Grow Fruit and Vegetables...in the Shade!

A shady spot may not be the best place to grow fruits and vegetables, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done! Choose your crops carefully and even shady gardens can be pleasingly productive.

By using a few simple techniques you can encourage naturally shade-tolerant fruits and vegetables to produce a better harvest.

In this short video, we explain which crops grow well in the shade and how to make the most of the light that is available to get the most from your garden.

If you love growing your own food, why not take a look at our online Garden Planner which is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
and many more...

[saraloggins]

Lemon balm grows beautifully in the shade! Mine gets about 3 hours of sun in the evening only and it is beautiful.

[guineaporkum]

Your videos are so helpful! I'm 13 and have a small patch of my parent's garden...In the shade! This video is very factual and was so helpful in the process of solving my problem.

[airkaty_]

Thank you!! Growing our own food is becoming even more important now!

[muddywaters]

i have a long bed that is shaded by a 6ft fence and the neighbor's overhanging apple trees. I have had great success growing corn, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, strawberries, raspberries and zucchinis that fruited prolifically. My potatoes grew great although seemed to have lower yields. The failures were cucumbers that stayed stunted before dieing and spaghetti squash which stayed stunted till the end of summer when it suddenly took of but the frost took it out before any squash formed. I also have a bed that is in shade till late afternoon that produced great snow peas and beans, last year i planted capsicum (bell peppers) that remained small yet started producing lots of small peppers at the end of summer. and this year (end of spring here now) i planted 2 zucchinis which are huge and fruiting, in the front of the bed i have tented brussel sprouts in curtains to avoided cabbage loopers and they are looking very healthy.

[Laura_B__]

I have a raised bed against the north side of my house which is almost always in the shade. For several years in a row, I have successfully grown a variety of greens and lettuces there. The kale, collards, romaine lettuce, and swiss chard especially get huge there and by the end of the summer I have to resort to feeding the extra greenery to my chickens. And this bed only gets the weak early morning light and the weak evening sunlight. So I totally agree that greens and lettuce are perfect for growing in the shade. :)

[DruidJo]

I have found that covering pvc pipes with copper foil works much better than beer traps. The foil tip is a great one. I use heavy foil glued to the fronts of cinder blocks next to my house to grow leafy and root vegies there. In addition to the foil on the cinder block foundation I also have it between the rows. I only get about 4 to 6 hours of daylight, depending on the month, next to the house.

[meghodges]

We had a huge success with a garden that gets morning sun but starts to shade over after lunchtime. Gorgeous lettuces (butter and a lovely bitter red looseleaf) grew larger than I'd ever seen and didn't start to bolt until late June - and we live in a very hot climate. Chioggia beets did very well, as did carrots, baby lettuces, and new blackberry and strawberry plants that shipped live and needed to harden off a bit. Baby pak choy was doing well but we lost to ravenous ants. Will try them again now that we have our hungry friends under control as they can be harvested from seed in about 21 days!

[JFrenchRennier]

Thanks, very helpful.
I used your tips & am now growing a leaf lettuce & a large leaf heat hardy spinach in planter boxes made from plastic toddlers wading pools suitably drained with bored holes in total shade but with a white backdrop. The sunshine ends at the edge of the pools.
This was especially beneficial growing both in 90 degree plus weather in Louisiana.

[bulkmail]

The only place I have had success planting lettuce from seed has been in our shady garden. Endive does great too and recently have had some Nasturshums pop up too.

[livingtherufflife]

Thank you this is very helpful especially since most of our little courtyard barely get sun.

[ddmejia]

What are those pretty flowers in front

[MsPeteygirl]

I live in North East Texas lots of trees and lots of heat, I find that many of my herbs and mints really do well in partial shade and most of the leafy vegetables do pretty well in shade as well . I do mostly container gardening because of bad knees I plant cucumbers in pots I put tomato cage down in the soil in the pot plant cucumbers at the supports in the ground and grow radishes in the middle works great!

[markfrost]

I gave you a thumbs up to great tips on how to grow in shade areas

[mdcpool]

I now know where to put my blackberry bush. Thank you!

[patricianunez]

I really needed to hear this. Thank you so much!

[katarzynamielnik]

Great info and advice as always, thank you

[Darkfalz]

The only things I've been able to grow in real heavy shade is sorrel. Going to try miner's lettuce too.

[GardenerEarthGuy]

water less in shade is another tip as well. in hot climates shade is your friend to continue with a summer greens patch, where the winter garden worked the summer heat may be too much. another tip is to train, not prune fruit trees and vines.

[bonniehoke-scedrov]

Thank you so much for this informative video! I got so much out of it.

[HolisticVeganChannel]

Well that's good news! I just moved to a new home with a garden that's partially shaded by neighbouring trees and fences and I was worried about what would grow! First step...To start my compost heap!