What will grow in a mostly shady area?

I have an area under trees that gets only late-afternoon sun in the spring and summer. Since this is a very hot summer area (usually 90s or above) can I be successful with lettuce or other green leafy stuff? We have an area we dug out to bury wire around a chicken coop, and since the area has been excavated I'd like to fill it with good grow mix and plant something we can eat. Most of our garden is too hot and sunny for leafy crops this time of year, so I thought, maybe...

What *will* grow in mostly shade besides weeds?

Any suggestions?

How deep is your shade? I have most of my veggie garden in light, dappled shade (under a mesquite), and the summer veggies like beans, peppers and tomatoes seem to appreciate the little bit of protection. I don't know if you'll be able to do lettuce there in the summer--to some extent, it's not just the sun but the air temps that cool-weather crops object to.

In 8b, your bet bet might be to grow your lettuces, broc, cauliflower, carrots, etc. in the winter. They're mostly pretty tolerant of the occasional frost, and much happier in the cool air.

Hi Jill!

Thank you for your response. The shade, while not deep, isn't dappled either. There is a grove of three ash trees that blocks the direct sunlight, but roses and wild blackberries do okay, so I guess the reflected sunlight is enough for some things.

I am sure my peppers and tomatoes would object to the space, though!

We are in an interesting area. 90-100 in the summer, but we'll be down in the low 50s or even high 40s in the evenings, all through the summer.

Any other ideas? =)

Thank you.

Out here, roses are full-sun tolerant, I don't know about blackberries because they don't like our alkaline soil. Might be worth a shot with a pepper or tomato plant sometime, just to see what you get. I've also done okra in my lightly-shady bed with reasonable success. I guess all I can say is, try it and see what you get!

Definitely sounds like a good place for winter veggies, though, since those ashes will drop their leaves and give you some good sun.

Your weather sounds absolutely heavenly... maybe I could come live in your veggie garden? :)

The problem with 90-100 is I think lettuce will bolt. Could try beans though.

One of my spaces is near some trees. I have a mulberry tree and some craptacular elm weeds that allow the space a tiny bit of sunlight from about 7am until 9am, then the elms filter everything from 9am until around 4pm. Compared to my other space that gets full sun from 7am until dusk the plants in the shady area are doing better although our altitude may have something to do with that. I have tomatoes, peppers, basil, beans, onions, chard, cucumbers, watermelon, and even corn growing in my "shady" area. The watermelon is the only one that doesn't seem to be doing much. The cucumbers were only planted 2 weeks ago so too early to call. The tomatoes and corn are about 5' tall and appear healthy (i.e. not "leggy") and the corn is starting to flower. I say plant something and see what happens...seeds are cheap.

We have 90-100 degree summers here and every lettuce I've tried bolts here by May at the latest, when temps start hovering around 80. Chard will grow all summer and doesn't get yucky. Dandelions too, and we don't even have to plant them. (Not a joke, you can eat dandelions....leaves and flowers)

I think there are herbs that do well in shade - some might get 'leggy' but they will live.

All the advise sounded good to me. I wonder if the cool nights would make a difference with the lettuce? In Louisiana lettuce bolts when the weather gets hot but our nights are in the high 80's. Like someone said, seed are cheap, I'd try a little lettuce. I've found that afternoon shade is good for about everything I plant. Need some morning sun, though.

You know it's kind of funny, but I live in Florida where it is now just about too hot to grow anything (my tomatoes and peppers are the only things that are not almost dead, and they are wilty half the time). But anyway, back to the funny part, I planted some lettuce seeds that I bought at Lowes, just a variety pack of leaf lettuce, pretty sure they wouldn't grown and they are still doing really well. No bolting at all. Sigh... sometimes I just do not understand plants..... Anyway. I guess you never really know until you try.

I've started a garden alongside the fence which doesn't receive much sun, and I shall be planting strawberries (they are a forest floor plant after all) and monstera deliciosa (loves full shade, takes ages to fruit but well worth the wait). I've also had great success with some lettuce varieties with only 3-4 hours of sun per day.

Good luck with the strawberrys. Pulled the last of mine up yesterday and threw them away. Had them for about 10 years. Never got a berry. Slugs got them all. Can keep slugs out of everything else but not the strawberries.

Slugs aren't a major problem here, as there's been an extended drought for the best part of a decade. All outdoor water use is banned so I've been blending rainwater and greywater to keep things alive, the strawberries in the other patch are appreciating the extra phosphorous in the greywater. Have you tried beer traps for the slugs?

Yes. I found that is the best way to get rid of slugs. Use to run a regular trap line in my wife's flowers. Finally quit catching any. In the strawberry, they just ignored the beer and went straight for the berries.

Can't say as I blame 'em... :)