Vegetable Garden: Shade Plants

I have a fairly large space for my vegetable garden, which is in my backyard. My mom just gave me another bed that she wasn’t using. The problem is not the space. I can still plant a lot of vegetables.

The problem is the lack of sunshine. My mom loves trees and they love looking over my vegetable patch. There are spaces where I have managed to sneak in herbs, which are growing like wildfire and I can’t complain about a few of the other seeds I have sown where I have managed to find a sunny spot or two.

One day I was in the veggie patch in the morning and I noticed a part of the garden had warmed up so I gathered that some parts were able to get morning sun and others afternoon sun. Some of course were in full shade.

So I was able to do some research and find out what plants suited different kinds of temperatures. I found out some vegetable plants don’t actually mind shade, but they need shade!

 

For example lettuce is suited to colder climates as are all the other green leafy vegetables such as cabbage, swiss chard and spinach so it prefers some shade.

One thing that could be considered is container gardening, using the most of your sunny spots with vegetables that are sun-loving such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash.

When you plant your these vegetables under trees they will help improve the growth of the tree, where as grass planted under the tree competes with growth of the tree.

A good point to remember when planning your vegetable garden according to sunny and shady positions is that those plants that bear fruit or root vegetable will need full sun. Those plants that you grow for the leaves, buds and stems will accept the shade or semi-shade.

Most vegetables require 2-3 hours of sunlight in semi-shaded areas. There are not many vegetables that will be happy to grow in full sunshine. However, it is not difficult to find a little bit of morning or afternoon sun creeping through the trees or if your veggie garden is next to a wall you will still get some sun. You will be surprised!

 

Broccoli

Plant in a fertile soil. Broccoli takes 7-10 days for your seeds to sprout about 3 months until you are able to harvest.

 

Cabbage

Easy to plant and to grow

 

Cauliflower

Make sure you add manure and compost to your soil

 

Brussel Sprouts

Sow your sprouts in the spring time and enjoy them 5 months later

 

Lettuce

All varieties can be planted in semi-shaded areas

 

Beetroot

Capable of handling the shade. Beetroot, like carrots don’t grow well with manure because they are a root vegetable.

 

French Green Beans

These are the only type of beans that can survive without full sun.

 

Spinach

This leafy green definitely grows well without full-sun

 

Swiss Chard

Easy to grow green

 

Rocket

Another version of lettuce, yet is so unique from your usual Kos that I thought I would slip it in there. The younger you pick it the less peppery it will be.

So it’s not all bad if you have a garden with not much sunshine to talk about.