On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 17:08:26 GMT, Janet Baraclough..
wrote:

from Frogleg contains these words:

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 17:28:02 GMT, Janet Baraclough..
wrote:

LOL. Have you visited the northern half of the UK, Frogleg? :-)

No. Just London. However, because it's darker there in winter,
there'll be *more* sun in summer, no?

No :-) If only!

I do stand by my advice -- the
more sun, the better.

Depends what you're growing and at what latitude. Jo is in France;
further south and warmer than the UK with less cloud cover, more sun,
and more intense light.

In some circumstances, afternoon shade and wind shelter could be preferable.
Hot afternoon sun and wind together is fine for herbs, maquis and
coastal plants with narrow/ hard/ silvery leaves etc but can be a deadly
combination for plants with large soft green leaves like tomatoes,
lettuce, beans or potatoes.

I'm going to have to draw some diagrams for myself. :-) I know that
the further north you (in the northern hemisphere), the longer the
summer day is. It may be true that the sunlight is less intense,
however. They certainly grow veg, incl. tomatoes in Fairbanks, which
is approx. 65N.

As to a combination of wind and sun, I have no personal experience
with a perpetually windy spot. The only places I know of where too
much sun is a hazard is in the desert SW of the US, and usually that's
a drought problem more than a sun one. It's plenty sunny here in
Virginia (and hot in summer, 'though frigid at the moment), and
sometimes early tomatoes and peppers (the fruit) suffer from 'sun
scald' before the foliage is mature, but I've never seen any damage to
leaves. Wind, however, is light and occasional. Except during storms
when the corn (maize) blows down. :-)