Understanding Your Microclimate
Every garden has warm corners, frost pockets, and wind tunnels
1 min read
Two beds a few metres apart can behave like different climates. A south-facing wall stores heat and extends the season; a low corner collects cold air and frosts first. Learning your garden's quirks lets you place each crop where it will thrive.
Read the signs
Walk the plot on a frosty morning and note where white lingers longest. After wind, see where leaves and debris pile up. In summer, feel which surfaces radiate heat into the evening. Each of these tells you something useful.
Working with what you find
- Put heat-lovers like tomatoes and basil against a sunny wall or fence.
- Keep frost-tender crops out of low, still corners.
- Use a hedge or mesh screen to slow the wind rather than block it hard.
- Save shady spots for salad leaves and mint in high summer.
You cannot change your climate, but you can almost always find a better ten square metres within it.
If you want the underlying idea, the definition of a microclimate is short and clear.
