# Gardening Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631 "2004-06-16T11:42:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631/1 "2004-06-16T11:42:17Z")
We have a garden plot in the backyard of our house. Much of it however is shaded for large parts of the day by some nearby trees. Can anyone suggest vegetables which can tolerate large amounts of shade? Seems as if everything I’ve considered requires “full sunlight” Thanks in advance ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631/2 "2004-06-16T11:56:50Z")
Generally, leafy veg will tolerate more shade then root vegetables, while fruiting crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers need most sunlight. From personal experience, spinach, lettuce and rhubarb do OK in the shade. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631/3 "2004-06-16T11:59:41Z")
Not many vegetables will tolerate deep shade, but in partial shade, you might get away with growing cucumbers, carrots, lettuce and some other salad leaves like rocket. Some herbs do OK in shade; mint, chives and parsley, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631/4 "2004-06-16T12:02:25Z")
I see I have directly contradicted **Colophon** on the cucumbers; my experience has been that they don’t like it as hot as tomatoes and that the leaves can become scorched in too much direct sunlight. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631/5 "2004-06-16T12:29:39Z")
Rhubarb supposedly prefers half-shade as well. (At least that’s what I was told when mine died - I had it in a very sunny spot.) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631/6 "2004-06-16T13:14:06Z")
Most garden plants that can be succesfulin the shade will ‘tolerate’ some shade, which is notably different than preferring shade. Even some grasses that are sold for shadey areas and selected out for generations merely tolerate the shade, but they prefer the sun. I’ve seen strawberries, squash and peppers do ok in the shade. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631/7 "2004-06-16T13:22:43Z")
I’ve got spring onions doing well in the shade. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/250631/8 "2004-06-16T20:44:59Z")
How many hours of direct sun does your garden get per day? I’ve successfully grown tomatoes with 4 hours, although they are happier with more.