A friend only has a partial shade area for vegetable gardening (in Houston).
I'd never had this problem. Can anyone help with suggestions?
Suggestions for Vegetables in Part Shade?
part shade is easy, even benificial.. winter items have a longer season. you have a different zone, but my broccoli, cabbage, and root/soup crops love summer there..
how long is the sun there? 6-8 hours?
i treat mine like a zone or two colder. My experience is with 6-8 hours of sun, temps in the shade rarely over ninety. all my soup roots, carrots, broccoli, cabbage grow there... they take an extra month however.. in the hottest part of the year beans do well.
some veggies respond to heat as much as light.. i think cukes and peppers may work, but they are a try it item, i am not sure how accurate the statement is. I am a 'try it' gardener as in i diddn't know sweet potatoes and vidalias were hard to grow up here until I harvested them...
Actually, I believe it's under an oak tree. So, perhaps dappled would describe it better.
Dappled shade will be a blessing in Houston. My longest surviving tomatoes last year got a couple hours mid-day relief under the edge of a pecan tree. Cukes definitely would appreciate it. I think jj is right about part sun extending the cool weather crop season. I'd try anything I wanted to grow. The full sun flowers also last longer in dappled sun.
The part to be concerned about is the tree roots hogging the water and nutrients. It might take more of both for satisfactory crops.
We have asparagus that thrives in the shade next to the house on the north side.
SilkKnoll,
My yard has more shade than I would like - especially in the afternoon. I am zone 8 - and I plant tomatoes, peppers, lettuce (which really appreciates afternoon shade in this hot place), beans (pole and bush) , peas, cucumbers, potatoes, eggplant, okra, onions, and squash. Depending when the heaviest shade is - these do well in my yard. I probably do not get the yields some people get but I get enough to keep me busy. Another idea is to use a pot on wheels that you can move into the sunshine if you need to. My sun is in the morning with dappled areas from then on - although some areas get bright sun in the afternoon. That depends on how high the sun is and how high my trees are. I am thinking of planting a few things in my front yard this year to give them more sunshine (especially squash). I hope this helps. M
Tarheel does your asparagus get any sun at all? The front of my house faces almost perfectly north with a 28" roof soffit. That means that strip is in deep shade for most of Sept.-Apri and brighter shade the rest of the time. I've never found anything that really enjoys the spot but I'd be deliriously happy if I could grow asparagus there.
No sun at all, twiggybuds. There are three asp. plants in that particular bed and as far as I can tell they produce as well as the other plants that are in sun.
Frank
Thanks!!! I'm going to do it. That would just be so awesome. I always skipped the threads on asparagus thinking I didn't have a suitable place for it. Now I'm going to read up on it so I can figure out which one would be best.
What else grows on your north side?
Anyone know the best time of year to plant asparagus? Or the best variety/ies for the deep south?
Twiggy, do the asparagus, mine get 6 hours sun- if that. for the peak of summer only they get no sun until it creeps around the house in may . the ferns are a nice touch, they are extermely heavy feeders like an iris.... manure, manure, manure..
(try purple and jesey giant, but beware they will take 2-3 seasons to produce pencil thick fruit, but the color mix of the fern is stunning )
silk, i agree with sky, in that same spot, in front of the nearly sunless asperagus is my okra... not as bountiful as our southern or sunnry friends, but more than enough for me with 8 plants providing 2-3 stews and 2-3 gumbos every year.. more than enough.. plant anything and it will probably grow.. you are in the climate I envy ( I have turnups under the okra - the shade keeps them cool, and they keep in the ground until the nights get below 25 - plant july and havestind through december up here) You can grow nearly anything year round in zone 8-9 with a little tlc.. as opposed to any other zone that needs more than a little tlc for year round...
(all apologies for spelling errors)
-joe-