Direction of rows? north and south? east and west?

[DWSmith]

I'm embarrassed to ask this question but I don't know that I've ever seen it come up anywhere before. It's so basic I would think it would be in all gardening books.

I can see planting my rows east and west with the taller plants on the north side of the bed and the shorter plants on the south side of the bed.

I can also see planting the rows oriented north and south so they can get sunshine on both sides as the sun exposure goes from east to west.

If the spacing between the plants is right does row orientation matter?

Is there a good reason for one way or the other?

Thanks.

[lottie dolly]

I have always been led to believe north south,for the sun as you say,BUT,those that do a foot square garden style are not in any particular direction,sweet corn is grown in blocks,as are many brasica,thinking about it,if you tall things growing east west,then they would be in shade some parts of the day,so on a not so good day,the plants may feel colder,this is just a guess,i am prepared to be shot down in flames if am wrong

[mothhawk]

My small garden is north facing, so doesn't get sun all day, mostly early morning and late afternoon. What I have found is that everything tends to grow towards the east, especially climbers like beans (and flowers too - clematis, morning glory, honeysuckle). So if I plant rows E to W, I have little growth at the west end, and lots at the east end, and with things like climbing beans, they all pile over the supports at the east end of the row, and the whole row leans that way.

So definitely for me N to S is the way to go. The plants still have a tendency to grow towards the morning sun, but more evenly along the row.

[Bigmallly]

I have beds going N-S & E-W. As long as I have the tallest plants at the North side I'm not that bothered. To be fair even if the taller plants are at the South side, the sun is that high there is little shade anyway.................I'm not into growing trees just yet............

[Cadalot]

I have two plots and the beds naturally follow the shape of the allotment I have not added the sun north point to plot 23B the black drawing but the sun comes up on top and down on the bottom as drawn.

[DWSmith]

Beautiful drawings Cadalot! Thanks for sharing.

All, maybe my question wasn't so dumb after all. Thanks for the help.