Carrots, turnips, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes and radishes; lettuces, spinach, cabbage, mustard greens, kale, and collards.
Peas and beans can also do well, although they won’t produce as big a crop as the same plants in full sun. Cauliflower and broccoli make the list; in fact, some professional growers deliberately plant cauliflower in afternoon shade to protect the light-sensitive curds. Pretty much all of the herbs do well with limited sun, as do the perennial vegetables asparagus and rhubarb.
Lettuce and spinach are said to get by with the least sun, a measly four to six hours a day. The others mentioned above do better with six hours. GardensAlive.com
Partial or Half Shade: This very variable and confusing term is often defined as about half a day of direct sun. Gardeners in areas with 5-6 hours of afternoon sun may be able to grow most vegetables and herbs. However, those with only 3-4 hours of morning sun will have better success with true shade-lovers, and should choose other types of plants as the main focus of their gardens.
Dappled Shade, or Light Shade: The sunlight in these areas is filtered through trees with an open habit and small leaves, rather than a dense leaf cover. Sun falls on your garden, but it doesn’t hit specific sections for as long as it would without the trees. Again, the longer and brighter the sun shines in a particular area, the more flexibility you have in your choice of edibles and shade-tolerant annuals for that spot.
Open Shade: An example of this would be the North side of a building which gets no direct sun throughout the entire day, but is not otherwise covered by trees or structures. In general, this is too much shade for good production of most vegetables.
Full Shade, or Dense Shade: In this situation the garden doesn’t receive direct sun and is also shaded by trees or structures, resulting in little ambient light. The plants in this article are unlikely to thrive in such a location.
Vegetables and Herbs for Half Shade and Dappled Shade
Of all the vegetables, leafy crops are most tolerant of partial and dappled shade. In hot areas, it’s actually preferable to grow them where they don’t receive full sun all day, since they’ll hold longer before they bolt and taste bitter. A garden grown in a partial or half shaded plot can contain lettuceof all kinds, chard, scallions, kale, radishes, Asian stir-fry greens, spinach, and leeks. Herbs include arugula, basil, parsley, dill, chervil, cilantro, chives, garlic chives, watercress, and alpine strawberries.
If you are unsure whether you have enough sunlight for these crops to grow well, start small and experiment. If you have too much shade, leaves will be spindly, soft and weak. They’ll have a mild, bland flavor and lack crispness.
Flowers for Half Shade and Dappled Shade
A partially shaded location is ideal for nasturtiums, since if they receive too much intense sunlight, their leaves fry and become unsightly. They come in some hot, tropical color mixes such as ” Amazon Jewel”, “Alaska”, “Copper Sunset” and “Whirlybird”, as well as some cool pastels like butter-cream “Moonlight” and cream splashed with red “Vanilla Berry”.
A variety of cutting flowers, such as our ” Chantilly” snapdragons, “White Wonder” feverfew, “Marble Arch”salvia , and “Pride of Gibraltar” cerinthe can also tolerate about half a day of shade. For containers, I like ruffled“Victorian Posy” pansies.
Flowers for Open Shade
Many of the flowers that prefer shady locations have unusual, exotically-shaped flowers that give an enchanted, fairylike quality to a shady place. “Mrs. Scott Elliot” columbines, “Apricot Fairy Queen” foxgloves, and “Mulberry Rose” and “Persian Violet” Nigella come to mind. My other favorites include evening-scented “Alata” nicotiana and deep blue “Azure Bluebirds” forget-me-nots.
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