In my garden I have 4 raised beds. They are close to a 4 ft high fence. The two beds closest to the fence don't do to well due to the lack of light. Things that have done well in there are beans and peas.
At the moment I have had some salads and Carrots and beetroot while I wait to put in my winter brassicas. I'll also be putting in some courgettes and squash.
What plants can you be sure will do OK when only recieving small ammounts of light each day? They tend to get maybe 3 hours in the mroning before the sun dissapears behind the house.
Clearly salads and small growing plants are not the thing as they do not get tall enough to see much light.
I can't grow the same thing in the same plot each year as I need to rotate.
What do you reckon? Help me build a list so I can plan those beds better.
Thanks.
Chappy.
Lettuce should be OK
We have a similar problem. Spinach works well, and leeks seem to be OK too.
http://www.solutions.uiuc.edu/content.cfm?series=4&item=515&Parents=0%7C67 ??
http://www.nvsuk.org.uk/growing_show_vegetables_1/grow_vegetables_shade.php
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/todo_now/faqs.php?id=79
Chappy, this is my experiment for the season- using some old mirrors from a remodel job and reflecting sunlight into a dark corner of the veg. garden ::)
Thanks for the replies all.
I have tried lettuce this year in these beds and not done well. Some spinach in ther are doing OK, and beetroot surviving but not growin very quickly. But considering the situation I guess I have to be patient. Luckily got some cut and come again varieties in a half whiskey barrell doing well. Should have baby leaf salads next week as my harvest of the year. :o)
I thought about mirrors. just need to think of a way to support them.
Thanks for the links, looks like a good array of plants can be tried.
Might be a good idea to have a root bed as they are all on that list.
Thanks again.
That sounds very good GA, let us know how it works :D
could the fence be painted a light colour, bounce a bit of sun back ? :)
Have you ever seen where people have hoisted planting boxes up on their roof? Saw a home in Canada once that had flowers in boxes along the edge of the roof. Could not get my husband to even consider this. Can you imagine! :)
But I thought that would be the best way to get the earliest tomatoes and squash for sunlight exposure and also the heat from the roof. It would need some pulley system but that wouldn't be impossible.
It would be possible Im sure, but with my luck I would probably end up wearing it as a hat ;D
Is your house very tall GA? Ours is fairly high, I reckon a bungalow would be well suited to this method though.
Do you have a pic of the house and planter?
Quote from: star on June 07, 2008, 23:56:46
It would be possible Im sure, but with my luck I would probably end up wearing it as a hat ;D
Is your house very tall GA? Ours is fairly high, I reckon a bungalow would be well suited to this method though.
Do you have a pic of the house and planter?
Yes, the Planter Bonnet- probably inevitable!
Ours could be on the front of the house which is only one floor high but that would look terrible having tomatoes out front. The back is two floors high making it more difficult.
I saw the Canadian house on a tv garden show so sorry no pictures and the whole yard and house exterior were planted elegantly and intensively- sort of like TeeGee's, but the planters along the whole bottom edge of the roof were amazing!
we know someone who has troughs full of flowers on the garage roof, does it every year, it's lovely ;D
they are flowers though ;D
Painting the fence white could be a possiblity. Just that as it's north facing it doesn't get hit too much to bounce back and the house gets in the way in the evenings.
I do have an 8-10 ft high wall (east facing) at the back of the garden which gets the afternoon sun. I have been trying to think of a way I could fit window boxes to the top of that. The actual brick is quite fragile so drilling into that is not an option. I'll have to submit a photo to see if anybody has any ideas. If I could hook some well... errr.. hooks :) over the top of the wall and hang something from chains of the hooks I would increade my space loads and they would get sun for 8 hours a day in the summer. Trailing tomatoes and other trailing type plants could really do well.
I'll get my camera out later and take some photos of the plot.
In fact that would be the west facing wall! :D