The sun is one of the key properties of any edible garden in the world. Along with water and soil, it's one of the three key components to growing edibles. How much sun does a garden need? Some of that depends on what you're growing, the soil that you have, and how well you water it.
Our houses here in Australia - and most countries - are built to face the street. Do you know which way this street faces? It runs roughly north-south, which means the front faces west. So the Australian summer sun warms the front yard in winter and bakes it in summer. In the southern hemisphere, the sun travels across the northern half of our sky, so a north-facing garden is an excellent idea. As you'll see, the northern side of my property is lined in cement, which absorbs the heat of the sun and then radiates it back into the garden. This is excellent in winter for added warmth, and for growing things along this side of the property; but in summer, it's baking hot.
Some plants take well to the heat - the lucerne hay that's growing beside the driveway, the apples, peaches/nectarines, the persimmon tree, and the lemongrass. I find it changes the seasons in this section of the garden, quite significantly. While other people in Sydney are still waiting for their stone fruit to grow to full size in November, I have a full crop and am desperately picking fruit as fast as it ripens.
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