North/South v East/West?

[Dog House]

This may be a bonkers question but I'm puzzled.................

We are getting ready to plant climbing beans and sweetcorn during May. We have some raised beds on our allotment going North -South and other beds going East - West.

My question is, does it make any difference which beds we use (assuming rotation) or does it make no difference at all?

Last year we used the East - West beds and had excellent crops (however a small deer ate half of our sweetcorn but thats another story!).

Any thoughts welcomed.

Dog House.

[Alice]

Hello Dog House, for preference I would use the East - West beds for tall plants. The reason being the direction os the suns rays is from the South most of the day and the plants will not shade each other. But in summer the sun is very high in the sky and it might not make much differnce.

You have my sympathy on the deer front. Last few years we got invaded by 6 Roe deer and they ate my whole garden ! Like slugs 5' high. I had to spend a fortune to fence the whole place to keep them out.

I see you grew corn last year. I'm trying it for the first time this year and so are a few other grapes. Don't want to hijack this thread but you might want to give us some advice on the thread just entitled Corn Question.

[Flummery]

My veg plot consists of a central bed (which currently contains strawberries ) with a path around it and the rest of the plot goes around this (apart from the access path to the middle). This means that in order to rotate the crops I usually grow bean frames N/S or E/W depending on where I am in the rotatation. (I don't think I've put that very clearly!) I have found no difference. Your cultivation, preparation and feeding make more difference to your plants I think. I have recently started growing more varieties and using wigwams which changes things a bit. I think you'll have good results either way.

[Nicos]

We tend to plant in blocks rather than long lines, but I think, because of the lay-out of the beds, most seem to be E/W - but that wasn't planned.
The one thing I always take into consideration though is the shadow cast from taller plants.