Shade in the garden questions. [View all]
So... we have a pretty small yard (less than an acre, maybe 1/4 acre available for our urban garden). We currently have four raised beds. We're in zone 5, but very arid and at altitude the sun gets very hot. Our tomatoes get too hot to grow well, and we have a bed we're using for root veggies we'd also like to cool down a bit. I've read here and elsewhere about lightly shading the tomato plants, and I'm thinking I need to provide some shade to that root veggie bed. My SO suggested taking one of our fruit trees and planting it between beds to provide some shade and use water and space more efficiently. Even if it doesn't shade the tomatoes (which definitely need less shade than the root plants), I figure shading an adjoining bed will cool down the air around the tomato bed. The beds will be almost due north of any tree planted.
The trees we have to pick from that need to be moved around our yard are: crab apple, peach and pear. None are full-sized so it's hard to judge how much shade/how long a shadow they'll provide.
Here's the brunt of my question, I guess: How tall a tree will provide too much shade? I think the crab apple might get to be 10 feet tall, the peach and the pear up to 20 feet each.
Anyone have any ideas or similar experience to share? Or is using trees to partially shade veggie gardens just out-right nutty?