Use Shade in Your Garden to Grow More Vegetables.
Over time, you will come to know your garden as a close friend. Where the high parts dry out, the low parts are always waterlogged, which parts get early sun and which beds are loved by squirrels the most. Your garden will also change from year to year as trees grow, trellises are replaced, and buildings grow upward around you. There will always be shadier areas in your garden, and while most of the vegetables we think of in the summer—tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and pumpkins—live for sunlight, you can use darker areas to grow some plants that might get sunburned.
What does “shadow” really mean?
Before we begin, it’s helpful to understand what we mean when we say “full shadow” versus “full shadow.” Generally speaking, “full sun” is at least six hours of bright sunlight per day. Partial shade – three hours. or less sunlight and full shade is something less, but it’s important to understand the “dappled light” caveat. Imagine a tree with hanging branches. It mostly shades what’s underneath, although some sunlight does penetrate through the leaves, and as the sun moves, so do the sunspots. It’s dappled light.
Pay attention to your yard to see what kind of light you have.
I thought that someone had already invented a sensor to measure the amount of light an area of your garden receives, and although I haven’t tested it, there is at least one on the market. But an easier way to understand the light in your garden is to simply observe it. I have a map of my garden beds and pick a day in April or May and spend the day checking the garden every few hours. I check at 8am, noon, 4pm and 8pm and mark on the map which beds become light or shaded at each of these checkpoints. Although the sun will move lower or higher in the sky depending on the time of year, it still follows the same uneven path from east to west. You can use this to figure out where your shadier beds are. You can also create shade by using shade cloth or planting trees. I have one bed that was my shady spot for the last 15 years until the wind blew down the shade tree a few weeks ago, so I’ll be using shade cloth this summer. Gardens change and you just have to pay attention.
What grows well in partial shade
In the summer, we’re all so busy with plants that really love the sun, like tomatoes and corn, that you may not think about plants that thrive or don’t do well, like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. A little shade may make it possible to grow them in summer. In fact, think of all your spring and winter vegetables and they will make up your summer shade plants. Due to the heat, peas are usually ready by June, but shade may give them a little more time. Brussels sprouts are planted in early summer because they are time consuming, but they don’t like heat, so I’ve always planted them in partial shade. While not absolutely necessary (so you shouldn’t give them shade), other plants that can tolerate some shade are green onions, radishes, celery and carrots.
Some plants crave even less sun
More shade also means less heat, and some plants are very sensitive to escape. Growing spinach or bok choy in the summer is almost a futile endeavor unless you have a place with good shade most of the day. All your tender leafy greens, including tatsoi, mizuna, napa cabbage and even lettuce, will benefit from shade. If you have extreme heat, this won’t save your plants, but if not, it can help extend the season.
What to do with dappled light
Perhaps one of the best investments I made in my garden was to create an area dedicated to really delicate and sensitive plants, such as mushrooms , ramps and ferns. I had a narrow strip of land between my house and my neighbors, and the overhanging trees created the perfect dappled light. Nothing else was supposed to grow there, but the dappled light is exactly what the mushrooms need. You can grow mushroom logs or just put mushroom spawn on wood chips. Wine caps prove to be great for general cleaning, and shiitakes can be used as logs. You can also buy planting ramps on Etsy (look for ethical harvesters), and the ferns that chefs go crazy for every spring are just young fern stems, and ferns love shade. As mushroom logs deteriorate, they become nurse logs that will provide housing and food for those beneficial insects you want in your yard. Mushroom mycelium creates good soil and wonderful compost. If you can throw a water feature in there, you might attract a few frogs.
Learning to appreciate your garden and trying to work with what you have is one of the joys of growing. Your shady spots may seem like a problem, but if you change your mindset and start appreciating them as a gift, you can grow a much more complete ecosystem of edibles.