[mjg000]

Just back up to Lancaster and talking to daughter about the back yard - traditional back to back houses with a lane running between the two, very shady.  Wondering if anything green and wholesome might grow there?  Thinking that I might build up the bed ( it's about 10' by 4' ) with compost and new soil then try something once the Spring comes.  Any suggestions welcome.

[New shoot]

Very shady is a challenge for most veg.  Is it a new house?  I only ask because we are at about the lowest ebb for light levels at the moment and things might be a bit better later in the year.

If not, leafy greens are about the most shade tolerant, but if they fail, you might have to think outside the box a bit and look into woodland plants that are edible.  It is not much of a harvest, but primroses, violets and violas cope with shade and have edible flowers.  Very pretty on a salad.

If a kitchen windowsill is available, sprouted seeds and microgreens are worth investigating.  You can grow a lot in a very small space 

[mumofstig]

As NS says wait til later to see just how much sun it actually gets through the day My garden is in deep shade in the mornings.

Even so because the fences provide shelter from wind, in some spots I can grow tomatoes, squash and things like that. Peas and chard do quite well in the shadier spots, for me.

[AnneB]

You could try lettuce.  I have a shady area at the end of the garden and it does OK there.  Rhubarb can manage without direct sunlight too, but takes up a fair bit of space.   Our redcurrants are in the same shady area, but again take up space.

[Goosegirl]

Anything that can raise the growing height would be a bonus. Try brassicas, beetroot, radishes and leeks in the lower part, then climbing beans, tall-growing peas, ??sweetcorn.

[whitehill1]

lettuce, herbs came out vry well. thinking of making seed bds out there as well, to save greenhouse space and watering.

has any one tried the small area back garden as seed bed? any concerns!!

[upthetump]

as others have said, wait a few weeks, my garden hasnt seen the sun since end of november and wont see it until end of january

[kermit]

We moved 2 years ago from a north facing garden. Put three quite high and well prepared raised beds in. Most got a wee bit of sun from around 3pm in summer but not much outwith then. They were fab for chard, salad/lettuce, celery, parsley, coriander, parsnips and kale.  Also garlic did well in the spot that got most light. Now got a perfect south facing allotment and haven't been able to match it yet for those crops.

[ARPoet]

You could always paint the walls white or place old mirrors around the dark areas to reflect more light, grow in tubs and troughs that can be moved around.

[mjg000]

These are all adding up to an interesting assortment of bits and pieces of advice that will, I'm sure, all be very useful as we get to see exactly what light actually gets in there.  The back of the house is basically NE facing and the bed comes about 4ft out from the back stone wall.  There is more light and sun against the back of the house and obviously higher up.  We do plan to use some old Belfast sinks against the back wall and maybe strawberry planters on the house wall itself. It's just that the site against the wall is where the soil (rubble & dumped stuff) is now.  My daughter has had an allotment in the past and hopes to just see what we can get out of a very poor space, looks like hopefully lettuce & herbs in the summer with the odd climbing bean and then Chard and Kale in the winter would be a real bonus.  Thanks for all your thoughts everyone, keep them coming if you think of any other suggestions.

[AnneB]

I have had a look at Joy Larkcom's book, Grow Your Own Vegetables.   She also suggests spinach, chicory, outdoor cucumbers, pak choi, peas, winter radish, sorrel and Jerusalem artichokes.

[mjg000]

Wow!!! We won't have space all those!

[New shoot]

Thinking about what I have growing in shade in my own garden, I would add alpine strawberries, Good King Henry and Sweet cicely to the list.

Good King Henry can be used as a spinach sub, the flower spikes can be cut and eaten as broccoli and you can cut unopened shoots to eat as asparagus.

Sweet cicely has aniseed flavoured green seeds, you can use the leaves to stew with fruit to reduce the amount of sugar needed and I haven't tried this bit, but you can dig up the roots and eat them raw or cooked.

All are perennial plants, so once you have them, they are there to stay.  They make productive use of shady corners 

[Mr Rotavator]

I've read recently that some soft fruit like shade such as red currents which is what I am considering for my shady yard. It is a high value crop and it should be look good trained against a wall.

[Goosegirl]

Red and white currants and gooseberries can all be trained against a wall either as a fan, cordon or espalier form. Most herbs like full sun so as to get the best flavour but parsley and mint will tolerate some shade. You could put some strong shelving on the wall and use deep window boxes for strawberries, sun-loving herbs, garlic and shallots - this would be better than attaching the boxes to the wall so you can remove them for maintenance and also would prevent rain marks on your wall. If the wall is rendered but not painted, use a good exterior white masonry paint such as Sandtex "Extreme Weather" - it's not cheap but will resist flaking and mould (We used it on our salt-laden cottage walls and it's brilliant). Dilute some for the first coat then add two more coats of undiluted paint. If it is already painted, remove as much as you can by scraping or use an electrical sander, coat with an outdoor paint stabiliser then give it two coats of the exterior paint.