Shady Garden

PandorasJar

Hey,

I've decided to start growing a few more bits, as having relocated from countryside to town, I've gone from a few acres of land to pretty much nothing

We're living in a maisonette where I believe the council owns the outside of the house (we're privately owned).
Rather than going through the rigmarole of asking for permission, which will undoubtedly be denied, I'm going to plant up in removable containers instead. The problem comes in the form that it is pretty much permanently in the shade and will have to be containers.

I've found several herbs which will do fine, and have a couple of pots worth of partial shade areas. I've found so much conflicting advice on what works! So my main thing is to know whether carrots, onions etc will work in deep pots or tubs in partial shade?

Gosh I'm good at rambling towards anything but the point

P

annie123

PandorasJar wrote: »

I've found so much conflicting advice on what works!

Thats because each shady garden is different;)

I have grown in my north facing front garden, (which gets a little sun for an hour or so on a summers morning only, but otherwise in the shade of buildings and next doors hedge after 3pm)
redcurrents, black currents (can be got from poundland, aldi etc so not a big gamble) and dwarf apple trees all in pots with good crop, lettuce....would bolt in full sun in the summer anyway, main crop carrots, not earlies, spuds in brightly painted tyres, not the biggest crop but was still worth it, spinach did very well, and still does:D
As a rule root things should work.
Remember its not just shady it's a bit cooler too.

hth

Monkeysee_monkeydo

If you read the books, onions and carrots grow well in full sun. It's well worth experimenting you might not get the same yield, but what are your other options?

I just did a quick search on the plants for a future website, for alternatives
http://www.pfaf.org/database/search_prop.php?SHADE=F

Looks like you'd be alright with wild garlic which is actually really nice.
The rest are even less well heard of, have a look though the sites really good for choosing edible plants in difficult places.

PandorasJar

I think I'm going to have to stick with the herbs, it seems they're the ones that work!
I might trial some potatoes as we did them shaded at my last place. I want to do onions, but again loads of people say they work fine, then another lot say they need full sun! So I can put them in the bit that gets a tiny bit of sun!

I guess as my OH said last night, herbs are the expensive ones anyway and we go through tonnes, so it'll help

I might just sneak a load of pots around the side of the building too and hope no-one notices as that's full sun. I guess worst is that I lose a few pots if it annoys someone.

He's against my plants inside idea... which is a pity as I've bought them anyway, whoops! So we'll see what the kitten decides to let live

Thanks for the replies!

P

cooking-mama

ive been thinking of trying to "grow my own" too,and like the OP we have a largely shaded garden..decent size,but is ruled by the kids and dog at the moment...so I was thinking of experementing with some big tubs,
..carrots/potatoes,ive also heard that ?tomatoes can be grown in hanging baskets...Im on holiday from work next week,can anyone advise what would be suitable for planting in tubs at this time of year(or is it worth bothering at all with this frost?)Oh and what kind of tubs are suitable?how deep do they have to be..would old square plastic toy/storage boxes be deep eough for anything,there about 6inch high?