Aspect

Aspect simply means which way something faces, and how much sun it catches as a result. Stand in your garden, work out where the sun rises and sets, and you'll quickly see that a south-facing bed bakes in light all day while a north-facing corner sits in shade. Because the UK lies fairly far north, the sun never climbs very high — even in midsummer it tracks across the southern sky — so aspect makes a bigger difference here than in hotter countries. Getting the right crop in the right spot is one of the easiest wins a beginner can have.

The four aspects

• South-facing — the warmest, brightest and most sought-after. It gets sun for most of the day, warms up earliest in spring and holds heat into the evening. This is your prime growing ground.
• West-facing — almost as good. It misses the cool morning but catches the strong afternoon and evening sun, so it stays pleasantly warm. Excellent for fruit and most vegetables.
• East-facing — gets bright morning sun then falls into shade by afternoon. Cooler overall, and the early sun can thaw frosted plants too quickly, which sometimes damages tender growth. Fine for leafy crops and many flowers.
• North-facing — the coldest and shadiest, often in shadow much of the day. It's the hardest to grow in, but far from useless.

Matching crops to aspect

Save your sunniest, south- or west-facing spots for the sun-lovers: tomatoes, peppers, chillies, courgettes, beans, and warmth-needing fruit like figs, grapes and peaches trained against a wall. These crops need heat to crop well, and a warm wall acts like a storage heater, releasing warmth overnight and nudging fruit towards ripening. Plants suited to your conditions will also show better hardiness, shrugging off the cold more easily than ones struggling in the wrong place.

An east-facing bed suits salads, spinach, chard, peas and many herbs, which appreciate sun but can scorch or bolt in relentless afternoon heat. A north-facing or shady spot isn't wasted ground at all: lettuce, rocket, mint, gooseberries, rhubarb and currants all crop happily there, and shade can actually stop cool-season salads from running to seed in summer.

When planning beds, think about height too. Tall crops like runner beans or sweetcorn cast shade, so put them on the north side of a plot where they won't overshadow shorter plants. A quick way to judge your own garden is to watch it over a sunny day and note which areas are still bright at noon and which sit in shadow — that simple map tells you more than any rule of thumb. Work with your aspect rather than against it, and even a small or shady garden can be surprisingly productive.