgrown at the moment so is very much a project but is a north facing garden a real no go? Can you grow anything in it? The house is perfect apart from that! Ive viewed so many houses and its the first one i could really see us living in.

Do you have much of a front garden? We're very lucky if that ours is larger, so I grow things like roses and cut flowers in the front. It's surprising how many plants are starting to struggle out there, and needing to be brought to the north-facing back, although we are on sandy soil which doesn't help matters.

Hmmm, lots of interesting responses. The house is actually above the garden. The french doors from the sittting room open out onto a sort of veranda which runs across the back of the house. You go down some stairs onto a patio area and down a couple more steps to get onto the lawn and 'proper' garden area. There are some large trees at the bottom of the garden which are surrounded by overgrown shrubs. Theres a small bench burried underneath.
I have found the last couple of summers far too hot so maybe a shady garden wouldnt be so bad.... Maybe we just need to be more creative??

I have a South facing garden with bifolds into our main living area. It is a total nightmare in the summer.
This year we couldn't use it at all for weeks.
I am planning on building a loggia across the back of the house to give us shade in summer so my light in winter will be redcued but that feels like a small price to pay.
My front north facing garden is long and my garden area is away from the house. It gets sun nearly all day and i love it but the house remains in shade all dag at the front. Tbh I wish my house was reversed 180 degrees!!

I have a south facing and love it. I don't have a problem keeping plants alive as the PP suggested!
It was top of my list having always had a north facing in the past. I personally found it miserable being in the shadow of the house pretty much the whole time.
I do love the sun though!

Lottsbiffandsmudge rather than a loggia could you get one of those canvas 'sail' things? That way you can take it down in the darker months and your light won't be compromised.

Part of my garden is north facing, the other is not (corner plot). The north facing part is much more interesting and easier to maintain.

I grow shade tolerant roses and clematis, camellias, fuchsias, Japanese anemones, hellebores, astrantia, hydrangea, geraniums, ferns etc. It’s lovely and lush and requires much less maintenance than the sunny part of my garden, which seems to need constant watering and weeding (and still looks shit!).

Usually these NF garden posts are so negative so nice to read one that isn’t. We also bought a NNW despite it being on our absolutely no way list but really pleasantly surprised. We grow (mostly unintentionally) all sorts in it, apple tree, clematis, peonies, tulips, roses to name a few and get plenty of sun most of the year - more so than our previous WF which was much more affected by neighbouring shade . Sun is harder to come by Nov- Feb but garden is still very green and colourful even now. Best of luck !

As long as it’s longer than the shadow of the house it’s fine.

I really like having the sun through the front - makes the house feel much less gloomy in the winter, when I’m not outside as much. And in summer the back of the garden is a total sun trap, but you get shade close to the house, it’s lovely.

I was worried about it but it’s turned out perfect and I’d actively look for it again

I have a lot of very shady areas in my smallish garden, as it has a very woodland edge vibe, with a lot of trees, large bushes and (deliberately) overgrown hedges. I have found that foxgloves, skimmia, brunnera, species geraniums, heuchera, dogwood, Japanese anemones, sweet box and aucuba all thrive in the shady areas underneath the trees and hedges. There is an area that is permanently in deep shade and is planted with brunnera and species geraniums amongst others - they are extremely happy!

I lived in a house with a south facing garden (well, back yard really 😂) for 20+ years. Now my garden faces south west so gets full sun from 11am until it sets. I realised after the first summer here just how drab my old house was!!! I would never have a north facing garden now.

North facing is fine depending on how much shade you get - how long is the garden, how high are surrounding buildings, what tree cover is near by? TBH these days south facing is a menace as everything bakes.

No, I wouldn’t buy a house with a north-facing garden. I grew up in one and I just remember it being dark a lot of the time.

Completely agree with this. Will never have a North facing garden again. All the decking had slugs under it.

We had issues with moss in our north facing garden. It was good when dc were tiny as they were mostly in the shade. The bottom of the garden got the sun and it wasn’t especially dark - we were able to have a great conservatory that was usable all year so it wasn’t bad and I didn’t hate it but now I have a south and south east facing corner plot I’ve realised I much prefer it.

I am thinking of buying a first floor flat with a long north facing garden (15m) and this garden is far from the house (bc the floor below gets their garden) like I need to walk down the stairs and walk to the garden about 10-15m
The building is about three stories tall

In this case, will this garden get any sun? anyone has a similar situation in their garden??? we tried visiting around noon but couldn't tell really...it had some sun I think