Shade tolerant veg?

[compostpopeParticipant]

Greetings all.

I have 1.2m wide beds with 30cm paths in between beds. They run in a north-south direction so that plants of the same height don’t shade each other in the rows.

Which vegetables would do best next to a double row of peas down the middle of a bed, or raspberries or broad beans grown in a neighbouring bed? In these situations they will only get half a day of direct sun.

Last year a squash plant grown in a bed next to the raspberry bed was in direct sun only in the mornings and did spectacularly badly compared to one grown in a bed between beds of low growing plants, so there does seem to be some effect…

Best wishes

Compostpope

[Andrew PearmanMember]

Hi compostpope.

That’s interesting about the squash. They do like as much sun as possible to ripen, especially last season! Perhaps there was also some competition between the roots of the squash and those of the raspberries as both send out roots quite far. I noticed this last year – the plants in the bed next to my squash bed were noticeably smaller on the side closest to the squash. I think the roots of the squash were growing into the edge of the adjoining bed.
I’d grow salads in a partly shady spot. They also have less roots and would probably get on better near your raspberries.
Andy

[bluebellParticipant]

last year I planted lettuce in between my rows of peas by the time the peas grew really tall the lettuce were ready to harvest. same would work for radish or other fast crops.

[compostpopeParticipant]

Thanks Bluebell and Andy – looks like we will be eating mountains of salad this year!

Compostpope

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