You Can Grow Vegetables in a Shady Backyard Garden

Most backyard gardeners live in an urban environment and the size and placement of their desired vegetable garden is limited by the size of their lot and the trees the established trees in their own and their neighbours yards. Often, the limitations make would be gardeners hesitate to start planting vegetables because they believe they don’t get more than four or five hours a day of sun in the limited space. However, the good news is that there are many vegetables that do quite well as long as they get about four hours a day of sunlight.

Here are some vegetables that you can grow in your shady backyard garden

• Culinary herbs – chives, garlic chives, lemon balm, parsley, mint, oregano will all do well with only three hours of sun a day
• Kale – a great addition to many salads and meals, this only needs three to four hours a day of sunlight
• Lettuce – most types of lettuce will do well enough with only three hours of sun
• Peas – these vegetables need four hours a day. They may take longer to get to full growth, but they will make it
• Beans – these will also take longer to full growth but will get there on four hours of sun a day
• Beets – beets needs four hours of sun a day. They may be smaller than those grown in full sun but the taste will be just as good
• Carrots – like beets, these may be smaller but will be tasty and will grow on four hours of sun a day
• Spinach – this super vegetable will grow on three hours of sun a day and it likes the shade.
• Scallions – this will do well all spring and summer on three hours of sun a day

Growing vegetables from seed can be difficult in a shade garden so consider buying seedlings. These can be expensive if you buy from regular garden stores but you can find cheaper alternatives. Churches often have spring bazaars with seedling for sale, and local farmers markets will also be a less expensive source. Check your local Saturday newspaper for weekend listings of markets and bizaars and plan to make the rounds to get what you need.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Different vegetables do better in different types of soil regardless of the amount of sun they receive, so try a few vegetables to see which grow best in your yard and then the following year you will know which will flourish in your shady backyard garden.