I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking onto
the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is SE. So
which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door down at
it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

If it's down towards it again looking at it's facing South East
(approx 120). But i think i'll need a compass to get an exact figure,
is there anywhere online that wil tell me this to save me buying a
compass?

But most important is this a good garden for growing? Havent started
yet so what do people recommend?

Thanks

"htmark98" wrote in message
oups.com...
I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking onto
the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is SE. So
which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door down at
it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

If it's down towards it again looking at it's facing South East
(approx 120). But i think i'll need a compass to get an exact figure,
is there anywhere online that wil tell me this to save me buying a
compass?

At midday, look towards the sun, it will be due south!

Alan


But most important is this a good garden for growing? Havent started
yet so what do people recommend?

Thanks

In message .com,
htmark98 writes
I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking onto
the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is SE. So
which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door down at
it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

It's the former, so SE facing.

If it's down towards it again looking at it's facing South East
(approx 120). But i think i'll need a compass to get an exact figure,
is there anywhere online that wil tell me this to save me buying a
compass?

You don't need an exact figure, in fact it doesn't matter that much
though, what matters is you learn where the sun shade etc. falls in your
garden through the day/year.

If you can find you house on Google Earth (not all the UK photos are a
very good resolution, but lots are. it has a handy little compass.

http://earth.google.com/

Though this requires you to install a small application on your
computer. It's good for some time wasting though.

Our local authority planning dept has maps showing individual properties
(1:10000 maybe?) which you can access via searching for planning
permissions.

But most important is this a good garden for growing?

99% of gardens are good for growing, southerly acing gardens are
generaly considered 'good' because the house isn't shading the garden,
but then if it was surrounded by 40 foot conifers....

Havent started
yet so what do people recommend?

What sort of gardening to you think you are interested in - ornamental,
veg, fruit? how mcuh time do you think you will devote to it? For the
first year, get a fell for the garden, don't necessarily plan any major
changes. Note the where the sun/shade falls, how would you like to use
the garden, will you want somewhere to sit in the evening sun, any
special features, such a s a pond? Measure it up and sketch a plan etc.
--
Chris French

That's a really dizzy question, isn't it.

If the sun always rises in the east and always sets in the west and moss
grows on the north side of a tree, why do birds fly south for the
winter?!!!!!

Maybe you shouldn't be such a cheapskate and get that darn compass already.

All locations are good for growing. It all depends on what you want to grow.
For example, this thread will grow tiresome very quickly!!!!

Would recommend you read some books on gardening. You can find them in a
place called a library. Check it out!!!!


"Alan Holmes" wrote in message
...

"htmark98" wrote in message
oups.com...
I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking onto
the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is SE. So
which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door down at
it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

If it's down towards it again looking at it's facing South East
(approx 120). But i think i'll need a compass to get an exact figure,
is there anywhere online that wil tell me this to save me buying a
compass?

At midday, look towards the sun, it will be due south!

Alan


But most important is this a good garden for growing? Havent started
yet so what do people recommend?

Thanks

"htmark98" wrote in message
oups.com...
I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking onto
the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is SE. So
which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door down at
it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

If it's down towards it again looking at it's facing South East
(approx 120). But i think i'll need a compass to get an exact figure,
is there anywhere online that wil tell me this to save me buying a
compass?

But most important is this a good garden for growing? Havent started
yet so what do people recommend?

Thanks

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...S earch&meta=

HTH?


--
James (ukjay)
http://www.ukjay.co.uk

Garden WebCam
http://tv.earthcam.com/channel/video.php?channel=823164

Garden WebCam Guestbook/Message Portal
http://www.ukjay.co.uk/cgi-bin/guestbook.pl

On 26/1/06 23:40, in article
, "htmark98"
wrote:

I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking onto
the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is SE. So
which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door down at
it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

If it's down towards it again looking at it's facing South East
(approx 120). But i think i'll need a compass to get an exact figure,
is there anywhere online that wil tell me this to save me buying a
compass?

But most important is this a good garden for growing? Havent started
yet so what do people recommend?

Just watch which side of your garden the sun comes up in the morning and
which side it goes down at night. Once you've got east/west sorted out,
you've got the rest. You don't need an exact figure unless you're planning
to sail your house across the Atlantic. ;-)
You want to observe your own garden and see where gets the most sun for most
of the day, which the least. You want to see where natural shadows fall
from trees, fences, the house itself etc. and plant accordingly. And before
you do that, if you're new to the house, wait a year to see what comes up in
the garden and then you will know you're not digging out something lovely
that you will regret losing. And to help you learn what will grow well in
your garden, observe those of your close neighbours, ask advice from those
who know a bit about it and perhaps join a local gardening club. THEN, you
figure out where to put the clothes line, the children's play area, the
dog's play area, the dustbins, the bonfire site, the compost heap......
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

In message , Sacha
writes
On 26/1/06 23:40, in article
.com, "htmark98"
wrote:

But most important is this a good garden for growing? Havent started
yet so what do people recommend?

And before
you do that, if you're new to the house, wait a year to see what comes up in
the garden and then you will know you're not digging out something lovely
that you will regret losing.

taking photos through out the year is useful as you then a have a good
record of what thing were like at different times.

--
Chris French

On 27/1/06 15:16, in article
, "htmark98"
wrote:

Thanks for the help guys, sorry just havent got around to getting a
compass yet.

The garden soil is very good, we took 40 tons of rubbish out last year
and chopped doen 20 layleanda(sp?) aswell. I imported 15 tons of top
soil and build a deck and layed new turf so all thats waiting this year
is plants and a water feature and away we go.

The suns comes up over the deck in the morning and we have sun in the
garden untill 9/10pm in the summer so really do get it most of the day/


Decide on the sort of water feature you want and whether you need a safety
grille for children and put that in first. Otherwise, you or those helping
you might be trampling on new, young plants trying to get a grip on the
soil! It sounds as if you've got a wonderfully sunny garden and should be
able to grow a great variety of things. Whereabouts are you?
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

"htmark98" wrote in message
oups.com...
I havent a compass


If you have a watch you have a compass.

http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/skill...ch_compass.htm

Works well in UK as it's all pretty close to Greenwich Mean Line but don't
forget to use GMT and not BST.

Slatts

In message , Alan Holmes
writes

"htmark98" wrote in message
roups.com...
I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking onto
the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is SE. So
which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door down at
it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

If it's down towards it again looking at it's facing South East
(approx 120). But i think i'll need a compass to get an exact figure,
is there anywhere online that wil tell me this to save me buying a
compass?

At midday, look towards the sun, it will be due south!

Alan


At 12 noon by the clock the sun will be approximately due south. One has
to correct for the difference between local mean solar time and
Greenwich Mean Time. (For every degree west of Greenwich the sun would
be a a degree each of due south.) One also has to correct for the
difference between local true solar time and local mean solar time,
arising from the elliptical nature of the earth's orbit. (Look up
analemma and equation of time - for example
URL:http://www.analemma.com/Pages/framesPage.html.) Also come summer
time, you also have to correct for the existence of summer time.

OTOH, for gardening purposes, the direction of the sun at midday is
probably close enough - unless you're setting up a sundial.

Note that a compass doesn't give one south directly either - magnetic
north differs from true north, and the difference varies with location
and time. One can get an approximation of the difference from a recent
OS map for ones area.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In message , Sla#s
writes

"htmark98" wrote in message
roups.com...
I havent a compass


If you have a watch you have a compass.

So how does that work with my digital watch then?
--
Chris French

Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
OTOH, for gardening purposes, the direction of the sun at midday is
probably close enough - unless you're setting up a sundial.

If you're setting up a sundial, isn't enough to wait till the sun comes
out, and then align it so it shows the correct time?
--
Kay

Kay wrote:

Stewart Robert Hinsley writes

OTOH, for gardening purposes, the direction of the sun at midday is
probably close enough - unless you're setting up a sundial.

If you're setting up a sundial, isn't enough to wait till the sun comes
out, and then align it so it shows the correct time?

Only on two days a year (ignoring daylight saving time). It is a mild
irony that UK sundials are normally calibrated for GMT and either read a
hour out or have additional systematic errors in midsummer when we have
sunshine and use the garden more.

Otherwise it could read up to 30 minutes out of sync with reality. You
need to know the correction for apparent solar noon for your longitude
and date. The seasonal analemma curve is very beautiful.

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/art/analemma.html

Well made sundials have a small table of corrections or a devisouly
shaped gnomon to allow for this.

Regards,
Martin Brown

In message , Martin Brown
writes
Kay wrote:

Stewart Robert Hinsley writes

OTOH, for gardening purposes, the direction of the sun at midday is
probably close enough - unless you're setting up a sundial.
If you're setting up a sundial, isn't enough to wait till the sun
comes out, and then align it so it shows the correct time?

Only on two days a year (ignoring daylight saving time). It is a mild
irony that UK sundials are normally calibrated for GMT and either read
a hour out or have additional systematic errors in midsummer when we
have sunshine and use the garden more.

Otherwise it could read up to 30 minutes out of sync with reality. You
need to know the correction for apparent solar noon for your longitude
and date. The seasonal analemma curve is very beautiful.

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/art/analemma.html

Well made sundials have a small table of corrections or a devisouly
shaped gnomon to allow for this.

Regards,
Martin Brown

And presumably to take advantage of the deviously shaped gnomon have to
be precisely aligned?
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In article ,
chris French wrote:

If you have a watch you have a compass.

So how does that work with my digital watch then?

Watch it until it says 12:00 (or 0:00), look for the sun, and that
is south. If it is all dark when you look, wait until it next
reads that value.

Alternatively, upgrade to an analogue watch.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.