Shady edible landscapes work great when you pick the right plants for lower light spots in your yard. Most edibles want full sun to produce well, but plenty of tasty crops grow with less light than you might think. Shade tolerant edibles give you food from areas that would just sit empty if you planted sun-loving crops there.
I grow most of my salad greens under two big oak trees in my backyard where full sun crops would fail. My tomatoes and peppers would make nothing there. But my lettuce, spinach, and arugula thrive in that dappled shade and taste better than the greens I grow in sunny beds. The cooler temps keep them from bolting early when summer heat rolls in.
The key is knowing the difference between partial shade and deep shade before you plant. Partial shade means 3 to 6 hours of direct sun each day with shade the rest of the time. Deep shade gets less than 3 hours of direct light and limits your options more. Most partial shade vegetables still produce well with half a day of sun hitting the leaves.
Leafy greens top the list of crops that handle shade well in any garden. Arugula, kale, spinach, and lettuce all grow fine with just 4 hours of sun each day. These crops bolt to seed fast in hot full sun anyway. A shady spot keeps them cool and producing leaves longer into summer when they would quit in a sunny bed.
Blueberries are the top fruit choice for shadier spots in your yard. They come from forest edges in the wild and can fruit with just 4 to 6 hours of sun each day. You get fewer berries than in full sun, but you still get a harvest from space that would grow nothing else edible without more light.
When I first tried growing blueberries along my shady fence line, I was not sure they would fruit at all. They get maybe 5 hours of sun on a good day. But they gave me two pounds of berries their second summer and more each year since then. That spot used to grow nothing but weeds.
Herbs like sage, mint, parsley, and chives handle partial shade without much fuss in my experience. Mint spreads fast in any light and can take over if you let it run loose. Sage grows a bit slower in shade but still gives you plenty of leaves for cooking all season long. These herbs help fill in gaps between larger shade plants.
The best spots for edible plants for shade sit under trees that drop leaves in winter. Deciduous trees let in full winter and early spring sun when you want to start cool weather crops. Then the leaves fill in and provide shade right when summer heat would stress your plants anyway. The timing works out great.
North-facing walls and fences create great shady edible landscapes too. These spots stay cool even in summer heat waves and hold moisture longer than sunny areas do. I plant my heat-sensitive greens along my north fence and they keep going strong through July when my sunny beds are too hot for lettuce to survive.
Areas shaded by buildings during peak afternoon sun work well for many edibles too. A spot that gets morning sun until noon and then shade all afternoon protects plants from the harshest heat of the day. Many crops grow better there than in full blazing sun from dawn to dusk without any break.
Start with greens and berries when you plan a shade garden in your yard. These crops offer the best odds of success and produce well even in lower light spots. Once you see what works in your specific shade, you can try other crops and find the perfect mix for that corner of your shady edible landscape.
Read the full article: 10 Essential Edible Landscape Design Tips
