No shade, no problem. Cathy Isom tells us about the crops that don’t need a lot of light to thrive in our gardens. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Shade Plants
From: Modern Farmer
So Shady: 10 Crops That Can Be Grown Without a Lot of Sun
Okay, raise your hand: How many of you would like to grow more food at home? Now, how many of you have at least six hours of direct sun in your yard? That’s what I thought. This list is for the millions of folks out there who thought they didn’t have enough sun for an edible garden.
Shade tolerance in fruits and vegetables is a matter of degree. The only edibles you can grow under in deep, deep shade are mushrooms. But there are plenty tasty things that grow in “part shade,” generally defined as two to four hours of direct sun. With four to six hours of sun—“part sun”—the list expands considerably. There are even a few edibles that grow and produce in areas that receive less than two hours of direct sun—“full shade.”
There are many other variables: Part shade on a north-facing slope, or on the north side of a building, is much shadier than on a southern exposure. The density of the tree canopy also factors in: Pine trees, with their slender needles and a branching pattern that tends to hold the foliage at the very top of the tree, cast much less shade than a broadleaf tree with low spreading branches. Ambient light makes a difference, too, so a garden with a single big tree is generally not as shady as a space with numerous trees of all sizes, shrubbery, and buildings all around. Finally, evergreens make shade year-round, while deciduous trees cast virtually no shade in early spring, providing a window of sunlight that an understory of edibles can take advantage of.
Mint – USDA Zones 3-10
Survives in full shade, thrives in part shade.
Salad Greens – Annuals/All Zones
Lettuces and most other edible greens, including kale, chard, collards, Asian greens, and mesclun mix, fair poorly in hot sunny conditions, but grow happily in as little as three hours of sun each day. They “bolt”—that is, send up flower stalks and prepare to set seed, leaving the edible greens bitter—once daytime temperatures settle into the upper 80s. That combination of traits makes them a perfect fit for planting beneath deciduous trees. They will have plenty of sun while the weather is still cool and by late spring will be glad for the shade that the trees provide, thus preventing them from bolting and prolonging the harvest.
Survives in part shade, thrives in part sun.
Currants and Gooseberries – USDA Zones 3-8
Thrives in part shade or part sun.