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Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Permaculture advises: shadow tolerant vegetables

A full day of sunshine is about 14-15 hours However, some vegetables can do with less time of sunlight.
This is very useful if you plan a garden in the shadow, if you grow a garden in a urban setting for example, in a location not facing south, or under trees such in a forest garden.

Tolerant of 4-6 hours of sun
Herbs: Bay, chives, horseradish, mint and parsley
Vegetables: Broccoli, swiss chard, cress, kale, kohl rabi, lettuce, leafy perennials, radish, spinach, welsh onions
Fruits: Gooseberries, red currants, rhubarb, loganberries and morello cherries

Tolerant of 6-8 hours of sun
Herbs: Fennel, rosemary, sage, thyme (also lovage)
Vegetables: cabbage, beets, cauliflower, carrots, leeks, onions, parsnips, peas, potatoes, runner beans, broccoli and turnips. Celery and chicory also do pretty well, but chicory prefers full sun. Even perennials such as Yacon can crop perfectly (in a good soil) with as little as 4-5 hours of sunlight. And as I showed you in 2009, tomatoes and cucumber can crop enough with even less than 6 hours of direct sun. Tomatoes yields will of course have reduced yields, but cucumbers can produce good if they have good soil and warm weather. 
Fruits: Strawberries, blackcurrants, kiwi, raspberries and white currants.

It might be good, if you are growing your vegetables in part shade, to cultivate them in raised beds, to avoid excess humidity in the soil. Take care also with slugs, as they love crawling in the shadow. Protect  your vegetables with  two effective slug barriers! Either by putting cut plastic around your plants, or by spreading sawdust.


The vegetables that would need the most sun and warm would be sweet peppers, eggplant and pumpkins, squash and zucchini.


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1 comment:

  1. chegeui aqui pelo seu cantinho verde em portugues.
    Sugestao: coloca um tradutor no cantinho de cima do blog?
    Assim venho direto aqui pra ler as novidades e leio em portugues, porque de verdade, nao sei ingles direito, ainda!
    Abraços

    ReplyDelete