Vegetables for Shade

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In a perfect world, we'd all have a perfect place for our vegetable gardens with deep, rich soil, protection from strong winds, and at least 8 to 10 hours of sunlight a day. I don't know about you, but that certainly doesn't describe my own garden, and each year, nearby trees cast more and more shade over my many vegetable beds. However, with a bit of planning and proper crop selection, I learned that there are plenty of vegetables for shade and that a low-light site can produce as abundantly as full sun.

How much shade?

Before you start planting seeds, take a good look at your location and figure out how much sun you can realistically expect. There are varying degrees of shade, with deeper ones having fewer options for food crops.

A dim shadow. Usually located under the filtered shade of tall, deciduous trees, the dappled shade provides 3 to 5 hours of sunlight daily.

- Partial shade. Also known as 'half shade', a garden in partial shade receives 2 to 3 hours of sunlight per day.

- Full shade. As its name suggests, full shade means no direct sunlight, making vegetable gardening difficult, if not impossible. In such a deep shade, you'll want to stick with perennial edibles like rhubarb or mint. In general, I advise planting mint not directly in the soil, but in pots in full shade, as it behaves better.

Rules of shade vegetable garden:

Now that you've considered what kind of shade your deck will receive, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Rule #1 - Think Green! Some of my favorite vegetables for shade are salad and cooking greens that grow incredibly well with only 2 to 4 hours of sunlight per day.

Rule #2 - No Fruit! Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash need lots of sunlight to ripen their fruit. In low light, these plants will struggle and yields will decrease significantly, if at all.

Rule #3 – Pay extra attention to soil health to ensure your vegetables aren't struggling for nutrients and sunlight. Add plenty of compost or aged compost, as well as some organic fertilizer, before planting.

Best vegetables for shade:

1) Spinach – 2 to 3 hours of light

Lettuce is very shade tolerant, but for best results, stick with looseleaf varieties like 'Red Salad Bowl' and 'Simpson's Elite'. Avoid greens, which take longer to mature and result in smaller heads.

2) Asian greens (bok choy, mizuna, mustard, tatsoi, komatsuna) – 2 to 3 hours of light

Offering a range of leaf shapes, textures, colors, and flavors (mild to spicy), even the pickiest of eaters will find a favorite Asian green. These thrive in my shady vegetable beds and continue to grow new foliage all summer long.

3) Beets - 3 to 4 hours of light

Beets produce a generous harvest of leafy greens when grown in partial shade, but the roots are smaller. That's okay with me because I prefer sweeter-tasting baby beets to mature roots.

4) Bush beans - 4 to 5 hours of light

Since beans are a fruiting crop, I am breaking one of my own rules, but experience has shown me that bush beans can produce a good crop in low light. Compared to beans grown in full sun, the harvest will be reduced, but for bean lovers (like me!), a moderate harvest is better than none.

5) Lettuce - 2 to 3 hours of light

As a cool-season vegetable, spinach changes quickly as summer turns to spring. However, I have found that by planting spinach in my shaded vegetable beds, I can harvest tender spinach all summer long.

Don't forget the flavors! Some herbs also grow well in partial shade - cilantro, parsley, lemon balm, and mint (bonus tip - plant mint in a container as it's a garden thug!)