Veg. for a shaded bed

[rary]

One of my veg. beds is shaded by trees till approximately 1.30pm then in the shade of the house from 4.00,pm and I am looking for suggestions of vegetables that would be suitable for growing in conditions like this, last year I grow cabbage in this bed and also in a bed that gets the Sun most of the day (when its out) and there was a notable difference in the two beds as the shaded bed had poorer plants, so what could I grow in this bed?

[Mr Bones]

Lettuce and Land Cress spring to mind. I think beetroot too.

[Bigmallly]

Vegetables You Can Grow Without Full Sun

[Greenleaves]

My sprouts are grown in a similar scenario rary, i trialed various types but got best results from Trafalgar

[Penellype]

In general with a shady bed you will get lighter crops than in full sun. This is only common sense since plants use sunlight to convert CO2 to sugars for growth, so the less sun they get the less big they will grow.

However, some plants don't like hot sun - these include spinach, lettuces and most brassicas. I've also grown carrots, parsnips, potatoes, peas, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries (particularly alpine strawberries) and even beans, courgettes and cucumbers in varying degrees of shade, although beans do much better in sun.

Crops I have found that struggle in deep shade are tomatoes (which don't have time to ripen), leeks to some degree (tend to be very small), onions (small), beetroot (small) and swede (small), although I must admit that the last 2 were spare plants that were bunged in a dark corner on the basis that I might get something to eat from them. I got no blackcurrants and 1 gooseberry from bushes in a very shady site, but the currant bush was young and the gooseberry had been defoliated by sawfly the previous year so they may have had excuses!

[bario1]

I wouldn't expect much from anything but spinach and soft fruit.

[mrsbusy]

Feb edition Gardeners World has good article on this topic divided up into how much shade is involved.

[mrsbusy]

Here you go....deep shade less than 2 hours of sunshine ...mizuna mibuna mustard chinese cabbage mint pea shoots. Moderate shade 2 - 3 hours of sunlight chard spinach kale oriental greens loose leaf lettuce rocket. Chives coriander oregano parsley. Plants will be smaller and slower
growing keep well mulched do not allow to dry out

[Penellype]

I'm sorry, I have to disagree with that. This is my shady patio:

Facing south:



Facing east:



Facing west:



The above photos taken in January this year.

Here is the same area in June last year:



In the next post I'll post pictures of some of the veg I have grown in pots/buckets on this patio.

[Penellype]

Calabrese:



Carrots:



Potatoes (Charlotte):



Kohlrabi:



Parsnip:



I rest my case!

[Jungle Jane]

I was looking at this for growing lettuce the other day,it would raise them off the ground a bit,copper tape around the base to stop slugs etc It looks simple to make & more lettuce per sq ft.
It’s Vertical Lettuce For Me! |

[vixylix]

I can't remember whether it was someone on here, or someone on the telly - but I remember them saying, only put your veg in the shade when you have planted more fruit than you need. Its stuck with me and I try and put my raspberries and strawberries in the shadier parts before anything else

[Penellype]

Mmmm - depends on the fruit. You'd have a job growing things like apricots or peaches in the shade, and tomatoes aren't great either. Apples do best with some sun and cherries are much sweeter grown in sunshine although the cooking varieties will grow well in shade.

[rary]

Penelope, how many buckets did it take to grow the potatoes

[Penellype]

If I've got my dates and pictures aligned correctly, this was 1 bucket of 3 seed potatoes and produced about 1.75kg potatoes - they are in a 10 inch pot saucer. This crop was from 2015 - I didn't take pictures of my potatoes in 2016.

In 2016, after being badly nipped by frost, the 5 Charlotte buckets (3 seed potatoes each) produced 0.55kg, 1kg, 1.05kg. 0.45kg and 0.65kg, which was very disappointing. The 5 buckets of Desiree, also grown in the shady area but less affected by frost, produced a total of 8.05kg from 15 seed potatoes compared with 9.55kg from 6 buckets (18 seed potatoes) in 2015, both of which work out at an average of around 0.57kg per seed potato.

I was actually going to use this photo of the Desiree as I think it is clearer and a more accurate representation of the crop:



It was taken about a month later than the one of the Charlotte, and shows the crops from 2 of the buckets from 2015. For some reason the forum wouldn't let me post this photo saying it was too big (I've posted it before). I've trimmed it so that it now allows it.