Edible plants that grow in shade

gazza975526570

Just trying to start growing my own veg

I have a large area of the garden always in shade. Does any veg grow in the shade or do they all need sun?

Cheers

Kay_Peel

Rhubarb is a safe bet. So are herbs like chives, mint (but put it in a pot or it will run rampant) and parsley. Lettuces get frazzled in the sun and actually prefers shade - Little Gem or any of the 'soft' leaved ones. The best thing is to give them a really good start in pots before they go to their shady spot, I think.

A simple way of looking at it is to look up which vegetables can be grown as 'winter veg', with short daylight hours and when the sun is weak. Those are the ones that will tolerate shade.

Kay

MKwife

lily of the valley
aucuba japanonica
snowdrops
hellebores
foxgloves
bleeding heart
aquilegias

these all grow in shade

Mr_Warren_2

.....Yes but I would not eat any of them !!!!
I have grown cabbages, broccolli, lettuces, carrots, potatoes and onions in shade. All grew very well.

alanobrien

Parsnips do ok in the shade as well.

greyteam1959

I would think anything except things that need sun to ripen them ie tomatoes / chillis / peppers / runner beans etc
Will someone tell MKwife those are flowers not vegetables ( and most are poisonous!! ) or shall I ???

Just had a thought......maybe she was being funny !!!!!!

MKwife

Mr_Warren wrote: »

.....Yes but I would not eat any of them !!!!

Whoops!! Sorry I was just thinking flowers....

jap200

I have just planted spinach and noticed that it says on the packet that it likes partial shade, so maybe worth a go too.

Raspberries also do well in the shade in my garden.

You could also try what I call "garlic leaves" - i.e. ransoms wood garlic (Allium ursinum). This is a wild flower/herb with broad shiny green edible leaves with a mild garlic flavour. It is found in woodlands, so likes quite dense shade. I have it growing under trees in my garden and snip up leaves to add to salads as well as stir into hot rice, cous cous etc, for a mild garlic flavour and nice green colour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsons

If you don't know of anyone who could dig a bit up for you from their garden (obviously it is illegal to take it from the wild), then you can buy seeds for £1.52 from Chiltern seeds:

http://www.edirectory.co.uk/chilternseeds/pages/moreinfo.asp?pe=DBFAJCAIQ_+allium+ursinum&cid=211

SMG_4

We are growing veg for the first time this year and we have a huge oak tree that casts shade over most of our garden. I know that in general the more sun the better for a lot of veg, but we thought we'd try anyway.

We put in some overwintering onions and garlic towards the end of last year and both are looking good so far (though not yet ready to harvest).

We sowed some spinach in Feb and picked our first leaves last week - that was very exciting - although we have to watch out for birds pooing on the leaves from the tree above!! :rolleyes:

The first of the potatoes went in about three or four weeks ago and they also seem to be doing well.

Having said all this, the tree "woke up" a couple of weeks ago and there's now a fairly dense canopy over our veg plot. We're going to persevere and keep our fingers crossed for the peas, carrots, lettuce and rocket that we've also put in. We don't have ideal conditions for growing veg but I'd be happy with a small crop

gavvallance

I have 2 veg beds with the usual year round tasty veg growing, but there is a patch at the end, roughly 3x3 foot, that gets very little direct sunshine, maybe 1 hour at the end of the day.
Any suggestions for a plant to grow there?
My only thought had been rhubarb, which I am not advers to, but the family can get bored of rhubarb crumble :rotfl: