Growing Vegetables Part Shade

Last year, I noticed that the neighbors trees have grown tall enough to shade half of my vegetable garden. What once was full sun, has now become part shade. I was very upset when I first realized this. I love the location of my vegetable garden, and have built it up over the years to become the perfect plot. I can't stand the thought of moving it to another spot in my yard.

Swiss chard growing in part shade

Fortunately, there are several types of vegetables that will grow and produce in part shade (3-6 hours of sun).

In fact, some of these prefer part shade and will suffer in full sun.

I've been experimenting with different types of vegetables in my newly part shade garden.

So far the results have been mixed, but most have worked out great.


Here's a list of vegetables that I've tried growing in part shade:

• 

  Radishes grown in part shade

  Lettuce
• Spinach
• Radish
• Rutabaga
• Peas
• Onion
• Garlic
• Leeks 
• Chives
• Parsley
• Squash  
• Cilantro
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cucumbers
• Kohlrabi
• Garlic chives
• Swiss chard
• Cauliflower

This year I'm also trying turnip and endive in the part shade half of the garden.

In my experience, broccoli and cauliflower don't do well in part shade. Last year I only harvested a small amount of broccoli, and no cauliflower. I moved these to the full sun half of the garden this year, we'll see if they do better there.

Last year, I had planted my squash in the part shade half of the garden before I realized it didn't get as much sun as it used to. I usually have a monster squash or two growing out of my compost bin every summer, and they only get about 3 hours of sun.

Squash growing in compost bin in part shade

These squash plants grow huge, but don't produce much. Last year, the squash I planted did pretty well in the part shade area. This year, I planted them right on the edge between the part shade and full sun halves. Once they start to grow over the arch, the vines will be in full sun. They should do well there.

Cucumber growing in part shade

Two years ago, my cucumbers were amazing in the part shade half of the garden.

Last year, they did not do as well in part shade.

So, this year I have planted them in an area that will get more sun, but still not full sun. Hopefully they will do better there.

Everything else in my list above did excellent in part shade. I'm going to continue experimenting with different types of vegetables and see how well they do in my new part shade vegetable garden.

I would love to get more ideas from you. What vegetables do you grow in part shade?

Lettuce growing in part shade