7 Edible Crops Perfect for Growing in Shady Corners 

I was going to post a different video but it needed a lot more work than I had time spare this week so I hope you find this super helpful and I look forward to seeing you all again next Friday😊

Mint took over my raised bed, so now I only plant it in containers.

I’ve grown sweet potatoes, lettuce, chard, potatoes, blackberries, herbs and sun chokes on the shady side of my house.

I really appreciate that you are educating people on the topic of growing food crops in the shaded areas of the garden. The property that I grow on is small and right against a forest. The house shades out the main area for my garden so I've learned a lot of tricks to gardening in the shade. I've also learned to bloom where I'm planted. Here are some notes that I've gathered from watching a lot of you tubes and experience. Enjoy..... Growing food in the Shade There are areas around the house, porch, under trees and on decks that only get 2 to 4 hours of light and can still produce a fair amount of food. If you understand how to adjust the variables and expectations you can grow very successfully in these micro-climates. Soil needs in the shade: The evaporation of moisture is minimal so the variable you have to address is soil that is too moist and creates disease or root rot. If you add a little sand and/or perlite to the soil when digging in your transplants to optimize drainage and hill up any plant that is susceptible to root rot such as strawberries then you will have great success with very little effort. Water needs in the shade: Don’t water as often as your other plants that get more sun. If you don’t know if it’s time to water then sink your finger 3 inches into the soil near the plant to detect if there is moisture. If it is dry then water. Otherwise the plants will tell you if they aren’t getting enough water. Use drip or soaker methods to water because the leaves will stay moist for long periods of time and become susceptible to disease. Light needs in the shade: Try to plant the determinate tomatoes, potatoes and zucchini in the area that gets the most light in the shade garden and if there is an option try for placement in the afternoon sun. Plant your leafy greens in the darkest areas and give every plant that tends to bolt a spot in the morning sun and dense afternoon shade to keep them cool and bolt free for longer. Some gardeners paint walls white to reflect more sun. Others use mirrors in the garden. Some even create beautiful pools of water next to the shade garden to reflect light to the plants. Although these steps are helpful they’re not necessary in most cases. Temperature micro-climate: Typically you’ll have multiple micro-climates around your house and when you identify them it allows you to choose plants that will thrive or tolerate that space successfully. As I mentioned earlier shade creates a cooler, more consistently moist climate that allows leafy greens, brassicas and all other plants that bolt or get bitter due to heat, an ideal growing space for most of your growing season. Growing and spacing needs in shade gardens: It’s always best to start your seeds indoors to create the optimal growth for a couple of weeks before transplanting them in the shade garden. Harden them off and expect the growth to slow down as soon as they are planted in the shade. You may want to protect the seedlings with clear plastic cups for another 2 weeks because slugs love the shade and are more active in those areas. You want to give your seedlings a bit more space to soak up the sun. You don’t want to crowd them and further restrict photosynthesis. If you have a wall to train perennials they’ll benefit by being espelliared against the wall. That’s a fancy way of training them flat against the wall with spacing between branches making a fan shape is most common. Change of growth characteristics and harvest potential in the shade: Add 15 days to the original harvest date due to slower growth. For leafy greens such as cilantro, parsley, mint, spinach and basil the leaf structure becomes larger, thinner and more tender. The harvest is extended by at least a month if not longer. Brassicas have a larger leaf structure and are less bitter when grown in shade. Tomatoes, squash, potatoes and other heat loving plants will give a smaller harvest but worth the effort. Tips from the pros. Is soak seeds before planting, give them an optimal situation to germinate and when they’re growing strong harden them off and plant into the shaded area. If you’re not sure how much sun they might need, plant them in a container such as grow bags, pots or crates and move around the space until you find a good spot for that plant. This helps to learn that microclimate more quickly with less plant failure. Perennial fruit bearing bushes that are suited for shade are: Currants Grapes Raspberries Blackberries Strawberries Gooseberries Sour Cherry Paw Paw Tree Annual Veggies that thrive in shade are: Lettuce Spinach Kale Swiss Chard Broccoli Peas Radish Kohlrabi Arugula Sorrel Endive Celery Collards All forms of Brassicas Garlic Mustard Watercress Chervil? Annual Veggies that tolerate shade are: Green Onions Leeks Garlic Det. Tomato Egg Plant Artichoke Potatoes Squash (short season) Beets Bush Beans Jerusalem Artichoke Plantain Hyacinth bean Turnips Rutabagas Choy Shade Tolerant Tomato Varieties Black Cherry. Evans Purple Pear. Golden Sweet. Ildi (Yellow) Isis Candy Cherry. Juliet Hybrid (Red) Principe Borghese (Red) Vernissage Yellow. Herbs that Love (*) or Tolerate shade: *Basil *Mint *Cilantro *Parsley Anise Rosemary Sage Dill AND OF COURSE MUSHROOMS LOVE THE SHADE.

Ive been following you for the last year from Zimbabwe as we forge a new way of gardening, using all your techniques and suggestions. Some work this side, some not but this is a brilliantly done video to show hope in the shade. Now it is becoming more important than ever to be self sufficient here, and your videos are always a great starting point for us. Thank you!

You’re a treasure, Huw. Currently waiting for your two books in the mail! 💛🌞🌊

Thanks for the reminder Mr. Richards! So many veggies and fruits can grow or even grow better in shady areas, but somehow on the seed packs you'll always find "quite sunny to sunny", even with veggies as spinach and other leaves... Weird. Most berries, especially, are meant to grow in forests under the shadow of big trees, and they feel much better in the shade than in full sunlight :-) Love your video!

YES, thank you! So many sources out there, even when the name of the video is "what to grow in shade", they then end up saying, basically, don't bother trying to grow anything in less than 4 hours of sun. Like, some of us live in the city, and our yards (and neighbours' yards) have trees. So nice to see a much less pessimistic take on shade - thank you!

Thanks for the garden content as I wait for two to three feet of snow to melt away here in Alaska 😉

One great crop for shady areas is miners lettuce. Tastes great and is perennial in areas that don't get too hot in the summer. And also check out local native edibles. I've found a number in my area they taste great and grow well in the shade since they're forest plants.

Had a chuckle at 19C we are heading into winter and still getting 25-30c days lol unusually warm for us tho in Melbourne. I find with the exception of a few, most plants can do part shade at least, just they take longer to get to their proper size. I have two red currants, one under the fruit trees and one in full sun, been told that the full sun one would taste better, but I can't tell the bloody difference lol.

Your barrel in the shade is a great idea. At work yesterday it was 9 degrees C and there was still ice in the shade. Little things like the water and the compost that people don’t usually think about but you do. Thank you. I have the opposite problem in spots. We have street lights in the front and back of our property. The power company calls the back one a courtesy light. Anyway they cause problems in the garden with day sensitive plants. The upside is that the raspberry plants under the light produce fruit from leafing out till winter death. They aren’t very big but are abundant. Most of the other plants suffer. I know you don’t have this problem but thought you might be interested as a master gardener. Thank you for another great video

Eating broad bean shoots! How delightful! Never knew that!

I bought a potted herb garden that had thyme, sage, basil, and dill. I kept on my north-facing front porch and they did beautifully. The thyme and sage have over-wintered for 2 years.

These are brilliant ideas! Thanks, Huw

Thanks I have a tiny city garden and have some great new ideas now for the shady bits.

Brilliant video! Thank you, I have a lot of shade in my new garden and you’ve given me good ideas.

I am planning to use my north facing garden more this year. Thanks for these tips.

This is really helpful! Our raised beds are north facing but we've had a surprising amount of luck with a range of veggies!

This is brilliant and so helpful. Can’t wait to start my shadow area in my garden.

My neighbour has an oak tree right in the corner of his garden that blocks all of the sun out my garden from about 13:00 onwards. This video is much appreciated!

Perfect timing for this video! One of my raised beds get shade from about 3pm so I'll follow your advice. Cheers

That was a really thoughtful video especially if one is into food forests because the down side is that one runs out of sunny ground space. Thanks. The 'hungry gap' phrase still gets to me because it was highly promoted by the green revolution thinking and about eating a small amount of particular edible plants. There is no hungry gap if one has sunny house windows for sprouts and herbs, if one grows frost resistant plants like brassicas and onions, if one knows what new spring leaves can be eaten.... it's people in dark apartments that depend on supermarket supplies that can suffer hunger when they lose their employment and they are forced into lock down. It's people in refugee camps where they have no access to viable seeds and land is over crowded that can cause hunger gap situations. It's people forced to live on the streets that have a hunger gap. Change the 'hunger gap' term for... how to continue harvesting throughout all seasons... It's all about learning which spring weeds, flowers and tree leaves are edible while waiting for traditional crops to grow.

Wonderful, timely information. Thank you!!

Thank you so much for all that you do here with your content! I've learned and applied so many techniques!

Great topic to discuss,Huw. It puts so many folks off starting up a garden. Lovely examples used in this post. Thanks.

Huw, your videos are so informative and helpful. I have been binge watching your videos to help me this year. I have used the cardboard on seeds to start them off. I have had great success with this. Thank you so much and please keep going. :)

Thanks once again Huw for your worthy tips. My gardens are mostly in sunny locations with some shade...so these tips that you shared here today has verified the planting of some trees in some special spots in the garden. Trees add some enjoyable textures and interest that I really enjoy in a garden space. Thus the beginning of the food forest begins.

I love that you expanded your suggestions beyond just leafy greens :) and when you said to experiment with growing beans and different things in your garden in shady areas that makes so much sense. I love trying out different growing techniques and discovering unconventional shade lovers could be really fun.

I love your gardening videos. You are very articulate making it easy to understand. Your ideas are very helpful, many thanks!

Muchas gracias Huw. Que tengas un lindo día🙆

This was so helpful and very timely as we are just planning out our garden and one huge section is in a lot of shade from an oak and we are upping the game on food production as we have a much bigger garden than before. Looking forward to next weeks video 😊😊

Loads of good ideas, Thank you so much. I have a corner of my new mixed edible border that I'll be planting up for the first time this year. I'm so pleased that I've got plenty of options beyond ornamentals. 🙌💚

Genuinely nice lad and some really good advice 👍🏻

Thankyou so much for posting this. My whole plot is pretty shadey so this is exactly what I needed 😄😄 I've found woody herbs grow surprisingly well in the shade.

This gives me the encouragement to put some raised beds in shadier areas of my yard

I have also heard about using those shady areas as microclimates to relocate cooler weather veggies as the Temps rise for containers

Fantastic video Hew, I too have a lot of shady areas that I try to put to use and now I have a few new ideas, thank you for sharing 👩🏼‍🌾

Good stuff Huw. I've had great success with broad beans and over wintering onions + garlic in my shady beds.

Glad you put in storage options too! I have a very urban garden and limited space but have been surprised with how well some things grow in shade! Black eyed peas have grown everywhere in my garden so that’s another one 👍

Thank you! I was worried about two shady areas at both ends of my garden... now I'm not! 👏🏻🌱💗🇺🇸

I have a lot of shade to deal with in my yard, (I'm in Texas) and it was a pleasure to watch your video on planting "with" shade. Because of my shade I have been pushing the envelope on what I can grow and what will produce in my shade. I have found that my crops grown in shade will produce but tend to be about 1-2 weeks behind friends growing just in sun. I have grown all my leafy greens in my shade beds. They will be a little further behind than my sunny beds but still produce. Strawberries, broad beans, green beans, peppers, celery leaf and several of my herbs have all been grown in my shady beds. Thanks again and your channel continues to provide information and inspiration!.

having just build perimeter raised beds round my veggie garden, which runs from fullsun round to almost total shade, this video just came at the right time. thank you!!!!

Great points!! I live in the southeastern united states, I've been growing tons of things in the shade. My neighborhood is in a forest with tall trees, but i tried experimenting with different foods and I've had surprising success! Its always good to try things and see what works best for your situation.

This helps amazingly with unused portions. Thank you so much

Me, le french living in the north east where we have droughts and 42°c every summer : "well, shade is the only place where you can actually hope to grow anything from june to september" ... Me, very jealous of your rain falls and all this greeneeshness ;)

We live in a northern deciduous woodland with very tall trees and our entire area is partial to full shade. When we moved here, the yard was neglected and he fire pit was filled with rubbish. Because we never make campfires, we decided to make a vegetable garden. We had no idea what we were doing, having never gardened before, so when it came time to plant things like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers etc, I did not realize my lot was not ideal, so I just planted them. Everything grew, albeit much slower than normal. I had a lot of success with the small, yellow pear tomatoes. I am currently growing amazing roman lettuces there, and potatoes. What is interesting is that the plot is in full sun, southern exposure from November to May (which of course coincides with our frost period), and it is sloped and curved like an amphitheater, providing some shelter from the wind. Next year, I want to experiment planting some covered crops like tomatoes and cucumbers a few weeks before the last frost date, to see if giving an early boost of sunlight is going to promote earlier and greater yield.

Great video! Not much on this topic. Loved the ideas and practical ways to integrate shade lover plants 🪴 in the garden. Much appreciated 🙌

You always come with great tips Huw. Thanks again.

Great video! My most productive gooseberry is a self-seeded plant growing in virtually complete shade.

Perfect timing for me, Huw, and very helpful! Most of our garden is in full sun all day for most of the main growing season - but we have an area behind the shed that is completely shaded by noon in high summer - which is perfect for an early harvest of winter brassicas since our summers are very hot and dry. We grow wild garlic right next to the shed (basically an hour of morning sun and that's it...) but the rest of it will be a mix of all kinds of crops this year, just to see what does best where.

Thank you from across the pond Great Lakes area of Illinois our 3 day freeze is over can't wait to get my hands dirty.😊 you are so encouraging💌

Lovely update thank you for sharing Huw

The best video of all time. The best video, excellent idea and thank you for your commitment to truthful and simple information. The idea of moving plants such as chives is very good, it also helps to have everything more organized and thus get the most out of it. Thanks a lot !!!

thanks for the great tips.

Thank you - this is really helpful. I'm just setting up raised beds in a small garden and want to make the most of them.

what an awesome channel :) first gardening channel i truly enjoy and is helpful to me!

I look forward to watching your growth beyond No Dig!

Thank you soo much Huw! This is very helpful. I have recently bought your book Grow food for free. It is very inspiring and giving me such fantastic tips! I am reading it cover to cover. Keep doing what you are doing many of us really appreciate it. 🙏

Really helpful! I have a lot of shade...put raised beds in my front lawn...the only sunny spot 😁

wonderful ideas I too have a shady yard, gets maybe 6 hrs of dappled sunlight but I still grow lots of yummy food! I especially like the tip about rain barrels- I have to get mine hooked up this year! Thank you sir for the encouragement! Also seriously considering moving my lettuce bed. Good point!

love youre channel plaese plaese more of this huw richards you doing so well and you leaned me a lot of information . thank you so much .

How’d you know I needed this just now? 🤩 thank you for your uploads!

Big fan of this channel. Have learnt a lot. Greeting from Netherlands 👍🙂

Thanks Huw , must sow more veggies

I have exactly 3 sunny beds in my garden and the rest are part shade(trials of living in a forest). You'd definitely be surprised how well "full-sun" plants flourish! Our tomatoes went NUTS last year and our potatoes were prolific. I have plans for this year and I am so excited to have broken into my seeds - saved and bought - for this growing season.

Hi Huw been up your way today me and my wife for run out your garden look's spot on as all way's.

Great video! Thanks for the valuable information.

Always love your videos

I was literally just wondering this to myself as I was preparing beds x

This video was great. You are alway helpful. Thanks 👍🇨🇦happy Easter 🐣🐇

I love that you grow rhubarb in the shade, I have mine in the shade and a fellow allotmenteer has said to me I should move it to a suny part, how evr my rhubarb is doing just fine where it is, they have huge green leaves and so ar a good crop for shady area

I learned a lot from you big inspiration keep up the good work

I grew wax peppers in abundance last year. They were at the foot of a dense pecan tree in a 3x3 bed.

I actually just planted hops so they will have time to grow and provide afternoon shade for my nightshade plants so they will set fruit in July and August in my hot climate. I grow peas, medicinal herbs and greens in shady areas. You’re a wealth of knowledge Huw, thanks 😀

Love your Rhubarb bed! With the hot, dry summers here, it is necessary to provide afternoon shade for Rhubarb. It grows profusely with some shade, but barely survives in full sun.

because of the tempreture difference between you and I we grow simular but different things, all in all, nice vid.

I had big pile of wood chips tarped for about a year. I've finally used most of them and have a bare, shady spot I was going to let go back to grass but now I'm going to lasagna bed it into greens and herbs. Thanks for the inspiration.

I'm in Central Victoria in Australia and we are currently having days of 38 degrees Celsius! Everything in my veggie gardens need shadecloth over them. I've decided next year will be focusing on growing my veggies in the more shaded areas. Thank you for your suggestions, Huw. 😊🌿

Hi Huw, Greetings from Windermere, Florida zone 9b Happy Easter 🐣and Spring 🌸 We are having a last cold 🥶front where we dropped to 48°F this morning. Not really cold, but we had to run for long pants and jackets before going outside. I'm planting every day because it has been in the 80's for several weeks. Take care and I enjoyed learning more even after 50 years of playing in the dirt 👩‍🌾👍

Great video. I noticed this year how the lettuce and celery did fantastic in the shade. You can be better off with a vegetable growing in the shade where the soil stays moist instead of a vegetable growing in the sun where the soil is constantly drying out. That can certainly be true for sand soil.

Yes Huw, someone else has mentioned mint, I also only grow it in a large container, never in the raised bed, it does take over. It’s good to grow a variety of different mints, for sauce, teas and general cooking. Love your vlogs. WCL

Thanks for this. Very helpful as I go into winter with some of my raised beds getting a lot more shade. I"ll plant some silverbeet and herbs there - parsley, coriander etc as you suggest.

I’ve been watching your videos since you were just a kid. Lots of good info

Great stuff!

I grow my Super sweet 100 cherry tomatoes in my shady areas. I had a few extra a few years ago and put them in the shade because it was the only place I had space. Turns out they outgrew all of my full sun ss100 by almost 2x. The next year I did the same experiment and got the same result. for the last 5 years I have grown all but one in a highly shaded area and without fail they do far better than the full sun plants. They also seem to resist blight far better as a few years they were putting on fruit until the frost and snow killed them off. Amazing really and by far my favorite tasting. I have been testing other tomatoes varieties but they all do better in full sun.

Great advice, I have a very shady area behind my property due to large conifers and was just talking yesterday about what I could do with it. Will try some of these out 🙋🏼‍♀️ I also follow Adam - great tips both as I am a complete novice trying for the first year. Anna 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

I have rocket leaf and rosemary perennials growing well in acidic shade under an old fallen pine tree stump. Thank you ❣️

Great informative and incentive video! Thank you

I love to catch a video and a brew between tasks. Rhubarb bed just finished.

Great video!

Really pleased about the rhubarb, sunny spots are precious in my garden so I've been quite disheartened about where I can put a rhubarb. Will definitely give 1 a go in a semi shady spot this year.

19C seems just lovely and refreshing. 22C at 2100hrs in autumn where I am. Gentle cooler weather would be delightful

Great video as always Hew, thanks 👍

Have you tried Hostas? I know most consider them ornamentals but I understand that they’re related to asparagus, the shoots are tasty if you get them before they open, do well in shade, and are close to impossible to kill. I’m planning to try them. :)

Contrary to many opiniona here I am rooting for your mint to be a success. I too put two different kinds in different beds and plan to use it heavily. Cheers to a minty future!

Great advice thanks Huw Diolch

Mid summer is hot here in Ontario. I move my peppers into the shade for more fruit.

🌿Morning!🌿🌻

Happy Spring Hue,🌱🌞