Plants that cope with shade
A shady bed — from a fence, a tree, or a neighbour's roof — is not a wasted bed. A genuine number of useful plants are fine with just a few hours of sun, and a few are happy with almost none.
Vegetables and herbs for part shade
Roughly 4–6 hours of sun a day — morning sun especially — is enough for all of these, and several actually do better here than in a full-sun bed.
| Plant | Notes |
|---|---|
| Lettuce & salad mixes | Bolts less in part shade than in full sun — often the better choice, not just the fallback. |
| Spinach | Same idea — prefers to avoid the hottest sun of the day. |
| Silverbeet (chard) | Reliable in part shade through most of the growing season. |
| Rocket (arugula), mustard greens & mizuna | Fast-growing and tolerate shade well. |
| Beetroot & radish | Grows a little slower than in full sun, but still usably. |
| Parsley | Genuinely productive in part shade, not just surviving. |
| Coriander (cilantro) | Actually prefers some shade — it bolts fast in strong sun. |
| Chives | Tolerant of part shade. |
| Mint | Very shade tolerant — also spreads aggressively, so keep it contained. |
Plants for near-total shade
Being straightforward about this, in the spirit of the about page: very few edible plants genuinely thrive with almost no direct sun at all. Mint and parsley will survive there, but they produce noticeably less than they would in part shade. For a spot that is properly, deeply shaded most of the day, ornamental plants are the more reliable choice:
- Ferns (many varieties) — genuinely happy in deep shade
- Hostas — grown for their leaves, do best out of direct sun
- Hellebores — flower in the depths of winter and early spring, and prefer shade
- Clivia — tough, shade-loving, and flowers well with almost no direct sun
- Mondo grass & liriope — low, reliable, shade-tolerant groundcover
- Ivy and other shade groundcovers — reliable, but can spread further than you want
How much shade is “almost complete”?
Full shade, in gardening terms, usually means under about 4 hours of direct sun a day. “Almost complete” shade — under an hour, or dappled light only — is a step further again, and it is the difference that decides whether even the toughest shade vegetables are worth trying at all, or whether it is really an ornamental-only spot. The planner will show you which one a bed actually is, at the time of year that matters to you.