Shade on veg plot

The end of my veg plot has shadow cast on it for a good part of the day due to my niehbours hedge , he dosent want it any lower and as its his hedge fair enough, my question is which veg will grow best with shade,its not total dark but quite shady

 

Would love to hear the answers to this one. As I give up on veggie gardening for all the shade I have.

 

My 2p-worth is that veg need sun, and any shade is a compromise.

 

Rhubarb enjoys a partially shaded area, you could try that Stu.

Steve...

 

Uhm, I have the same probelm, and though I'm not very experienced my limited knowledge is this - brassicas, lettuces, shallots, and small squash all do okay in partial shade (although not nearly as good as in full sunlight, obviously) although you have to mildew-spray the hell out of particularly the last two and the lettuces, if they grow to any decent size, won't be nearly as sweet as sunlit ones.

That's my tuppence, anyway. I don't know if it'll be the same for you.

 

A while ago Ziggy said that there is process where plants can only utilise so much sun light . Thus the area behind my potting shed that only gets the sun from 10 until 4 is going to be a small container veg plot this year , just for a bit of fun really.
I am sure Ziggy will be along soon to tell me I have got the wrong end of the stick again. In which case this post can be ignored !

 

Stumorph, you have two problems here really. Some suggestions above address the shade, but the hedge itself will take a lot of nutrient out of the soil. - Do you have to grow veg in this area? perhaps shade tollerant shrubs would be better and grow a few veg elsewhere in your garden.

a-a

 

Tis true, at least according to the books I've read. Of the stuff plants need, their growth will be inhibited by the most limited factor, be that sunlight, nutrients, water etc. So for example, given loads of sunlight but where the water is the limiting factor, the plant will only grow as much as the available water allows.

The book I'm reading at the moment suggests we hide our veg in the flower beds, so that we get a productive ornamental garden. It says that by doing so you get lots of advantages. So far I haven't seen mention of the fact that doing so means the veg is in the shade of all the neighbouring plants but the author, Geoff Hamilton no less, reckons he's done it and it works well.

 

Hard to give a definitive answer as much depends on the height of the hedge and how close to it your veg will be. Planting too close will as already has been mentioned result in the veg being in soil that's being depleted of nutrients and water.
One thing you might consider is growing tall veg as the taller they get the better they'll escape the shadow of the hedge. Runner beans, climbing french beans, squash trained upwards, ridge cucumbers trained upwards (it works), are some ideas off the top my head.
You could also mitigate the depletion of nutrients and water by digging in an impermeable barrier along your side of the hedge, though you'd also need to dig in some decent quality compost as the soil will already be very low in nutrients.

 

If you are worried about the nutrients / moisture being depleted from the veg patch by the hedge then consider raised beds (possible with some sort of barrier in the bottom to stop the tree rotting coming "up", but allowing moisture up/down)

 

Thaks to all will have to do some thinking

 

You've got the wrong end of the stick Harry:WINK1:

Plants need co2 to photosynthesise, but in the heat of the midday sun, they conserve water by closing the stomata on their leaves, once the co2 in the leaves has been used up photosynthesis stops. Usually between 11am & 2pm.

If you've got a C4 plant like Sweet Corn however, they have an enzyme that allows photosynthesis to continue, something to do with the number of carbon atoms in the molecule it produces, I forget.

 

Drat not quite understood it again :DOH:These veg don't half have a good dinner break 11am until 2pm !

 

Yeah, they've got their Stomata firmly closed and are basking in the sunshine. Wouldn't you if you were in their place? !!