I grow my potatoes in a partially shaded area. It also works well for the tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini, at least in this area. I am in Texas where the summers get hot, and no matter what some of the experts say, tomatoes don't have to have full sun to live.

Cukes, bush beans, and lettuce will tolerate shade (4-5 hours direct sun is good). vgkg

I'm on the east coast of Virginia (Chesapeake Bay area) and find that all my veggies, flowers and herbs do better in partial shade (or part of the day shade). The gardens in full sun suffer terribly. The heat and humidity in full sun are just too much.

I have rhubarb, onion and lettuce growing in a similar situation. Last year, I grew squash too and they did pretty good.

Our raised bed is in the sunniest part of our backyard, which gets sun from about 8:00 am until about 2 pm---plus a small shot at the end of the day (coming from under the trees).

Leafy stuff has all done fine. Tomatoes first ripened pretty late and then stopped ripening pretty early---but we had set them out very late.Hungarian banana peppers did well. Melons did badly. Zucchini were excessively productive until we pulled them to replant fall stuff.

I live in a forest. Last year, I planted a few things that only get a few hours of filtered sun. I had zucchini that produced ok, tomato and peppers grew well but the fruit even though matured were small (still edible). I tried carrots and radish they bombed. But surprisingly, the few carrots that I just left in the ground actually started growing the following spring. Those few carrots actually became big enough for my kids to pull and eat - I was surprised since the previous winter we received several below 0 days. Also husband mowed over the parsley and leeks(thinking they were weeds - just because he doesn't eat them) - they also started growing again and still look good. And I have a strawberry bed in my forest - grows well. Kathy

I have lots of trees on my small lot so my sunny areas are precious and few. I have my main tomato plants in the sunniest parts of my property, but I had a leftover seedling. I plopped it in a spot in my backyard where I had a compost pile year before last because the soil there was nice and workable.

That plant now has several very nice looking tomatoes.

It's not nearly as productive as my other plants, but I'm happy to have any fruit at all on what I thought would be a throwaway.

I will plant some tomatoes, hot peppers, lettuce, onion, and strawberry in a shady area of my garden which receive like 3 hours a day of sun. I hope they grow.

How did it go?

I am going to grow my tomatoes in part shade this year. It is so hot and dry here that our tomatoes tend to stop producing just when they ought to be going full guns.
When we first moved here, we moved in july. Had to dig up my tomatoes and transplant. Amazingly the ones we put in the shade (because the ground was loose there and didn't need prepared) kept producing very well.
Big suprise when we did it right and they were very sparce producing. So back to the shade and wish us well!

I think the important factor here was moisture. Transplanting in full sun in July is very hard on the small roots and the plant would have to have had a shade cover until the plant reestablished. The tomatoes planted in the shade did not have that particular handicap and they had the warmth factor that they crave so did well. I use lots of mulch - at least 4 inches (straw-leaves) in the hot summer and the tomatoes can stand any amount of sun. ps don't over-water after the plants get going.

Woo!! nice...I am going to try tomatoes and lettuce. Is it bad to plant tomatoes and lettuce near each other? Last year my tomatoes attracted lots of bugs. I am new to gardening but I wish I had a green thumb!!! Was I doing something wrong? I am scared to plant my tomatoes near the other plants now bc of the bugs it brought...

We are growing a vegetable garden with only about 3 1/2 hours of sun. They do tend to ripen later, and the plants themselves don't tend to be as bushy. We had some wonderful tomatoes last year. Good luck!!

I'm a first time veggie gardener and made the mistake of judging the sun in Feb. when I was building my raised bed. I totally forgot about the fact that the trees would have leaves on them in the spring and summer. That being said, I now only get 4 hours of direct sunlight. My lettuces, broccoli, and onions did great. Keep your fingers crossed about my tomatoes!

General rule of thumb for tomatoes is 12 light to 12 dark for the best results. Although they won't die if they don't get that exact ratio but they will have superior results.

WHAT NONSENSE I'M READING HERE! I hate all the misinformation which is pedalled by people who have never done the research to actually KNOW what they're talking about. I have grown cherry tomatoes in COMPLETE SHADE on my north facing balcony in Vancouver, Canada. They grew to about 7 ft. until I trimmed the tops, they flowered, produced tomatoes, ripened and were delicious. Now you know the facts - tomatoes can be grown with NO DIRECT SUNLIGHT - end of debate!

Well its really not nonsense... You can grow tomatoes in shade. You grew cherry tomatoes that can easily grow and mature in the shade. Larger tomatoes require more sun to grow large and mature. So as luck would have it you grew one of the few tomatoes that actually will do well in shade. If you grew them in the sun they may have been sweeter and larger, but if your happy with them then more power to you. Point is you don't have to be a prick to get your point across. The only one who thinks there is a debate is you, the rest of us are learning from each other.

A few hours of filtered sun is my situation too. Gave up on melons and dill. Peppers and tomatoes - yes, with putting in nice robust plants and not expecting very high yields. Root crops do not so bad when planted for fall. Overwintering carrot grew tolerably. Local heirloom bean seed was nice!
Tried putting reflective surfaces next to plants to increase the amount of light they receive. With correct timing, it seems to help.

I live in Arlington, TX and its Feb 1st. I planted broccoli in the shade back in October just to see what would happen and they are doing incredible. They obviously don't mind the erratic weather here in North Texas this time of year and actually are doing quite well in a nice shaded area.. I learned something new :-)

I'm happy to have discovered this thread! Wow! It's way too hot here for tomatoes, so I just planted a row of seeds in a partial shady area next to a jalapeno pepper. I know that pepper does well in partial shade because we had a (they do grow into) tree at our last house with morning sun, and afternoon shade. Produced peppers for years. I heard they can live up to 60 years.... peppers! We do have lots of areas with partial shade, and I have lots of seeds. Some I bought, and some left from a previous owner. Thanks for the info..

My summer squash (Black Beauty zucchini, Italian Striped zucchini and Yellow Straightneck squash) didn't thrive in the shade. The Yellow Straightneck squash should have had enough sun, though, but I guess either it wasn't enough, it was just too hot, or there's something wrong with the soil (too much rockdust and potassium, maybe). I'm still waiting for fruit. However, they might just need more phosphorus or something. The most shade-tolerant tomatoes I have seem to be Black Plum and Galapagos Island (Solanum cheesmanii). Georgescu Chocolate peppers produced a few peppers in the shade.

I'm planning to grow more heat-tolerant crops next year. Even the plants in the shade were super hot, this year.

As for cucumbers, neither the ones in the shade, nor the ones in the sun prospered. However, the ones that did the best of those surprised me. Those were ones I didn't thin (I just let a whole bunch of them grow together in one spot, and they actually bore fruit, while the ones by themselves didn't; they were larger, and grew faster, than the ones by themselves, too). I thought this was particularly interesting, because it goes against what people usually tell you to do (and against my experience with some kinds of plants—you know, when you have two tomatoes growing in the same spot, it usually diminishes the results). Whatever the cause, I want to try not thinning them next year, too. I've very curious to hear if anyone else has tried it.

I'm planning to grow parthenocarpic and heat-tolerant cucumbers next year, though: Monika, Little Leaf and Beit Alpha. That should change things a lot. This year, I grew Jolly Green and what I believe is called Bushy. They definitely weren't heat-tolerant, but Jolly Green did much better than Bushy in our yard, this year (or at least it's done better so far).

Parthenocarpic squash/cucumbers should do better in the shade. Part of the problem with shaded plants is that insects (which could pollinate) tend to stay in the sunny areas more. So, if you don't need pollination to set fruit, you should have a big advantage in the shade. I don't have any parthenocarpic squash, at this time, but I do have seeds for a heat-tolerant zucchini for next year (Dark Star). I'd really like some parthenocarpic ones, though (particularly if they breed true).

Galapagos Island tomatoes seem to taste exactly the same (and be exactly the same size), whether they're grown indoors in a south window, in outdoor shade, or in outdoor full sun. Other tomatoes may vary.