Morning sun loving vegetables vs afternoon?

Good evening,

My name is Nathan, and I live in Petoskey. I am in the process of creating a 1/2 acre garden from scratch. So far, I have cleared the area by removing some dying trees and cutting branches. And gathering wood chips.  Planting trees, working on irrigation etc..  

In my main garden area (the area with the most sun for my sun-loving vegetables).  I have noticed that the sun's position shifts throughout the day, with the morning sun illuminating one side of the garden and the afternoon sun lighting up the other side.

As I plan my vegetable garden, I am curious if there is a list of vegetable plants that prefer morning sun versus those that thrive in the afternoon sun?

Any help or suggestions is kindly appreciated.

Welcome to the forum!

Most plants prefer the morning sun.

The afternoon sun can be harsh on plants so some folks plant tall plants to block out the afternoon sun.

Here is a thread that might be of interest:

https://permies.com/t/70366/permaculture/plant-sun-sector

things like corns, beans, squash, tomatoes ect (summer crops) will stand the afternoon sun better than others as long as they have some water. More tender crops like greens such as lettuce prefer cooler morning sun, but in winter it shouldn’t matter that much and you probably want as much sun as possible. Hope this helps!

Anne Miller wrote:Most plants prefer the morning sun.

Exceptions might be if you are in a frosty area. I believe that one reason frost damages plants is a rapid warm up when sun hits frosted foliage or flowers, so you might want to place early flowering fruit, where they get the afternoon sun rather than the morning sun for example.
I gather in extreme temperature areas the 'sun scald' can also damage tree branches, splitting the bark on affected trees and potentially killing them, although that affects trees with the sun on them in the afternoon - sounds like you can't grow cherries in those areas!

Nancy is correct about perennial vegetables and fruits so you might want to consider those for the afternoon sun areas.

There are also ways to add shade against the afternoon sun for those annual vegetables.

Vine vegetables on trellis can add shade.  Corn will offer shade. Large leaf vegetables such a squash might also be a way to add shade.