Not all shadows are created equal
Crop plants in particular need a lot of sun for the development of fruits and leaves. If there is no sunlight, the fruits remain small, become less tasty and the plants become sickly. In a shady location, you should only plant those plants that are explicitly suitable for it - or at least tolerate it. However, there are also big differences among the shady locations: some shady spots may only get direct light for two to three hours a day, but are still quite bright - maybe because the raised bed is near shady fruit trees. Other shadow locations, on the other hand, are very dark - the gardener calls them full shade - and hardly a ray of light gets lost there.Such places are for example in front of the north wall of a house or directly in front of a high, thick hedge. Naturally, light shade is more suitable for growing vegetables and herbs than full shade - this leaves only a small selection of suitable plants.
also read
- Suitable plants for a raised bed in partial shade
- You can plant the raised bed with these vegetables in July
- Build a classic raised bed yourself - suitable types of wood
Suitable vegetables for a shady raised bed
You can still put many vegetables in the light shade, for example:
- Root vegetables such as carrots, radishes, parsnips, celeriac, red and yellow beets
- Onions and leeks (leek, spring onions)
- many types of cabbage, such as kohlrabi and kale
- Salads (lamb's lettuce, rocket, Asian salads such as pak choi)
- Leafy vegetables such as spinach, Swiss chard, rhubarb)
- French beans and runner beans, peas
- Broccoli, cauliflower
With many of the vegetables mentioned, however, you have to expect that the harvest will be smaller than in a sunnier location.
Vegetables such as:
- arugula
- Chicory salads (e.g. endive)
- other classic leaf salads
- Spinach and Swiss chard
- Kale, Brussels sprouts
Tips
Fruit, especially soft fruit or apples and pears that ripen early, can generally also be cultivated in the light shade. Due to the lack of sun, the fruits are by no means as sweet as in a sunnier location. Exception: Typical forest fruits such as wild strawberries also thrive very well in a shady raised bed.
