You can easily create a sun map with just paper, colored pencils and your time. If you prefer gadgets, you can purchase a garden light meter. You will want to create your sun map during the season you intend on growing, since the position of the sun changes seasonally.

Start with a sketch of your proposed garden, including any trees, shrubs, fences and structures.

Begin in the early morning and mark down where the sun and shade are each hour or two in the garden. Using colored pencils will be helpful in keeping track of sun, shade and hours. Make a key for your reference using the different colors. Indicate patches of sun and shade on your map to determine how much sun exposure your garden will get.

Most planting will begin in early spring, which means that you may have to account for leaves that haven’t fully grown in on trees. The angle of the sun will change from spring to summer, so you may want to make a map for each season as it will likely change a bit. If it is cloudy, you will want to track more than one day to get accurate results.

Now that you know where the sun will be, you can choose the best place for your plants.

Happy Gardening!