Unfortunately not much on your list is going to perform all that well with so little exposure. It isn't nearly enough for tomatoes, beans, peppers, squash, onions, or eggplant.

Can the exposure be improved at all? Perhaps containers in another location? Otherwise a community garden plot?

You are doing what is called shade gardening and it is usually limited to leafy greens, certain flowers, and herbs primarily. Maybe the peas, carrots and beets. You'll just have to experiment with those to see how they do.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Google - Shade Gardening Tips and Techniques

Yeah, that is what I was afraid of hearing. I'll probably still give it a go, but maybe not go quite as gung-ho. I did have some neighbors awhile back who managed to grow a reasonable crop of tomatoes in full-partial shade all day, but they started them as seedlings in late march and got tomatoes in late July/August, so it was a long and slow road (they were actually early girls...the irony...)

I do have high hopes for the early season crops though. They are sprouting up and there won't be leaves on the trees for a few more weeks, so hopefully I can get a few peas and beets.

Alternatively, it would be a shame if a neighbor's tree or two accidentally came down ;). Just kidding of course.

Sometimes those trees only need the tops thinned out a bit but left standing. :)

dave

No, no, I have lots of experience shade gardening (and winter gardening, which where I live is the same thing).

I can tell you, these will do fine:

beets
cabbage
kholrabi
onions
winter squashes
fig tree (give it the sunniest spot)

These will probably also be fine:

peas
carrots
summer squashes

These will not work:

bush beans
pole beans
tomatoes
peppers
eggplant
blueberries
you might be able to do runner beans though... maybe

What herbs do you have? Mints, parsley, oregano, cilantro will be ok in shade. Thyme will not. Sage is a maybe, as is marjoram.

The blueberries will live in shade, but will not do much.

Other things you can grow:

potatoes
leeks
raspberries
strawberries
probably lettuces
arugula
chard
sunflowers (for seeds)
pansies and violets (for edible flowers)
fava beans
pretty much any kind of greens

Have fun and good luck!

..also jerusalum artichokes (sunchokes).

Oh, I forgot to check your location. You are in Georgia? Can you really grow cool season crops like greens and peas in the summer? I'm not familiar with the ecosystem.

If your sun is intense and you have the room, you might try some of the stuff I said no to. It won't grow /here/ in the shade, but maybe where you are?

Greens and peas don't do so hot here in the summer...the peas especially will die off by mid-May, and the greens get really chewy and bitter. All of them are already in the ground, fortunately.

The sun is certainly intense for those few hours. From 10:30-1:30 or so, there is literally nothing between the sun and the plants, and one very sparse looking pine tree from 1:30-2:30...so a good bit of sun should still get through then.

There might even be a couple places that get 4 hours of good sun per day...I'll need to spend an afternoon and just watch...but the sun's location in the sky will be a touch different come May and June, so who knows for sure. If I can get pole beans to climb to the roof, there's hope for them as well, since once they're above the roof they'd get an extra hour or two of sun that normally gets shaded out by the building.

I'm really glad to hear that the blueberries and fig tree will live in the shade...even if they don't produce heavily. They're in very large containers, and honestly, it's an apartment with a small yard, and I might only live there a bit over a year, so as long as they don't up and die on me this year, I'll be happy enough.

Herb-wise, I've got cilantro (which is totally screwed, because once it gets 80+ degrees here its game over for the little guy), basil, thyme (surely we can get it a hanging basket where it will see an extra hour of sun), rosemary (which my neighbors used to grow in mostly-shade all day), and catmint...which I got for free so I'm not too partial to it.

I think all in all, I'm going to have to get creative in my planning. With beans, the higher they climb, the more sun they'll get I think, so not all hope is lost. It would be a pain in the butt, but I was planning to grow a few of my cherry tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets, which I could transport from the front yard in the morning to the backyard before I go to work...I also used to have a friend who grew 2 fig trees in containers with about the same amount of light as me. So not all hope is lost...yet...

Wish me luck.

Nila - you don't indicate your zone or location. That's an important distinction,

If you are further north then yes, you can get by with more things simply because of the sun's location relative to the horizon after the solstice.

Brett - be sure to come back to this thread and post your results for future readers.

Dave

Dave,

I can certainly do that. If I respond back to this exact thread 2-3 months from now, will it automatically skyrocket to the top of the list though? Maybe I can even get some pictures, depending on how creative I have to get. Unfortunately, none of the hot weather crops go out here for another month, and they're all in little styrofoam cups under grow lights right now...so we won't know for quite awhile.

I have a fig tree on the Northwest side of my plot, and my house sits less than 10 ft south of the Fig tree. I didn't count the hours it receives the Sun, but the tree still produces well enough. As your tree grows taller, it should receive more direct Sun.

I purposely planted my Avocado Tree in the shade, after killing two Avocados previously. Mostly it received afternoon sunlight. 5yrs later, it's grown to about 10 ft tall and is receiving much more sun.

I think sunlight is rather overrated for most trees, especially younger ones.

If I respond back to this exact thread 2-3 months from now, will it automatically skyrocket to the top of the list though?

Yes.

>If I can get pole beans to climb to the roof, there's hope for them as well, since once they're above the roof they'd get an extra hour or two of sun that normally gets shaded out by the building.

Good idea! They might do ok with the 4 hours, too...

>I'm really glad to hear that the blueberries and fig tree will live in the shade...even if they don't produce heavily.

My fig produces heavily in shade. My blueberries don't, but in your climate they might enjoy shade, I dunno.

The basil will probably be fine in shade and the catmint definitely will. If the cats don't dig up its roots and eat them.

@digdirt

>Nila - you don't indicate your zone or location

Sorry -- I entered it on my profile page, but I guess that does not show up on forum posts? I am new here.

The root vegetables will take longer to set a crop but you'll get them eventually. Otherwise, greens and lettuces are your best bet. Unless the fruiting veg are very small (currant, grape, or maybe cherry tomatoes, for example) you won't get much out of them.

My backyard garden gets about 4 hours of sun, a little more in the spring before the trees leaf out. What grows best is peas, broccoli, kale, herbs, garlic, lettuce, and bok choi.

I have a sunny community garden plot for the sun lovers.

However I have grown potatoes, tomatoes (cherry and paste), summer and winter squash, and beans in the backyard and it works somewhat. The plants get very leggy, and produce half of what I get at the full sun garden, but half is better than none ;).

Forget peppers and eggplant, you will get foliage but no fruit.

Bringing up an old forum post here. For those who have ever tried to grow anything without quite enough sun....I feel your pain. Thought I would share what's doing well/not well and maybe post some pictures next week.

So during summer, my garden gets between 3 and 6 hours of full sun per day, with a few lucky spots getting 7 hours. Here's what's done well and what's completely flopped.

Doing great:
Beans--(all bush, 5-6 hours sun/day)
Kholrabi--4-5 hours sun/day
Cabbage--4-5 hours sun/day
Cherry tomatoes--4-5 hours sun/day...the sungold I started from seed is well over 7 feet tall already, but it is a bit lanky. Still, got my first tomato today with another 100+ on. Black cherry tomatoes doing well too
Peas--3-4 hours sun/day...didn't do great with them because I started them too late, but I will replant this fall. They did great once they were well established. But it was 80+ degrees by that point. Oops.
Okra--4-5 hours/day. It's going slow, but I've got my first few pods on, and the plants are about 2 feet tall now. They'll only keep growing.
Squash--6-7 hours/day. They need some help pollinating, but they're doing well. Got my first crookneck last week.
Carrots--4-5 hours/day. They're not great, but not bad. Should have a small harvest at some point later in the summer.
Cabbage--5-6 hours/day. I didn't plant early enough for heads this spring, but they haven't flowered yet this summer, so I'm hoping they'll form heads this fall? The lady friend thinks they're pretty though (bright purple) so we've left them.
Hot peppers--5-6 hours/day. They're nice and bushy, but no flowers yet. I think they just need a few more weeks. Not lanky at all. Verdict is still out though. Just planted some banana peppers next to them today
Fig tree--6-7 hours/day. Doing excellent. About 25 figs on.
Blueberry bushes--6-7 hours/day. Not doing horrible. I'll get a nice pint on on the small bushes if the birds/squirrels doing get them. Not entirely sure how to care for them, but we'll see.

Doing not so great/terrible
Eggplant--5-6 hours/day
Pole beans--3-4 hours/day. Yeah these are doing terrible. They look sick too.
Most bigger tomatoes--5-6 hours/day. My arkansas travelers have put on a few tomatoes each, and my kelloggs breakfast has 2 nice looking tomatoes. But the german johnson and carbon varieties flower like mad but won't set fruit. Similar with the Ark/KB varieties...lots of flowers but so few fruit. Not sure if its not enough sun or what. Oh well. Just planted a couple more today in the sunniest part of the garden.

If anyone would like, I'll take some pictures. Would like to get the tomato problem sorted out too. Thanks for reading.

This post was edited by Brett-CpG on Sat, Jun 15, 13 at 17:31

Thanks for coming back to update. My main garden beds were in full sun 10 years ago when we bought our house, but since that time, the neighbor's trees have grown much bigger and the new owners no longer do any trimming. Result - my main garden is becoming part-sun.

I've compensated by building a new raised bed closer to the house, but although it's in full sun all summer, the house shades it from Oct-March, which means no spring or fall gardening to extend the season. Needless to say, I'm doing a lot of thinking ahead to figure out what I can plant where (and there may be yet another raised bed built to catch fall/winter/spring sun). So although I'm located further north than you are, I'm very interested to see your results. :)

I grow exclusively in containers because of black walnuts and other trees surrounding my small yard. The containers are smart pots scattered around my back yard to get the most sun. A friend said they looked like a bunch of top hats. The tomatoes have the primo spot where they get about 6 hours of sun broken up into three periods. When I grew hybrids, I got decent yields. Since I fell in love with big heirloom types a few years ago, I've had to settle for lower yields. But I'm gradually learning what will do best in my situation. I have had good luck with mortgage lifters, goose creeks and kosovos. I say, work with what you've got. Even an early girl from the garden is head and shoulders above a grocery store tomato.

I want to add that I've been growing scarlet runner beans in a small plot on the north side of my house where they only get early morning sun. They climb up to the roof where they get a lot more sun fairly quickly and attract hummingbirds. They are a lot of fun to grow. I do need a ladder to harvest them, though.