Gardening Articles
Shade Tolerant Edible Plants
By Penny Ossowski
A few weeks ago Tom received a phone call from a new BOGI member whose question went something like this ‘I have a small garden and desperately want to grow vegetables and herbs organically but my garden is mostly in shade for a lot of the daylight hours, what can I grow?’. We decided this is a common problem with small backyards becoming the norm, courtyards, balconies and of course the neighbours trees which often shade your garden. Tom did some research and sent me a list of some plants he’d found, this was followed up by me doing a walk around my garden and checking out which plants were doing what in shaded areas and some further contributions from other BOGI committee members.
Basically most plants that produce flowers and/or fruit need at least 6 hours of sunlight per day to prosper but they will often produce some flowers and fruit with less. If your kingdom suffers with too much shade at certain times of the year or all year round plant selection is one way to deal with it but there are also other ways.
· Grow in containers that can be moved depending on the season ( I find polystyrene boxes on the top of my pergola do well at certain times of the year, my son and his partner have their sun loving herbs and strawberries in pots and boxes on their carport roof and reach it from their back deck and stairs).
· Grow climbing plants, let them climb up stair railings, around veranda railings, over pergolas, through trees, over clothes hoists, along fences or even make structures especially for them to grow on and don’t forget some plants appreciate a little extra shade in our hot summers.
· There may be seasonal opportunities due to the change on the sun’s path across the sky in summer and winter.
Remember there is usually more than one way to skin a cat or in this case grow edible plants. There are varying degrees of sunlight and shade.
Some plants are happy as understorey plants and do well in dappled light and very little direct sunlight | ||
· Ginger | · Turmeric | · Galangal |
· Vietnamese Cress | · Vietnamese mint | · Mint varieties |
· Lemon Balm | · Penny Royal | · Gotu Kola |
· Mushroom Plant | · Chervil | · Aloe Vera |
Edible Pepper (piper betel) | Monstera deliciosa | Mushrooms (p.9) |
Some plants will grow well in bright light with very little or no direct sunlight | ||
· Brazilian Spinach | · Warrigal Greens | · Celery |
· Watercress | · Sorrel | · Wild Rocket |
· Herb Robert | · Ceylon Spinach | · Comfrey |
· Saw Toothed Coriander | · Ibeka |
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Some plants will do quite well with a couple of hours of sun any time of the day | ||
· Asian Greens | · Lettuce | · Rocket |
· Kale | · Mesclun Mix | · Spring Onions |
· Silverbeet | · Asparagus | · Chives |
· Bergamot | · Marjoram | · Cape Gooseberry |
· Raspberries | · Mulberry Tree | · Midyimberry |
Some will have their root area in little direct sunlight but climb up a structure so their flowers and fruit are getting a fair amount of bright light and sunlight most days | ||
· Peas | · Beans | · Choko |
· Luffa | · Passionfruit | · |
Some plants will be attacked by pests e.g. aphids or be susceptible to fungal attack when they don’t get enough sunshine or airflow around them. The above are some thoughts and information which may help you, but this article shouldn’t finish here. We need your feedback and knowledge to complete it so don’t be shy send in your observations and recommendations, experiment, record your findings for future use on your own little bit of earth.=
A Tip from Bob Cosgrove - While the temperatures are low it is time to grow some mushrooms in a shady part of our garden. Visit your nearest Mushroom Grower who sells used mushroom compost. Buy 1 or more trays of mushroom compost (mushroom compost is put out for sale in what looks like clear heavy duty plastic bags under and around them). Take it home and place carefully in a shady spot in your garden, water daily with collected rain water and before you know it you will be harvesting your own mushrooms. In a couple of months when the weather gets too warm for more mushrooms to grow add the compost to your compost heap and when it breaks down use it on the garden.
You may buy shade tolerant plants and salad greens at our online shop.
