25 Vegetables You Can Grow in Shade

There are many veggies that grow in shade. This list of vegetables has options for all types of shade so you can grow lots of food without full sun. Options include broccoli, beans, peas, spinach, and more. And, good news, often veggies can do better without hot, direct sun.

For more, also see this list of hostas that can grow in sun or shade, and colourful plant ideas for shade gardens.

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Growing Veggies in Shade

Many gardens have a variety of lighting conditions, from dappled shade under dense trees to full sun in open areas, with variations throughout the day. This is actually ideal for growing a wide range of vegetables including kale, spinach, lettuces and mesclun mix (my favorite!), celery, beets, herbs, and more.

I’ll walk you through how to make it work (and get lots of delicious veggies).

• Once you determine the shade characteristics of your garden (I’ll describe them below), you can plan your veggie garden accordingly.
• If you are not sure about your light and shade conditions but want to get started anyways (cheers for enthusiasm!), consider starting your veggies in containers so you can move them around if they end up needing more or less light than you planned on.
• Because sun-loving veggies like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, watermelon, cucumber, and zucchini (check out the delicious recipes here) need a lot of energy from the sun to get through flowering, fruiting, and ripening of their fruits, these crops should go in any full-sun locations you have.
• Crops we grow for stems and leaves like salad greens need cool shade to help prevent bolting which is premature seed production and makes them inedible.

Keep in mind that this list of shade veggies is generalized. One type of broccoli might do fine with a lot of sun while another may bolt unless kept in cool shade. The variations have lots of variations.

First and foremost, always select vegetables that are suited for your growing region, follow the planting instructions on your plant tags or seed packets, and be willing to adapt and experiment to find what works best for you.

I can’t list every possible vegetable, but this should give you ideas. You’ll notice natural groupings depending on whether the root, leaf, or bud is eaten.

Light Exposure Definitions

This has more tips on understanding light conditions and how to assess the sun and shade in your garden.

25 Veggies for Shade

As you’ll see in the chart (below), there is a hierarchy depending on the overall light and shade levels, ranging from veggies like broccoli and Brussels sprouts that prefer a fair amount of sun (partial or half shade), to the salad greens (including mesclun mix) that do fine in dappled and light shade.

Afternoon sun has much greater intensity than morning sun so try things out and see what’s best.

The amount of sun listed here is the minimum that will still provide a successful harvest.

You can find seeds here at Botanical Interests.

5Hours of Afternoon Sun Per Day

This group includes brassicas (edible flower buds).

• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Swiss Chard (stalks)

There is a fine line between providing enough energy from the sun for the brassicas to grow yet not so much that they bolt.

4-5Hours of Afternoon Sun Per Day

This groups includes many root vegetables.

• Beans
• Beets
• Carrots
• Celery
• Celeriac
• Collards
• Pak Choy
• Peas
• Radishes
• Rutabagas
• Turnips

3-4Hours of Afternoon Sun Per Day

Edible leaves enjoy some shade and need cool, moist conditions.

• Arugula
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Mizuna
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard (leaves)

3Hours of Afternoon Sun Per Day

• Culinary Herbs | Here’s a handy guide to growing annual and perennial herbs
• Mustard Greens

2Hours of Afternoon Sun Per Day

There are some salad greens that do fine with minimal sun. If this is all you’ve got, try growing them and see how they do.

• Asian Greens | Water spinach (ong choy), Shanghai bok choy, Chinese mustard greens (gai choy), Yu choy sum (Chinese oil vegetable), bok choy, gai lan (Chinese broccoli).
• Mesclun Mix

One of my favorite shade crops is mesclun mix (see the seeds here via Amazon.com) which is a bunch of different types of salad greens.

Many vegetables we grow for the edible stems or leaves can be foraged any time during the growing season. This provides examples of vegetables parts we don’t realize are edible and delicious.

Resources

Happy growing!

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛