| I live in zone 7 and my garden is made of 7 raised beds. I added 6 more beds but 4 of them are going to be slightly shaded in the summer. I have grown lettuce and carrots before in shade but I wanted to know is there anything else i can gorw in the summer in the shade? |
| Vegetables do best with at least 6 hours of full sun, and can take 8-10. It depends on when they are in the shade. If they are shaded in the late afternoon when the sun is hottest, that's usually a good thing. Since you have raised beds, why not try the "Square Foot Gardening" method by Mel Bartholomew (your local library probably has a copy of his book.)? He advocates putting a different vegetable flower in each square foot of space. Smaller vegetables, such as green onions, could be planted 12 to a square; larger veggies, such as a pepper plant would be planted in the middle of a square. His method conserves on water, space, and controls weeds (not as much open soil for them to germinate in). You could try veggies in different areas and see what works best in your lighting conditions. I've used his method and it works--it also looks attractive because there's a mix of colors, foliage, flowers, etc. |
