Kitchen Garden Forum

Any suggestions for plants in a really shady corner of the plot? I don't mind putting flowers there but if there are veg that will grow in shade I would prefer them. Can't get rid of the shade as it's next doors tin sheeting fence round his golden pheasants.

mint, some salad leaves, spinach, maybe a woodland strawberry, gooseberries?

Rhubarb?

I think it depends on how much shade. Just about all vegetables require sun. Even ones which tolerate shade need sun for a reasonable number of hours a day. When does this patch get sun? Some shade at midday can be useful for lettuce, chicory and spinach which rapidly run to seed in hot summer conditions.
I might be tempted to eat the pheasants

Alan

I also live in west cumbria and part of my veg plot is also shady. I have had some success with lettuce, carrots and broad beans, but leeks always end up thin and weedy and brassicas don't work at all.

Monika, can you grow rhubarb in shade? Ialways thought it had to have sun, but if that's not the case I've got 8 rhubarb crowns that can go right along the fence and that will solve that problem
Alan, the sun shines on that patch for about 3 or 4 hours first thing in the morning and that's it. The pheasants aren't plump enough - yet

If that's the case, I think you are stuck with rhubarb. Rhubarb will grow anywhere - remember it's grown in the dark in Yorkshire
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/t ... barb.shtml

And keep waiting for the pheasants to fatten up

Alan

Hi - I have a similar very shady area in my garden behind the shed, and I use it for growing shade-tolerant herbs e.g. lemon balm, parsley, chives and mint. They all seem to do quite well, but maybe they are not quite so pungent as they might be if grown in a sunnier spot.
Regards, Lyn

In my garden in my old house, the only space for my veg plot (which was tiny - I had an allotment too) was up against an east facing wall. The sun would be gone by midday, and yet I still had v. good crops of rocket, lettuce and french and borlotti beans. One year I even had a courgette plant that took nearly the entire plot up and I had loads of courgettes off it. I grew lots of cut and come again lettuce/salad stuff. Spring onions didn't do well, but coriander and basil seemed fine. It may be that the area was v. sheltered as well as shady.

Oh and parsley went bonkers too. Ended up having to give loads away.

I have a similar plot and carotts do well as did Pak Choi french beans and beetroot mine is only a small raised bed I put courgettes on the end but that gets afternoon sun from 3pm, my other bed loses the sun about 3 but most things grow there even tomatoes , tumbler in hanging baskets

I have a 6-ft wall facing due north, so the bed under it gets very little sun. Rhubarb does well there, especially under forcing pots, though I am intending to move some offshoots onto the opposite sunny side of the garden, as I reckon it should extend the rhubarb forcing season to last over a couple of months.
I also grow sorrel, which does well; Jerusalem artichokes; loganberries on the wall which give a huge crop, as they don't like it hot and sunny, I find; mint is grown there, but in a pot, as I am STILL suffering from a misguided impulse to plant it direct in the beds 4 years ago - it is still everywhere and very diff to dig out. Gooseberries actually gave a really good crop there, too.
Alison.

does anyone know if white or blackcurrants would work ok in a shady area?

I would have thought it was worth trying them. Our red and white currants have not enjoyed it too hot and dry, and the blackcurrants have been in a really shady spot and produced nice juicy crops.
Alison.