Notes on the Hours and Minutes of Direct Sunlight for Your Spot
You can figure your amount of direct sunlight using the times above. Otherwise, we’ve done it for you in the tables below.
Notice that, in far left column, the the angles of your eastern obstructions are always listed on the left, and the angles of your western obstructions are always listed to the right (i.e. E-W = East-West).
Also, notice that some cells are blank. While most, if not all, of the times in open cells are less than ideal for growing garden plants, they do not necessarily mean there is no direct sunlight at all. They simply mean that the sun never rises above the angle of either your eastern or western obstructions (or neither), and, as such, that it’s very difficult to calculate the amount of direct light you get without seeing your spot. If you have lower obstructions to the south than your tallest eastern or western obstruction, you’ll still get direct sunlight on your spot for part of the day. However, calculating that time depends on exactly how far your eastern or western obstructions extend to the south and is beyond the scope of these tables.
However, if you’re obstructions don’t extend much to the south at all, then the time for any blank cell is about an hour (give or take a half an hour) less than the one above it. For example, for the blank “0-30″/”Jan 21” cell, a time of “4h” would be close. One could use that same method to extrapolate to fill all of the open cells (e.g. the blank “0-60″/”Jan 21” cell, would have an approximate time of “1h”—that is, “5h” – 4 hours), but it’s only an approximation and depends vastly on your specific local obstructions.
