in the shade

[firsttimer]

hi everyone for many reasons i havnt been able to do to much this growing year. but now making plans for next year. i have managed to get some raised beds made but am bit concerned that two are in the shade for most of the day. so i am after some advice as to what grows well in those conditions. can i grow potatoes (do hope as hubby loves new potatoes and grow lots) and do any perform better than others.

also i tried sweetcorn for first time this year it was Sundance dont know if just because of bad summer, but they didnt ripen well. the tassels went brown and fell off then little black flies seem to get in the top. is this normal?

last thing ..promise... i emptied my black sacks of last years leaves and found some weird bug looking things which im hoping someone will know what they are before i let them onto soil. they look like maggotts but have long thin tails. the bags were very wet as rain had laid in bin. any ideas?

thanks in advance.

[shirlthegirl43]

Can't help with your questions but I had the same thing happen with my sweetcorn - they just didn't fatten up. Would be interested to know if that was caused by the weather as they grew to about 8 foot tall and some had 5 cobs forming so I was well unhappy that I got nothing to eat!

[Flummery]

Salad crops do well in the shade, firsttimer.

[Barbara'nTom]

Don't worry there are lots of things which seem to grow quite happily in the shade. Our first allotment only gets sun in the morning and most of our crops lean quite substantially. Our experience has been that apart from that leaning, potatoes have been fine there as have runner beans which do like some shade. Leeks and onions have also been OK along with lettuces and chard.

Sweetcorn has been a no no as have french beans which like the sun. We did try parsnips and carrots there but they weren't great - not sure if that was the shade or the fact that the soil is quite heavy.

We were happy to have the shade last summer as the soil doesn't dry out so quickly so it means less watering - this year of course the water butts spent the summer overflowing!

Best of luck and enjoy your planning for next year.

[firsttimer]

thank you for your help. noone seems to have had my 'weird' bug like things so have emptied all leaf mould onto ground trying to leave the tailed like maggots on surface for my friendly robin.

[firsttimer]

so understand frustration about sweetcorn i too was so excited at how tall my corn was getting and cobs forming but all too no avail. maybe i need to plant them earlier. have you grown from seed? i did mail order plug plants which didnt arrive till quite late. did think maybe if seed easy to germinate i could bring them quicker indoors.

[Smuff]

thank you for your help. noone seems to have had my 'weird' bug like things so have emptied all leaf mould onto ground trying to leave the tailed like maggots on surface for my friendly robin.

Only thing I can think of is the attractively named "rat tailed maggots". I know someone who was away from their house for a long time and found them in their toilet bowl.
http://www.flycontrol.novartis.co.uk...en/index.shtml

As far as I'm aware they're harmless.

Ps my sweetcorn looked as if it was going to be great then turned out to be very disapointing. I think it was the lack of sun that was the problem.