IS IT WORTH STARTING A VEG PATCH IN SHADE?

Hello, I'm brand new here, I finally got myself a house and a garden a couple of years ago and found that I absolutely love being outside in the garden. I've been bumbling around in it ever since generally making mistakes and I think I'm about to make another! My garden faces west/south/west and so the left hand side of my garden which only goes back about 10 metres is mostly in shade. I've been pondering whether or not to build some raised beds for veg for a while and have decided to go for it and marked out where I want to put them on the left side which is mostly in shade because I want to use the right hand side for my roses and other flowers etc. Am I wasting my time? Do I need to just sacrifice an area which is sun drenched to grow my veg in?

Thanks for any advice, I'm a very keen novice!

 

Hi, and welcome to the Forum

If it was me......I would build the raised bed.
But for shade loving plants. Ferns, Hostas etc

Just my 2p

 

NO.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

Does it get any sun in the morning or evening? My plot is shaded out by a huge Ash tree for the main part of the day, but that doesn't really affect the veg (apart from sweetcorn) because being C3 plants the stomata close on the leaves between about 10am to 2pm, so they can't absorb C02 and therefore can't photosynthesis in that time anyway

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks, I've got just that already nearer the house, might create another though.

 

Hello, Unfortunately not, the morning sun is shaded out by an oil tank(!) and some neighbours conifers take care of the evening rays. The other side of the garden is fine though. It's about 30 metres wide but only 10 metres long. thanks

 

Hello @Adams6. Most people on GC are really helpful.
I am no expert on veg growing but have grown the likes of Leeks in a pretty shadded bed. They were not as good and much later than other Leeks planted at the same time in full sun but they were definitely worth growing there. I also "grew" some Broad Beans and Peas in the same spot.......dreadful!

 

That's a bummer. Try a few things in pots before you go to the trouble of raised beds, strawberries and raspberries were bred from woodland plants, so should do ok in the shade

 

I didn't know these berries were bred as woodland plants @Zigs . Where I used to live was where the majority of the soft fruit for jam making was grown for Scotts. The fruit was mainly grown in full sun on sloping hills but perhaps because it's not as hot in Scotland as in England? All I do know is come August time the berry bug was lethal. Every year without fail we would all get bitten quite badly. Don't even know what the wretched things look like but oh boy do their bites itch. Always around the pant, sock or in female cases the bra line. By posting this no doubt @ARMANDII will be ferriting about to find a suitable caption!

 

Yep, their broad leaves help catch the sunlight thru the canopy, and i'm guessing that as they got less danger of drying out, the stomata can stay open longer so they can produce food.

Sounds like harvest mites Bit me ragged last year while i was living in a field

 

What I am talking about isTrombiculidae .....found this out on the net. The common name is berry bug....why is my colour of typing funny? Oh god these computers drive bonkers.
Anyway I was always told that it was best to scratch the tops off the bites as it makes them less itchy and heal faster but whether this is old wives tale or not don't know. Off to find out how I can stop my laptop typing so BLACK!

 

Because it is typing in bold. At some point you pressed the Ctrl key at the same time as the B key. If you do the same again (Hold down Ctrl and B keys at the same time) it will stop typing in bold

 

That's the one

Or you copied and pasted the word and it's now carrying on with the same font.

 

to GC @Adams6 lovely to have you join us.

You could try having a friendly chat with your neighbours about the conifers - especially because you have used the plural because that means that they should keep them trimmed to less than 2m high (high hedges act).

So, if there is no sunlight reaching that spot at all, is the spot open to the sky? There should be enough light above (even though it isn't sunlight) so you could grow some salad leaves, possibly some mint, chives, even blackberries would grow but would be smaller than if in sunlight. Spinach grows in shade and even beans should put on a reasonable show too.