My Tiny Plot

I’m asked on a regular basis what to grow in the shady part of a vegetable plot so I thought it was about time I wrote a post on the topic. So here goes.

Firstly, you’re not alone in wondering what the heck to grow in the shady bit of the garden. Most of the vegetable books talk about giving plants an ‘open site’ ‘in full sun’. Which is totally possible on an allotment but is virtually impossible in your own garden at home. There are usually walls, fences, trees, and buildings to contend with making it inevitable that there will always be a ’shady bit’

Mtp has a shady bit - or if you’re going to get technical, a ‘north facing wall’. It runs down the right hand side. In the morning it’s in full shade, but in the afternoon the sun has moved around and it gets at least a couple of hours of sunshine before the sun drops behind the house.

This is the type of shady bit that is totally usable in a vegetable garden. The type of area that isn’t usable is an area in full shade. There are very few vegetables that will grow in full shade. If you have an area which is in full shade, your best bet is to plant some shade-loving shrubs or flowers - sorry, I know that’s not much fun but it’s the truth.

Now for the cream - what ‘can’ you grow in partial shade? The answer is, tons of stuff. Yey!

Here’s a list of the vegetables that will tolerate shade

• Leeks
• Kale
• Calvo Nero
• Radicchio
• Chard
• Spinach Beet
• Cress
• Radish
• Sage
• Rosemary
• Bay
• Lettuce (winter varieties)
• Mustard Greens
• Asparagus (although fewer spears will be produced)

And here’s a list of fruit:

• Alpine Strawberries
• Autumn Raspberries
• Plums (Czar etc)
• Pear (Conference, Emile D’Heyst etc)
• Morello Cherry
• Gooseberries
• Redcurrants
• Rhubarb
• Elderflower
• And Quince (apparently, although I have no experience of this)

You could also think about using your shady space to grow plants to use as Christmas decoration. I grow Yew, Holly and Ivy for that very reason. And of course there are countless flowers you could grow in the shade too. I’m no flower expert but I manage to grow Foxglove and Echinacea without too much drama.

There are also crafty ways that you can get around the shade problem. For example you could sow and grow Runner Beans in the sunny part of your garden, then plant them in the shady part once they have grown big enough to cling to a frame. I tried it last year and it worked a treat. The top half of the Runner Bean teepee is in the sun for long enough during each day to produce lots of nice long pods come summertime.

So there you have it; what to grow on the north-facing side of your garden. Most of these vegetables will, of course, produce more robust plants if grown in full sun. However, if your space is limited and you simply ‘have’ to make use of that shady spot then these are the vegetables to do it with. Good luck.

This is the Dead-Easy Guide to Planting Onions Sets - like it says in the title.

Step One:

Apply general fertilizer, rake it, water it, leave it.

Step Two:

Firm it down with a nice little welly shuffle.

Step Three:
How far apart to plant them? - oh about ye far.

Step Four:
Then walk the plank baby.

Easy!

I mean, there aren’t many vegetables that look like brain when they are just emerging in early Spring, but yes Rhubarb is one of them.

Since I’m attempting to grow outdoor Peaches in the UK I deemed it time to make a Peach frame.

I can just about see tiny specs of pink inside some of the buds and that means that the tree is getting ready to flower. If we get a spate of mild weather and the flowers open, and then we get some late frosts then I can say goodbye to my hopes of any Peaches this year. Hence, the need for a removable Peach frame. 

On good days I can leave the frame off so that the tree gets maximum sunlight, but at night the frame goes back on to protect the precious buds from the frost.

It’s not just protection from frost that the frame can provide. The frame also protects the opening buds from the rain which can cause Peach Leaf Curl a fungal disease that results in all the leaves falling off the tree. A frame is a great way to protect the tree while still letting the air circulate around the plant.

So what does a girl do when she needs a Peach frame making? She asks the two men in her life to build one, that’s what she does. 

The planning stage is the most delicate.

And of course there needs to be a foreman to oversee operations.

And after all it is a good excuse to give the power tools a work out.

Just putting the finishing touches…

And maneuvering it into position.

And the job’s a good un’. As they say. Yey!

It’s time to prune your Autumn-fruiting Raspberries, among other jobs for February. Autumn raspberries fruit on this year’s growth so now is the time to cut them back down to ground level in order to encourage new shoots for the Spring growth. It’s a great way to neaten up the garden too at this time of year when everything is looking a bit straggly and worn down.

I grow Autumn Bliss and also at the allotment I used to grow a gold variety which tasted just as amazing as the normal ones. I think I prefer Autumn Raspberries to Summer Raspberries. They fruit at a time when other fruits have mostly finished and (I think) are simpler to look after and more robust than Summer varieties. But that’s just me - what do you grow?

Oh and I don’t normally garden with my leather gloves on. My usual gardening gloves were left in the potting shed and were waaaay too cold to wear!

I can hardly believe that it’s snowing - here in the South West of England - the sunshine state! Of all places. It hardly ever snows here. We probably get a light smattering, perhaps (if we cross our fingers and wish to the big snowy one in the sky) once a year. But nothing you could really call snow. I mean nothing you could make a snowball out of. 

But not today. Today, it’s snowing. Big, big flakes. And it’s sticking. Whoohoo! it’s sticking. Sorry to get all childish about it but, I love snow. As you know, I had attached myself to frost as the next best thing to snow. But now there’s no need. 

Of course there are people, who come from the big square state in the middle of America, that would suggest 1.7cm doesn’t count as snowfall. And that English people make a lot of fuss about miniscule amounts of snow and that our gritters don’t slow down enough when passing other cars. Fair enough - who cares. It’s snowing!