Contrary to popular belief, a patch of garden that receives as little as two hours of direct sunlight per day can still produce vegetables.
Vegetables grown for their leaves and roots are the best choices for shade gardens. Salad greens such as lettuce, spinach, cabbage and celery can be grown in shady gardens. Root vegetables such as beets, leeks, potatoes and turnips can be grown in shade gardens.
Fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are not good choices for shady sites; fruit crops prefer eight or more hours of direct sun per day. But some tomato varieties adapted to cool conditions can grow where there are as few as five or six hours of direct sunlight.
Shade in the garden can be described as deep or full shade, light shade, or partial or spotted shade.
• Deeply shaded or completely shaded describes a garden that receives no direct sun and very little or no reflection of sunlight. A garden with deep or dense shade is not a good place to grow vegetables.
• Lightly shaded describes a garden that receives one to two hours of sun per day or is light, airy and well lit with reflected or indirect light for most of the day. Reflected light can bounce into the yard from a white picket fence or building. Such a garden may be in the shade of a tall tree or in the shade of a distant building. Leaf and root crops will grow in a lightly shaded garden.
• Partially shaded describes a garden that receives direct sun for two to six hours and is lightly shaded or receives dappled shade the rest of the day. A partially shaded garden may be sunny in the morning or afternoon, but not both, the rest of the day the garden is fully or lightly shaded. A partially shaded garden can easily grow both leafy and rooted plants, and if the garden receives five hours of sunlight, some fruit crops can grow there.
Instead of choosing crops that will struggle in a shade garden, choose shade-adapted crops.
List of vegetables that grow well in the shade:
- Broccoli
- Rocket
- beets
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- The carrots
- to cauliflower
- celery
- chard
- Chinese cabbage
- The endives
- endive
- SHE
- Horseradish
- kale
- I will follow
- Lettuce
- Leeks
- The mustard
- The spinach
- parsnip
- Peas
- The potatoes
- The radishes
- Rutabagas
- Green onions
- Salsifí
- Sorrel
- Turnips
- I scream.
Vegetables that tolerate partial shade:
- The beans
- summer squash
- Tomatoes, varieties that mature quickly
Herbs that will grow in the shade:
- angelica
- the Basilica
- catnip
- perifolio
- chives
- The Mint Rooster (Costmary)
- garden cress
- germander
- Horseradish
- lemon balm
- celery
- The Mint
- parsley
- The rosemary
- sweet flag
- sweet woodruff
- Valerian.
Tips for growing vegetables in the shade:
Choose vegetables and herbs suitable for shade, do not try to grow crops that require full sun.
Start shade garden crops indoors to speed up harvest, germination and early seedling growth can begin in optimal conditions before transplanting to the shaded site.
Expect slower crop maturation and lower size and yield expectations.
Pruning lower tree branches and thinning upper branches will allow more sunlight to reach the garden.
Painting nearby walls or fences white will allow more light to bounce around the garden.
Grow crops in containers so they can be moved to sunny locations as the seasons change.
Benefits of growing vegetables in the shade:
Leafy plants grown in partial shade will be succulent and without a bitter taste.
A partially shaded garden may allow a longer growing period for cool-season crops.
Afternoon shade protects crops from the heat of the summer sun and prevents crops from burning during heat waves.