Kitchen Garden Forum

Can I ask your advice on possible options for growing veg in a garden that is quite shaded down one side?

The picture below was taken on a sunny day around 4pm in early December. As you'll see from, much of the garden is in shade although the sun was getting pretty low by that time in the afternoon. However there is a standard wooden fence down the right hand side (and a church the other side of that).

The picture is taken facing East, so in the Spring and Summer, the garden gets a fair amount of sun through mid-morning to mid afternoon.

My available spots for planting veg are:
1) Down a border around a metre deep on the LH side
2) A smaller border on the RH side next to the fence
- (behind the jeans in this pic!)
3) In the space around a collapsing greenhouse, from the birdbath down
- This is around 4m x 3m but again near the fence.

Can you suggest some suitable veg that would be suitable for the limited space and less than full sun?

I'm going to put some garlic in the sunnier LH border now, which will occupy much of that till early Sunner. Any ideas for the bigger area to the RH side would be appreciated.



In case you wondered, I have had limited success with tomatoes & peppers in the greenhouse of the last few years. Because it is rotting in several places and would need substantial repairs, I've decide to switch this area over to open veg garden (assuming it could be made productive).

One thing that did grow well in the RH border this year was Land Cress, so it's obviously suitable for some stuff.

with a limited area dont grow anything that you can easily buy, id be tempted to forget any veg you can easily buy and stick in black currants, gooseberries, rasberries, a tayberry as they are either immpossibe to buy or very expensive. then if there is any space left think about veg that are better very fresh , climbing beans, lettuce.
I would also try to resurect the greenhouse, even if its a home made waterpipe and plastic affair, you cant beat home ripened tomatoes and strawberries at any price.

Hello Colin
At 4 in the afternoon in December I don't think that many of us can expect much light! Even at midday the sun is very low.
I think I would look to developing the border on the left against the stone wall. Walls are good reservoirs of heat and will reflect some light to the border. Yours seems to at least get the afternoon sun. What about widening the border and having several 4 ft raised beds at right angles to the wall.
I agree with growing tall stuff such as raspberries and beans (climbing frech bean 'Cobra' would be my choice) say on the wall side but currants and gooseberries probably not as each bush would need about 4 ft square of space.
A lot depends on what veg you enjoy most but for my money I would try a few new potatoes ('Maris Bard' very reliable with short foliage), carrots and beetroot as you can get a lot in a small space, cut and come again lettuce, chard as with careful sowing timing you can have this most of the year and summer cabbages such as 'Hispi' or 'Pyramid' are quick and compact. To make use of the ground over winter try spring cabbage and kale. I sow dwarf kale quite late and plant up closely then cut the whole plant rather picking leaves.

Hope this helps.

John

O yes! - get that greenhouse fixed and you can have toms and peppers.

Thanks Richard & John for your suggestions.

These ideas seem fine for the sunnier border on the left. Does anyone have ideas for the more shaded area to the Right?

Some comments on the other suggestions:
- This is a shared garden and the thing on the left at the end is a pond (raised above ground). I don't think I'll get permission from the owner to extend the border on the left by much at all.

- I've used the greenhouse off & on for the past 5 years. Success with Tomatoes & peppers has been fair but ultimately average. I think this is down to my skills rather than the sun in there because up on the staging they get enough light.

- I understand Richard's comments about limited space being less useful for veg. Trouble is I'm not that fussed about soft fruit and with all birds around, it would need to be well netted in the harvesting season.

old forum reply from : jane E - 15 Dec 2008 08:43 pm

What about developing the area in front of the greenhouse into a paved area with pots and seating. The pots could be mixed veg and flower. Also hanging baskets. You could do potatoes in pots in the greehouse - earlies - sow February - harvest May before tomatoes are really growing.

Question - I went onto your weblink and saw the picture of the beans labelled unknown. I also have these - sown year after year from saved seed, originally from a friend. You haven't found out what they are yet, have you?

KGAdmin wrote:old forum reply from : jane E - 15 Dec 2008 08:43 pm

I went onto your weblink and saw the picture of the beans labelled unknown. I also have these - sown year after year from saved seed, originally from a friend. You haven't found out what they are yet, have you?

If you mean these:


They were sold as "French Beans" but I think they could be Borlottis. The ones in the shot above weren't fully ripe - later ones went the distinctive Red and white of Borlottis. If I'm wrong, Alan Refail is bound to know.

Those are the ones.

Alan Refail is bound to know

He does and is happy to give you this link to an old an hopefully infomative thread

I followed the link and found it interesting. I now thik that my beans are borlotti but not the same sort. They are a climber and they go dark as they mature rather than lighter. The beans are purple and black splotches.

I've not used beans for drying and am interested in your method of freezing them instead of just storing them dry.

Does this save time on having to soak them before cooking?