Growing your own vegetables is a satisfying and rewarding task. Especially today with store bought produce being littered with chemicals to get on store shelves as fast as possible to make a profit. When talking about growing your own vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, and squash are probably some that immediately come to mind. While these are some delicious vegetables, they require long exposure sun light as do most vegetables. Don’t be discouraged if your garden does not get full sun as there are some vegetables that can be grown in partial shade.
To start your shade veggie garden you might want to try using easy crops such as lettuce, arugula, endive, spinach, kale and other leafy greens. They require little sun and minimal care. You can also experiment with veggies from the onion family such as green onions, chives and green garlic. Broccoli and cauliflower are other veggies you can grow, but are a little tricky to work with as they may flower prematurely.
Carrots, onions and potatoes which are root, bulb and tuber crops can grow in some shade, but will have delayed or reduced harvests with the latter being more common. On the upside you are left with petite veggies! Who is to say you can’t use baby carrots and onions, just look how much you pay for those ingredients at gourmet restaurants.
Beans and peas are two seasonal crops that fare well in their bush and dwarf varieties when grown in partial shade. Peas are a cool season crop while beans are a summer crop. That being said you can harvest veggies grown in shade from spring through fall, so don’t let shade in your garden devoid you from growing your own veggies!
There are also some fruit that prosper in shady environments: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries in their native environment grow as forest under-story plants where light shade is always present.
Planting vegetables and fruits in the shade will require some experimenting to figure out how much watering and fertilizing you need, so if you do not succeed your first time, try and try again, as long as you stick with it you are bound to succeed!