All the vegetables you list require full sun--at least 8 hours a day for best performance. Vegetables that will grow with less than 6 hours include lettuces, greens, radishes, turnips.

You said "The long sides of my yard... are on the North and South sides of the fences". So one fence is to the north of the yard, and one is to the south? Maybe I am envisioning it wrong... but if so, why not put the garden next to the fence on the north side, which would give you the ideal southern exposure?

Also, what about your front yard? If you build raised beds in an attractive layout, a vegetable garden can be really beautiful.

If you are stuck with that location, the previous poster is right about veggies you could try in that spot... also, if you build very high (think 18-24") raised beds in the shadiest spot, that would help avoid the shadow from the fence...

Experiment is the name of the game. I had two patches of tomatoes last year. One in full sun, the other with morning filtered shade, a few hours of sun and then filtered shade. The 'shade' patch outperformed the sun patch big time! go figure. Re: growing in sunny front yard, I put sweet potatoes in my front yard, which is where all of my real sunny space is .... really very pretty plant. Can you interplant some of those other plants in your front yard plantings? Carrots are pretty... so are bell peppers.

Viking - You are correct on the layout of the yard. I am pretty much dedicated to that site because on the North side of the yard, where the sun would be better, I have a large shed going in at the only location I think would perform well on that site. Other than where the shed is, my neighbor to the North has a tree that hangs over the fence and shades the other portion of the Northern fence. If not for that tree, it would be optimum.

My yard is small to start with, so locations are few and far between. The back yard usable space is about 34' wide by 30' deep. There will be a 12x12 shed with an 8' overhang on the one site I mentioned.

I measured at about 10:30 this morning, and from the ground the shadow extends 8' onto the yard from the fence in question. I wonder if there is somewhere I can find the angles to the sun and how it would change to figure out what I need for height to get sun on a garden in that spot.

I could grow some things in the front yard. I just put a fence in the front of the house last year, and will be landscaping that area this spring. Perhaps a few pepper plants would work up there mixed in with some other hedge-type bushes. I was planning on growing red and yellow peppers anyhow, so that would bring some color.

Garlic is supposed to be good for roses =) So maybe that would work up front, too? Lettuce is also pretty planted in with flowers. If you try a cucumber like Lemon, it would look really pretty growing up onto your fence...

Why not put a narrow vegetable bed along the southern edge of your shed? You could put the real sun-lovers (like corn, tomatoes, squash) there.

Also, don't forget that the sun is quickly moving overhead as the days get longer... so that shadow that is 8' right now won't be 8' by June! You might find it's sunnier than you think come summer!

My yard is tricky with sun, too... after a few years, I've managed to work out my plantings so that spring and fall veggies go kind of under trees where the sun slants in that time of year (and then are shaded during summer, when they don't like the heat), and summer veggies go closer to the house where it is more shady in spring and fall, but full sun in summer. It's challenging, but you can make it work!

FYI, I'm in zone 5 at 43 N Latitude. If you're near that latitude you should get similar length shadows. June 21 sun gives me about a 2 foot midday shadow strip along the north side a 6 foot privacy fence. It gets sun early and late in the day. The shadow gets longer before and after the summmer soltice and the early and late sun on the north side of the fence is lost. Also, realize that the August 21 shadow will be as long as the April 21 shadow.(2 months before and after summer solstice) August 21 is prime growing time for many sun and heat lovers like peppers and tomatoes. You don't want them going into the shade then.

Do whatever you can to get the sun and heat lovers into sunny spots. But if none are available, you may as well experiment and see if you can still get a harvest. Your lettuce should do okay with lower light exposure.

Peppers and tomatoes grow well in containers. Some of your other listed crops do, also. Maybe some containters could be used in sunny spots and moved as the shadows change throughout the season.

I see you are SW Michigan. I live in South Bend, IN. Right where Notre Dame is. We most likely have the same exact sun. I haven't been able to see what the shade is like during the summer because I wasn't looking to put a garden in last year. I will do some figuring as to the bed location and height to get the most of my sun opportunities. Other than lettuce, is there something else that would grow well in that indirect light area that is on my list?

Thanks for all the help so far. This should save me a lot of troubles and money this summer!!