Help with garden location in yard: Phoenix, AZ

[Brent]

Howdy from PHX,

The quick question:

If you were planting a vegetable garden in Phoenix, would you put it in the sunniest spot? Shadiest spot? Or somewhere in between?

The longer question:

I am just getting into gardening and I am looking forward to participating on this site. I am trying to plan the layout of my new yard and I am finding it very difficult.

My back yard is a 30ft x 50ft rectangle. The back wall is south facing making it the sunniest part of the yard. Right now (February) the south half of the yard is shaded nearly the entire day.

The convenient place to put the garden is near the west wall. The problem with this location is that it only receives a couple hours of light this time of year when the sun peeks between the houses. I would like to know if this would be a satisfactory place to put it knowing that it is going to get more sun as the season progresses?

Thanks!

 

[marlingardener]

Brent, welcome! I can't give you a definitive answer to your garden location question, but I can tell you what we experience here in central Texas.
During the winter months (Dec., Jan., Feb. for us) the more sun the better. During spring and summer, some shade, especially afternoon (2 to 6 p.m.) shade, is appreciated by the plants.
Can you have only one vegetable garden spot? Is is possible to make a flower border with vegetables interplanted? Containers for shallow-rooted vegetables like lettuces allow you to have more garden space.
The placement near the west wall would be fine for peppers, tomatoes, corn, squash, okra. I wouldn't risk peas, lettuce, radishes, and any cool weather crops like broccoli there.
Good luck, and remember that most gardeners learn the most from their mistakes. Success can be "iffy" but when something fails, you most likely know why!

 

[CanadianLori]

You can always add shade but you can't add sun.

 

[Jewell]

With summer temps 100-120F for multiple months you need to be talking to your local nursery people. Friends who have moved to the general Phoenix area have drastically changed their gardening. There are good reasons cactus, rocks, gravel and fake grass are popular in that region. Hope you have a pool

 

[Pat]

Your garden location will depend on the types of plants you plan to have also. Sun loving plants of course want the sun and shade loving plants are going to want to be in the shade. Another thought is to keep your plants ones that grow locally to reduce the need for special maintenance and care for your plants.