10 Vegetables and Herbs PERFECT for SHADE Garden Spots
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- Опубліковано 23 лют 2023
- Lack of sunny garden spots got you down? We've got you covered! Here are 10 vegetables and herbs we've personally vetted will thrive - or at least tolerate - a partial or full shade location.
In today's video, we'll cover our top 10 choices for what to grow in the shadiest parts of your garden. You'll get planting ideas for the cooler months, the main Summer growing season, some perennial options, and even an ornamental plant for when all else fails.
Please join us we grow some amazing fruits, vegetables, and herbs in our shade garden!
Resources Mentioned in the Video
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- Tomatillo Mistakes and How to Avoid Them: • 5 Tomatillo Growing Mi...
- How to Grow Pole Beans in Containers: • How to Grow Beans in P...
#gardening #gardeningtips #homesteading
Attributions
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Japanese Forest Grass Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... - Навчання та стиль
Please add your growing zone and 1st/last frost dates to your 'about' page. That would be helpful to us in order to adjust our thinking and planning for our own gardens. Thanks!
*edit*: Added a little blurb to our about page! Thanks again for the idea =)
Good tip! I'll noodle on what would be the most helpful on that front.
Cheers!
@@NextdoorHomestead So, what is your growing zone?
@lera m Zone 9! But.... I'm not a huge fan of the zone system for annual edibles. They've led to some really incorrect guidance on when to plant.
I've added a more informative description to the About page =)
@@NextdoorHomestead Thank You,
sir
@@NextdoorHomesteadbut it does help us newbies who know nothing to see that so and so in zone blah blah blah was able to grow wooptywoos when the professional officials said that we can't because yada yada. Seeing a backyardagan successfully grow something in my same zone gives me hope and inspiration to try it too.
Fall/Spring shade
0:38 arugula
1:29 frisée endive
2:36 carrot
3:28 macha greens
Summer shade
5:16 black cherry tomatoes
6:09 tomatillos
6:58 pole beams
Perennial shade
7:47 peppermint
8:23 blueberries
9:59 lemon balm
Bonus
11:36 Japanese forest grass
Thank you.
Thanks!
Thanks a million!❤
You are a hero! Thank you.
Thank you so much!
“New frames need analyzing. Click Analyze.”
😂😂
Hostas do well in the shade and the new spring buds taste delicious roasted like asparagus!
Hahaha if nothing else this video has been a cosmic reminder to get myself to the nursery for some Hostas! I can't wait to try them now!
They are edible?
In Michigan I have great success with parsley, strawberries, and rhubarb in shade. Kale and Collards do very well all winter as well.
I wish I'd done collards in Fall to overwinter! I love them and they're doing great this Spring for us too.
What kind of strawberries do you like to grow?
An FYI for anyone interested in em. Peppermint (and mint of course) are both incredibly aggressive growers. I would suggest planting them in their own separate pots and or in a corner of your yard that you don't intend on growing anything else. They WILL out compete and actually kill other plants and are INCREDIBLY tough to remove once they've set roots. On the plus side of that they're incredibly resilient and continuously grow throughout all seasons (from my experience).
1000%. Great advice and I should have mentioned this. I haven't had an issue with them growing out of control in the ground because our native soil is so tough but they will take over a container in a season or two.
They're deceptive too! In season one they might seem like they're playing nice but all the while sending out runners underground and then just explode the next Spring and take the space =)
Add Shiso to that list, also a mint relative. But they dont spread by runners but by aggressive seed spread. They are extremely shallow rooted, so if you let a plant go to seed then next season expect a carpet of the stuff. But you can easily rip them out with a tug. Popular for Asian cuisine, they love the sun and shade, but I advise against letting this plant self dow as it's fatality toxic to any ruminent animal in any form, fresh or dried, and also dogs in concentrated seeds form. I missed out on the chance to have a herd of goats clear my forrest floor of unwanted brush and poison ivy because I had this mint running wild everywhere the wind blows. Its been two years and I'm still pulling new seedlings each spring. Wish I'd thought to sell it to the local Asian Food Mart. I could have made a buck or two.
OTOH, I do let my Lemon Balm Run as wild as it can.
My peppermint got knocked over by critters and escaped, taking over the strip of soil beside my front walk. I wasn't too disappointed though, because fireants had also taken over that strip and were a literal pain to deL with when trying to harvest badol and peppers from. The o ly sunny spot in my yard. Bonus, I always have a gift for people walking by: freshly cut mint for tea!
@@NextdoorHomestead Yeah they for sure are. My mom put some in my oregano pot and by the time I noticed it was already too late, I kind of let the two run their course and it became a faction war between the two. A combination of a really bad frost storm and I imagine the both of them fighting for root space and nutrients really killed back the bunch. So I pretty much dug out as much as I could, planted a new set of oregano and left what I 100% verified to be oregano n remove whatever peppermint stragglers that I managed to miss. By the end I hope the oregano just outcompetes the peppermint with my assistance and I can finally have my oregano pot back lol.
We live in a forested area and are shaded on all sides- we only get about 4hrs of sun in the main part of our garden. I can reliably grow indeterminate tomatoes, hot peppers, broccoli, kale, romaine and butter crunch lettuces (I just leave it to go to seed and it comes up in its own each year), ground cherries (these also self sow) and garlic, asparagus and strawberries. And so many herbs do well in shade- chives, thyme, oregano, lovage, sage, self sown cilantro and dill… and basil in containers
Best shade plant I've found is Garlic Chives - They're almost impossible to kill and require no care plus pollinators like the flowers.
Oh that's such a good addition! I love me some chives.
Agreed, I grow chives in a container on my porch. No direct sun at all
I just chop mine down for the winter and they pop back up come early spring! 4years same bunch
@@NextdoorHomestead they're a really intensely flavored vegetable too, a bit tough but in stir fries, soups or stews they're amazing.
Wild nodding onions aren't picky, you can eat the green tops and the bees love the flowers too. They grow wild in my yard.
Awww, you have a Rhodesian Ridgeback! I've had several over the years. Best dogs ever ❤
BEST DOGS EVER =)
I'm in the PNW and I always leave a couple of lettuce plants to bolt because the flowers come out very early in spring and the bees are ravenous for them.
OK, thank you! I feel like a crazy person but I just have to let some of our overwintered greens bolt for the bees. It's the only way I can compete with the rosemary plants in the neighborhood that hog all the bee life =)
I've been slowly turning my lawn into organic white dutch clover. It comes out just after my first flowers (cherry blossoms) arrive, which is the same time dandelions start to come out. one of the best "first foods of the season" for bees.
@@dethaddr I need to get back to planting clover - thank you for the reminder! We used to and I sort of fell out of the habit...
Nasturtium really needs to be added to this list. Grows in full shade, through mild winters. Is both food and medicine. Grow extremely easy even in depleted soil. And It’s so pretty
=)
Ok, I have to admit I have bad luck with nasturtiums! I am giving them another shot right now though - they're in some trays (hopefully germinating).
I didn't know they were edible, thank you for the tip!
Nasturtium seeds (if your plants set seed) may also be pickled like capers, which they sort of taste like. I missed the boat to start my own here this year (northern Gulf of Mexico Coast zone 8b).
I may buy some locally grown potted nasturtiums this spring to hang in shade (little mom & pop growers are less likely to treat their plants with neonicotinoid systemic poisons like some of the big box stores use on their "ornamental" plants). I like hanging baskets of beautiful trailing nastutiums in shade to add some peppery bite to my salads with their leaves and flowers, and maybe even get enough seeds to save a few for next fall and pickle the rest. Fairly heavy shade gives them more of a growing season in the heat here.
This is my first year growing Nasturtiums and I’m so excited to see them flower. My daughter is dying to be able to eat flowers!😂
Nasturtium grows like a weed here in the San Francisco Bay area but I don't think it likes the heat where he lives
@@wardsdotnetyou are right - nasturtium does NOT like the heat. It is mainly a late fall/winter/early spring plant here on the northern Gulf Coast. (Deep South zone 8b) It gives up and dies when summer's heat comes on in April/May.
Cilantro is like that too.
Edible shade flowers & "weeds".
Eg: Nasturtium. Violets. Dandelions. Nettles. Paint reflective walls matte white, it'll improve reflective sunlight. KiaOra from New Zealand.
I love edible flowers! Definitely a world I'd like to learn more about.
Thanks for sharing your ideas =)
@@NextdoorHomestead
I really like your food garden ideas for marginal land! 🙂 Carrots and winter rye have an antifreeze protein. Red (Pakistani) carrots do well in the winter season. 🥕
violets are great in shade as groundcover - and not only the flowers are edible, the leaves, too. Almost all year round - I'm in Germany Zone 7b-ish, so in zone 9 they might be awesome in winter, too.
@@MartinaSchoppe
Hello Martina. My Grandma taught me how to make crystallised flowers. Sweets & cake decorations. They're gorgeous! Candied or crystallized flowers add a delicate floral flavor and a beautiful appearance. Do take care though, not all flowers are edible.
Here are the ones I commonly use: hibiscus, shrinking violets, lavender, primroses, roses, borage, jasmine, violas, nasturtiums, cornflowers, sage, thyme flowers.
🌹🌺 Process:
Pick the flowers on a dry, sunny day when they are fully open. Remove the stalks. Pour a lightly beaten (but not frothy) egg white into a saucer. Have another saucer of caster sugar beside it.
Using tweezers, dip the flower heads or petals first into the egg white and then into the sugar. Use a fine paintbrush to tease the sugar into any crinkles and hollows within the flower.
Shake off any excess sugar before laying the flowers on a sheet of baking parchment. Place in a warm, dry and airy spot to dry for 24-48 hours.
When fully dry, store the crystallised flowers carefully between layers of baking parchment or greaseproof paper in an airtight container. This extends their life and preserves them for up to a year.
🍃🌺🌼🍃🌼🌺🌼🍃🌺🌼🍃
@@MartinaSchoppe I just *love* johnny jump ups (viola tricolor). We've actually got a couple dozen germinating in the garage right now and some volunteers popping up in the vegetable garden.
I think they are the prettiest edible flower out there.
I tried growing them in our cool seasons last year as some folks seem to have success with it but they couldn't handle it unfortunately =(
I just subscribed!!!
I have a thing for gardeners that smile in their thumbnails in such a way that lets me know that they love gardening as much as I do :)
That’s how Jess from Roots and refuge got me. Her thumbnails are so joyful and jolly!
Welcome to the channel!!! =)
I think looking for people who love gardening is a pretty great rubric^^
I'll have to check out Roots and Refuge!
I've been planting my tomatoes in the shade every year. They seem to like it especially the cherry and grape tomatoes. I even tried planting some big tomatoes and I was surprised to have a harvest last year also. The yard long beans, basil, water spinach, kale, sorrel and even peppers grow in my shady spot with only 2 1/2 hours sun.
2.5 hours is really impressive!
I agree on sorrel - it's another great shade option. I love the red veined sorrel and have a lot of it coming in right now!
Did you feed them a lot?
You have given me hope and encouragement that may be able to grow in my forest of a backyard. I have tall looking pines and gumball trees, as well as some I identified deciduous trees that steal the sun once spring is over. I get a lot if direct sun, then it turns shady and hot. I just purchased a variety of cherry and currant tomatoes , and some everglades seeds. I was concerned I'd have to use my front yard for the morning sun, but if midday sun and afternoon dappled shade can still grow them, I may have more space options.
Your full off Dug
I can grow lemons in 3 hours of sunlight
The type of blueberry you should grow in shade is the Scandinavian Blueberry which is called Billberry in the US. It contains like 10 times more flavinoids than the American Blueberry, is nootropic and a MAOI which you supposedly can get high of if you eat enough of it.
The bilberry is native to UK and is the original plant that all other blueberries are derived from. It's not a type of blueberry. It is the mother of all.
Now THAT is the type of blueberries I need
I've also found thyme to be a great shade tolerant herb doesn't grow AS big, but it hangs in and provides some nice additional food/spice in the life
1000% I totally agree. I'm working on an herb video and we put the thyme in a shadier spot on purpose so it doesn't get too big.
Awesome info! We live in the woods and don’t like to mass clear so we hand clear anywhere we need to create a garden bed, pop up a high tunnel or greenhouse and all of our paths are hand cleared. I’ve studied forest farming and wildcrafting because I naturally have ALOT of shade and dapple sun areas. So any food or medicine I can grow in low light areas is a bonus to us!
That sounds seriously delightful. Good on you for working with your ecosystem and I'm so glad you got something useful from this video =)
Any suggestions of how you deal with wildlife like squirrels, raccoons, and deer.?
In defense of the ornamental grass, bunching grasses are good nesting locations for ground beetles, which eat garden pests. So if you can't grow food there, you can use the area to grow support plants for your garden.
I love that, thank you Carson. It's hard sometimes to give up productive (in terms of food production) space but it's nice to find other ways to benefit your own little ecosystem =)
Yes, "support plants" is a good description! Think native plants to attract pollinators etc 😊
I have good deal of shade in my Northern Michigan garden. I found that Swiss Chard Bright Lights did incredibly well in medium shade, and was a gorgeous addition of color lining my paths. Can't wait to try some of your tips!
That's awesome - I personally *love* swiss chard and have lots growing =). I mostly just go with the rainbow mix, but I think that ends next year. I want to find some specific varieties and narrow it down to the best.
Anyhow, hope the tips help!
Ditto on this! I live in southern Michigan and swiss chard (Bright Lights mix, and Fordhook Giant) does very well in lower light areas!
I'm in 6b and cucumbers do alright in partial shade. They thrive on neglect once established.
Thanks for sharing! I think a few other commenters have said the same thing - sounds like a good experiment =)
… don’t forget that the carrot tops are very edible … as are the leaves from many vegetables you wouldn’t think of !
100%. I was telling a farmer friend that I didn't think I wanted to plant Kohlrabi because it's not enough food per plant. And he reminded me to include the greens! Kohlrabi is now back =)
Thank you! Great to finally find a cold region/shade gardening channel.
While my garden isn't strictly all shade, it is a north facing garden in Scotland, and few are the days when it isn't overcast.
I am delighted to see a tomato growing in such conditions - when, for the past 20 years, I have been unable to get more than 3-4 tomatoes total, regardless of all the tips and tricks I've ferreted out of the internet. Nothing's worked and this is the first year I've finally given up.
So I am definitely going to try and track down some black tomato seed!
Might I suggest - I have blackcurrants and redcurrants fruiting reasonably well under the dense shade of an ancient hazelnut tree, gooseberries fruiting sufficiently under the denser shade of a large goat willow, and many raspberries will tolerate a bit of shade too.
Also, in the perennial vegetable bracket - Red-Veined Sorrel works for me (in leaf right now. In fact, there have been a few leaves throughout the winter).
Alchemilla mollis will happily produce mountains of edible leaves wherever you plant it. It does best in sun, but a bit of shade will keep it that little bit more manageable. An acquired taste, some people don't like the very slight fur on the leaf surface in a salad, but if you chop it up well with other leaves or use them like spinach to pad out a stew, they're fine.
Last year, I planted an Ostrich Fern in a mostly shady place. It's quite small at the moment, but I hear these 'Fiddleheads' are very popular in California at least.
My Marjoram plants have had a crown of tiny leaves in the centre all winter just like the mint, so that's another one to try. I'm currently dividing mine up to try in the wilder permaculture garden, see how they fare among other, larger plants.
Some Hostas are edible. I'm unsure exactly which ones, but I have 'Bressingham Blue' in my garden. It's more green than blue, but I'm limited to what I can grow because I have a ton of slugs and snails, this is a slug-proof variety and slug-proof Hostas are as rare as hen's teeth.
I'll have to give carrots another go. I think that my habit of a Spring sowing is what's producing poor results. Evidently, they need that extra few months.
Good luck with the channel.
Thank you kindly Debbie! If you've long struggled to get tomatoes to fruit, might I suggest going even more extreme and trying to grow a parthenocarpic variety? Something like 'Oregon Star' or 'Oregon Spring'? They don't require pollination at all to set fruit and were bred as such to give harvests in the very low sun conditions of the Pacific Northwest coast. Just an idea!
And I LOVE red-veined sorrel. I've got 36 of 'em waiting to plant out right now actually =)
We're growing Jostaberry (a currant / gooseberry hybrid) which likes to be out of our harsh sun but I will definitely look out for some standard currant bushes too!
And thank you for the tip on the Hosta variety! A local nursery owner told me about the slug issue around here, I didn't know there were resistant varieties.
Cheers!
North West England... Tiny 'garden' n mostly in shade a little light only during a sunny summer 😂😂😂!! (we mainly have cloudy wet skies even in summer).
Agree red veined sorrel, however crop very tiny compared to any sun areas. N brambles... Few raspberries if can grow tall enough. Everything else just dies off chives!! Everything. strawberries grow but no fruit so use it to prpergate runners.
2 Parsley plants did well for a few months then died, replanted but they died. So annoying such limited space n little grows. Tomatoes, carrots all others mentioned just failed. 😢
@@SamSung-fp2vj Sorry Sam, that sounds incredibly frustrating. Can I ask what the traditional crops of the area were/are?
No idea. A field would have more access to Sun etc... With tiny town 'spaces ' 'gardens' extra challenges. Little space, light, cold, soggy. Too many summers a wash out. Not able to even dry washing outside.
Sending gratitude from a Daoist monastery near Seattle (USA)!
Thanks John - we really appreciate that =)
I have a lot of shade, and the single most consistently productive food plant I grow are peppers with small to medium sized pods (i.e. not bell peppers -- they take forever to reach full size and another eternity to ripen -- one bird peck and you've lost all that). Pepper plants can survive dry conditions, they survived our rainiest year on record in 2018, they can tolerate a pretty wide temperature range; most heirloom peppers are far more disease-resistant than any F1 hybrid tomato. I've done well with pole beans and tomatoes too (except 2018). For tomatoes I prefer cold-weather / arctic varieties, as I can start them eariler and being in shade is a lot like being in a much cooler microclimate.
I attended a seed exchange event in my community the other day (it was so much fun and an amazing way to make sure extra seeds don't go to waste and try new varieties!) Anyway, they had a short presentation on seed saving and talked about how if you save from plants that do particularly well in the conditions you're looking for, within a couple generations you'll have plants that are more suited to those conditions. Have you experienced anything like this? I'm thinking of trying to do that for plants I'm trying to grow in my shady back yard.
That sounds like a blast! I haven't personally done any sort of landracing attempts but I think it's only a matter of time. I'm not huge on seed saving normally but I think if done with a goal of creating a line that's hyper-adapted to your microclimate, it could be really fun =)
Hello! I just find your channel and I love it! Gardening was such an important part of my recovery from depression and anxiety ♥️ Now it's lovely to watch content creators like you talk about plants, nature and gardening with so much love and passion. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, I don't know a lot about plants that thrive on shade so this is perfect! I would absolutely love to do Spanish subtitles for this video for free, so I can share it with friends and family! If that's something you'd be interested in, please let me know 🌿
Hi Rosario! Thank you so much for this lovely comment, it just brings such a smile to my face. Truly.
I would absolutely love to have Spanish subtitles, that sounds wonderful. Emberrasingly, I've never added subtitles to a video and will need to learn how!
If it is really something you are interested in doing, let me know - my email is on the About page for the channel =)
This video is a life saver, my apartment balcony is big but in full shade. I've been heartbroken about it since I moved in, but I feel a lot better knowing I can still grow my own edible plants. Amazing video!
Thank you! Please don't give up and experiment as much as you can. There are some great additional suggestion in these comments as well =)
Commenting as I watch.
Arugula is Rocket here, and yes, ours prefer shade due to how harsh our sun can be here. We get better yield and softer flavour through autumn/winter. in spring it gets very bitter, and bolts towards the end.
Endive: I don't even know what this is, but sounds like it would suit our half and half spots.
Carrot: yeah, we grew our last lot in mostly shade. It was fine we just had to be careful with water retention.
Corn salad: never heard of it, but cool. Our lettuce does good in pretty much full shade.
Tomatos: All year crop for us. Our cherries all do well in shade.
Tomatillos: haven't tried yet.
Pole bean: have only done snow peas. So a bit different, but they do so good in mostly shade and ours got over 6ft lol.
Mint: Only mint that we've managed to grow is cat mint, but it is thriving and in the shade.
Blueberries: have just died. Everytime.
Lemonbalm: something in my garden adore lemon balm so it gets eaten before I ever get usable lol. But yes, we get good sprouting with shade.
Japanese grass: cool.
Some additions we've had luck with in shade:
Lemongrass
Monsteria deliciousa
Dragonfruit
Corn & sorghum & wheat surprisingly
Amaranth is fantastic in shade. Maybe not full shade, but majority of the day is fine.
Malabar spinach. It grows well in sun or shade. Depending on your climate.
Anyway, you're an awesome creator. Glad you came up in my rec!
Oh and I'm in QLD Australia
What?! This is just such a tremendous comment. Hahaha, I'm so stoked reading someone else's experience with all these.
- You should 100% try tomatillos they are the best
- my next video is on blueberries actually - they are totally fussy
- Malabar is maybe a top 5 plant for me. I'm so excited to make a video on it this year and hopefully spread the word ;)
Thank you so much for the kind words. Really appreciate it!
@@NextdoorHomestead Look forward to the blueberry stuff then! Pretty much any "speciality" types I'd have to buy from seed tho, as our local nurseries don't stock the best options.
And yes, once I get my hands on some tomatillo seeds I will definitely see how they go. They look similar to Cape gooseberries so hopefully grow just as well here.
We also rely solely on rain water on our property so experimenting with shade has been incredibly important over the past 6 years that we've been on this property, because as you found out, shade makes for less evaporation.
Having said that, I'm having some really good success with sunken terracotta pot watering systems now so it's not as important. I have invested in some shade cloth tho for when summer comes back.
Wasabi Japonica grows fine in the shade here, in the Netherlands. Keep it out of the sun, use big pots. Had some frost, didn't mind it at all. Full summer sun kills it.
O wow what an awesome idea. Love love love this. Will have to try and find some.
Agree on the blueberries….we have a much cooler, mostly shade spot of the yard, and potted blueberries have grown fine there, even with imperfectly acidified soil.
Wow, you are such a great presenter. Fabulous video. Thank you so much. Great information.
This was such a kind comment, thank you so much Veronica! I'm so glad it was helpful =)
Thanks for the video. I will have to give carrots and Tomatillos a chance in my more shaded area. I have at least 20 oaks plus numerous other tress so I have very little sunny areas in my yard,
Oh oak shade is serious. I would definitely give carrots a go.
Thanks for the suggestions! Looking forward to getting some of these plants into my garden this year. I’ve been trying to figure out my shady areas for two years now! Hoping I can fill my beds this year🙂.
No problem! Lots of experimentation is definitely the key. We're trying a variety of alliums and some more greens in these shady spots to try and expand our list =)
Best of luck!
I'm excited! My growing areas are partial sun thanks to mature trees throwing shade. Also a plus, I'm in Zone 9! Very cool!
Looking forward to more videos 🌻
So glad you enjoyed it Nancy! Definitely got more videos to come 😁
Arugla is known in the UK as 'rocket'. Mache greens are known as 'lamb's lettuce'.
Woah, I didn't know that about mache! Thank you very much =)
@@NextdoorHomestead Mâche is the French name.
It's "roquette" in french as well
I’d add bush beans to the list. I’ve done great with bush beans with only 4 hours of direct sun while I need more like 6 hours for pole beans. I’d also look at peppers for locations that get only morning sun if you live in hot climates (this helps avoid sun scald.) Finally, you mentioned limited blueberry varieties due to heat. Check out Rabbiteye blueberry varieties. These grow in the southern US (Georgia to Texas) and handle intense heat just fine. There are lots varieties.
You know, I need to look into Rabbiteyes more. They're not easy to come by around me and it's a truism here that only southern highbush will work. Thanks for the reminder!
And yeah, I agree with you re: bush beans. I've had better luck with pole beans due to their growth habits but Provider bush beans seem to do well enough in just about any context.
@@NextdoorHomestead if you do go with a rabbiteye, it’s recommended to get at least two different varieties that blossom at the same time. The cross pollination yields substantially more fruit.
Sorry for the late reply Elliot - for some reason your comment was flagged for review automatically. I have absolutely no idea why.
I'm definitely going to ask around and see if I can find some to try out.
My grandma planted blueberries at her house back in the 80s. The house is a hunting cabin now. We do nothing to take care of them. They are amazing. Best blueberries ever. I can't wait to go up there during summer.
That sounds amazing =)
I predict you’ll be at 1 million subscribers by next spring. And I love how you snuck in the “y’all “!!
Haha thank you for the encouragement! It's just nice to have folks watching and commenting and engaging. What a blast =)
Black Cherry Tomatoes were a big winner in my garden too. We felt they had an okay flavor fresh but really got a chance to shine when halved and dried in the oven. Perfect pizza topping.
Yes! Haha, so glad to hear they weren't just good for us. On the flavor front, my toddler and I *loved* them and my wife thought they were just OK. Tomato preferences are so wonky...
Black Cherry Tomatoes are my absolute favorite! I roasted the excess in olive oil & froze for winter. Couldn't find any last year, but I did find its predecessor Chocolate something or other. Hopefully, I'll find some this year!
@@ValerieT2023 Somehow I keep reading about people roasting their cherry tomatoes recently and I'm getting real antsy for Summer!
Anyone try Indigo Rose tomato? They are larger than cherry, and rounder than plum, but about the same size. They were aromatic like a flower and sweet without acidity, and had such a deep Indigo hue wherever the sun touched the skin, and pink bottoms from shade. I recommend them.
@@Metqa I've not tried Indigo Rose, but I did try some type of indigo tomato a couple of years ago. I bought it at Lowe's. Was not impressed at all. Didn't produce well, didn't taste that good and I had trouble telling when they were ripe. May have been just a bad summer for tomatoes but I think it was the indigo tomato
plants since none of them did well.
Lemon balm is a great deer deterrent!
I had no idea of that. Thanks for the tip! Now if I can just find a plant the turkeys hate...
So glad to know of your videos! Carry on!!
I bought a townhouse that gets no direct sun... This is perfect for my homestead!
Yay! I hope you have an awesome, productive garden this year =)
Here's to growing lots of food in small places!
I've heard that about carrots. If there grown in the colder environment they tend to be sweeter
Thanks for the video. Learn something new every day
Certainly true of some leafy greens too! Always a nice perk of Winter =)
Thank you for watching - so glad it was informational!
I love your enthusiasm! Gardening makes me excited too :)
THANK YOU! ;)
I think it all sort of comes out as we approach spring!
Semi tropical arid climate, no frost, by far and away, BANANAS. Planted as an understory below 2O meter tall native figs, 100% shade, extremely productive.
Ok, how cool! This is my new favorite suggestion; we've wanted to try growing bananas for *years* actually.
Great info! Thank you!
Great video!! ❤
Very neat indeed, thanks for the list and ideas on this!
My pleasure!
Very helpful. Thank you!
No problem! Glad it was helpful 😁
As someone who lives in an apartment and my only planting area outside is a covered 16 sq. ft. patio, these kinds of videos are so good for me. I'm growing carrots, potatoes, and radishes right now, but want to move into some more flowering plants.
Definitely try it! We also grew beans and peas in our apartment windowsill once upon a time =)
Thanks for this 🤗
No problem! Thank you for watching =)
This is really interesting as I'm trying to grow in a north facing back garden plot. Thanks for putting this together.
I’m excited to plant my carrots 🥕 got the perfect spot
So exciting! They are such a fun crop. My dog gets so excited when we harvest...
@@NextdoorHomestead I bet! Love the channel
My neighbor does a lot of home remodeling projects, and he has put a bunch of large mirrors (which his customers no longer want) on the side of his house to add more light to shady areas next to his fence.
Ok, that is so cool! I suppose indoor plant growers have been using reflective materials for ages so it makes sense =)
Love it!
Great advice 👍
Thanks! I appreciate that 😁
Just discovered and subscribed to your channel. Great infos, can't wait to see more!
Thanks so much Davann! Lots more gardening and gardenin' videos to come ;)
Cheers!
Enjoyed
So glad to hear it!
Great vid thanks man!
Thank you sir! Appreciate it 😁
Solid video! Can I throw out the suggestion to add timestamps per plant? Makes it so much easier to come back and find info
Needed this...
Hope it helped =)
I’ve always been warned about mint taking over. I’m old, a widow and have downsized from a small farm with a dairy goat herd and all manner of other farm animals. Now I’m on an acre pretty much in the middle of 40 acres of woods. I am container gardening, and the rest is just a bit wild. My weed trimmer keeps things cut down around the house pretty much. I’m thinking of seeding the place with mint. Keeps down mice and spiders, and I’m hoping scorpions (I’m now in Arkansas, who knew Arkansas had scorpions?🤣). I think it will also smell wonderful when I take the weed eater to it.
An acre in the middle of 40 acres of woods sounds like perfection =) You know, minus the scorpions! 0_o
Zone 9 yay. Me too. This video is priceless for me. 😊😊
Awesome! Haha glad to hear it's being helpful =)
Thank you!
You're so welcome!
This a good video :) the people complaining want all the information in one place and obviously don’t want to do their own research. Your doing great. Thanks for the tips.
Thank you so much Flora! Love the encouragement =)
I agree. They can easily google the hardiness zones of the plants they're interested in. Takes seconds.
Thanks, this was good to know.
No problem, thanks for watching!
Thanks!
No problem! Thanks for watching!
thank you!
No problem at all! Thanks for watching 😁
Excellent information 👌 thanks buddy😊
You are so welcome! Hope your shady spots thrive this year =)
I love growing arugula! I eat it in sandwiches almost every day
I've really grown to enjoy it more and more. So good for multiple cuts.
I bet you are very healthy & happy 😊
Arugula is a gem 💎 indeed.
Thanks for the helpful video
Oh I'm so glad it was helpful!
Seconding lemonbalm. It's the only plant that lives in the shadiest spot under the deck. Also survived 15F frost and 115F summer.
None of the mint types survived
Now that's a swing! We get that high but not that low 0_o
@NextdoorHomestead yes, it's hard to find edible non-tree perenials with these temps for a small urban garden. But at least I have a variety of sun/shade levels to work with.
Useful!
Awesome! Very glad to hear it =)
Thank you. Especially about the blueberries.👍
No problem! Hope you get some good harvests in your shady sections this year =)
I grew cucumbers that only got 3-4 hours of sun last summer and they were the most prolific, beautiful cucumber plants of my life
Woah! Very nice! What variety?
@@NextdoorHomestead just basic Marketmore 76! I saved the seeds from a few years ago from another planting that did awesome in shade. I really don’t consider them a full sun crop anymore. As long as the water is abundant and the fertility is amped, they don’t need the sun beating down on them imo. I harvested well over 100 cucumbers between the 3 plants that were mostly in the shade
@@agrarianarc Very good food for thought, I appreciate it.
@@agrarianarc That's such good news! Can you tell me about the extra fertilization? ❤
@@deebrooks9488 yeah! We worked in a lot of rich compost, and this year we will add chicken manure from our hens
Thank You so much, You are the best! Really enjoy Your channel and You make my garden better too:)
That is just SO wonderful to hear! Thanks for keeping up with the channel and I hope you're as excited for more gardening this year as I am =)
@NextdoorHomestead oh definitely🌞🌱🌾 ! Also very excited to see more of Your wonderful videos which are really helpful :) maybe if You will have some time to make a video about some organic pesticides or how do You save Your plants from being eaten ? I'm a bit new to it and as for now I'm sharing everything with the tiny eaters 😂😂😂
I'm so sorry I missed your reply here! I'm not quite sure I've mastered UA-cam notifications yet 0_0
I love that idea and will add it to my ideas list! Thank you! To be totally transparent though, we don't use any pesticides at all, even organic =/. My main strategy is actually just to grow extra plants and try to build up an ecosystem of predators in my yard over time (like, years) to keep things in balance.
There are a few things we do like though (like yellow sticky traps and bird scare tape) so I think I'll make the video anyhow!
@@NextdoorHomestead Oh no worries , reply when You can and if You can :) Yup ,doing the same just growing more than I need , everyone needs to eat to survive including the bugs😂 But I did found out accidentally that for example slugs can't travel on the wood filing ,so I just add a thin layer of the wood filings on the soil around the strawberries , just when it's getting wet with the time, they can travel on it again so it's needs to be replaced with the dry one 😂😂
And Thank You again for your videos and the advices . Your channel notification just makes my day every time :)
Thanks be to God for this video ❤
I would add hostas. They are part of the asparagus family and are similarly edible, and are grown in Asia as an edible instead of a decorative. Hostas can do well in as little as 3 hours of sunlight. They are easier to propagate and transplant than asparagus, and they don't take as long to get established.
Thank you! I'm picking some up next week =) Any particular variety you like?
@@NextdoorHomestead I don't know if there's a difference in how they taste, and blanching may be required to make the mature leaves palatable. However, I think we have the whirlwind, the one with the white stripe, and the halcyon, or whichever is the small standard green one.
Thks. My arugula and spinach produced beautifully throughout the winter and the sunny cold weather. I covered them when temps went below 30. That was a southern face wall at my house. North face…..would have been too….too cold. Last year I grew collards/kale in big containers at another south wall here. Did great. Not giant leaves…..but produced tasty leaves terrifically!!! Carry on over there.
Ahna. Georgia/USA
I love it! Delicious but small is a whole lot better than nothing, eh? Our collards and Swiss Chard are a bit on the small side this year too with such a dreary, dark spring we had but they still taste just fine =)
Cheers!
great.
Thank you! Appreciate you watching =)
I so am enjoying your thoughtful and encouraging videos!! I grew spinach plants this winter(Georgia) on a south wall in big pots. Had a good continuous crop. My arugula did not do well….except for one plant. I forgot to mulch or didn’t have mulch back then. We had a 9 degree night back in December which was so brrrr cold…..for Atlanta, Georgia!! Please continue to send your videos out…..to us. I am subscribed! Because I have a north front…..my south side is a little….unpredictable….in summer. Tree canopy overgrowth is an issue also in the south side back yard. So I am listening closely to your….advice. So grateful for your videos!! Ahna
Thank you for the kind words and for checking out our channel Ahna!
Growing on a South wall of a home seems like you did everything right 😁. Sometimes nature just wins. I just went to check my lettuce and at least ten of my seedlings were eaten to nubs!
I've got so much gardening and videos planned for this year, I can't wait to share!
I hope your Spring garden grows beautifully.
Cheers,
I wish I could get of board with lemon balm but it just reminds me of when I used to clean houses in high school and used lemon Pledge🙄
I.... uh... can imagine that yeah. I happen to like the smell of Pledge 0_o
This is great! Maybe I can grow something in my yard.
Thank you - so glad you liked it =). Best of luck in the shade this year!
Good to know about the carrots. That was a surprise, but I'm going to give it a try. Thanks.
Best of luck! I figure with carrots, even if they're not the best, my dog's gonna love 'em =)
Good stuff...thumbs up and subbed
Appreciate that! Thanks for joining up =)
Thanks for mentioning about overwatering with lemon balm. I just got my first one!
No problem and best of luck! I looooooove ours - such a lovely plants =)
I have a lot of containers that I grow in along side my raised beds. For the past 2 years I have sown carrot seeds around the edges of these containers and let them establish while I wait for the seedling to be ready to transplant in. Has worked pretty well so far.
Hey Matt, thank you for sharing! Meaning, you plant the carrots first and let them grow alongside (intercrop) with your main crop in the area? Or is the timing staggered? I'm curious!
Love this video!! Watched it while transplanting my indigo cherry tomato seedlings into larger pots from seed trays. Can’t wait for what this spring brings us in Zone 9
Yay, I'm so glad to hear that! And Indigo cherries are so incredibly pretty - what a fun plant to have in the garden.
I just started my tomato seeds a couple days ago. Getting VERY excited here =)
@@NextdoorHomestead your videos definitely are some of my favorites since the big guys have started to branch out into very expensive ways of gardening which doesn’t cater the 99% of us.
Indigo Tomatoes have been planted yearly at my parents place, I bought a house last year so it’s my first year officially growing successful plants. I have plans for 48 tomato plants of all kinds of varieties and tons of squashes plus cucumbers
@@westsacramentowastetrucks Oh man, 48 toms is a serious garden and going to be good eating. That is awesome.
I'm pretty committed to cheap gardening ;)
@@NextdoorHomestead Tomatoes are cherished a ton in my family. I have aunts and uncles that’ll drive from South Lake Tahoe to pickup some wild varieties of tomatoes. My favorite so far has to be the white beefsteaks
Tomatoes can be tough to grow organically down here (Gulf Coast, southern end of zone 8b) due to challenging sandy, poor, acidic soil and long hot, incredibly humid, early-onset summers. I am trying currant tomatoes ("Spoon") this year.
I briefly worked for an organic local grower a few years back. In a year when all of their other tomato varieties put on miserable harvests, two chance currant tomato seedlings came mixed in with other varieties, were planted (because we didn't realize they weren't the same as the others), they thrived, and set tons of tiny fruit with amazing beefsteak tomato flavor in a thumbnail sized package.
The owner was selling farmers market produce at the time, so she did not sell the tiny fruits, but let us workers pick and take them home.
The disease resistance and flavor were amazing, but they are much harder to keep staked due to their exuberant growth, and they were also somewhat harder to pick than other larger tomatoes.
They were grown in a large extended high tunnel hoop house, so the light was bright indirect, but they were also shaded from any direct morning and afternoon light because of their location in the center of about 5 long rows of tomatoes once the bigger varieties put on much growth.
Perhaps not full shade (although you could experiment), but they did outstanding in indirect light.
Nice tips. I also have a lot of shade in my garden. I have a few strips of full sun though. My full sun is mostly a thin strip against the fence line and a couple other areas.
Haha a "few strips of full sun" sounds very familiar! We do what we can ;)
Thank you for watching - I'm glad you liked the tips!
i just found you so this is the first video of yours i have seen, forgive me if you mentioned these elsewhere...
a number of plants we think of as "purely ornamental" are in fact edible. now they may not be your first choice! but... Hosta, is in fact edible, although it upsets some folks digestion. also Ostrich fern fronts (fiddle heads) and ramps... and if you have a "pure shade" and want something fun? get a mushroom plug and a nice log....
What awesome additions! I actually had no idea hosta was edible, I've stayed away from growing it in our shady sitting area because it's toxic to dogs. I just kind of assumed it was inedible for us as well!
Nice idea of "just getting a log, drilling holes and see where's that takes you". :)
I'm fond of ornamental plants that are also edible .. Hostas, Day Lily, Canna Lily, Fern (not all are edible, make sure you know what you have) Dahlias just to name a few. Grow food right under the noses of the HOA! 😁
@@Green.Country.Agroforestry Not only that but you can coexists them too with actual food crops if that's an option to you. :)
@@NextdoorHomestead … the shoots supposedly taste similar to asparagus … 👌🏻
Carrot leaves pesto is soooo good
There are so many good root crop greens I wish I'd learned to eat sooner!
nice video
Great video, and I’m glad you have the information about overwatering lemon balm. I think I was doing that. I’d add Greek oregano which is an amazing ground cover/living mulch.
Thank you! So glad you liked it =)
And awesome tip, appreciate it!
First time viewer to you channel, you have wonderful energy amd good knowledge. Thank you for you efforts, I look forward to seeing more when I have time.
I wanted to just mention a shade crop that has worked miracles for my land, Tropaeolum majus.
Too many benefits to list here, for the land, plants and animals.
Another vote for nasturtiums! Very interesting to me as they simply haven't been very hardy / useful in my garden (yet). I decided to give them one more try this year and it seems like that was the right call =)
@@NextdoorHomestead At the end of the day, they are a sub-tropical plant and probably are very aware of where they are.
If you carefully grow them to set seed, after a few generations they may be willing to adapt a bit for you. You might have a new variety if successful, very exciting!
Enjoyed your video. I also have grown black cherry tomatoes and many family members Enjoyed them...myself included. I have seedlings going at the moment..along with some other varieties. Will check out your tomatillo video as I did not have success last year. Thank you for sharing the information. Greetings from Zone 10...South Florida.
Greetings Sonia! Thanks so much for watching =)
I have become a bit of a proponent for tomatillos - they can be a really good safeguard when the tomatoes and peppers don't want to grow!
I like the subtle request to like the video. You seem to be a VERY NICE person, and for that you gained a new follower. Greetings from the Philippines! 👋🏻
Greeting from the United States Joanne! Thank you so much for the kind words and for joining up =)
I hope you enjoy our next crop of videos too!
@@NextdoorHomestead Looking forward to it! 😄 Thank you for your uploads, we're learning.
Thank you. Just a heads up that for some of us it’s tough to hear what someone is saying if the background music is too loud. 🙂
Ah, sorry Lida! You're definitely not the first to say so. I love having a little music but clearly need to work on getting the volume levels right!
Thank you for watching!
Thank you for this video, i live in the north east of the UK and we rarely get sun... maybe one or two really hot weeks throughout the year, but other than that, we're just mild all the time.
I successfully grew three types of tomatos last year - Roma, Golden Sunrise and Black Beauty tomatoes.
Just to weigh in.
I grow Rhubarb in my garden, it starts sprouting up in very cold weather, even when there's still a bit of frost. Today is 02/04/2023 and i've just harvested my rhubarb for the first time, it goes absolutely insane.
Other things that work well in my garden year in, year out are - Gooseberries, Blackcurrants, Chives, Baby Sweetcorn, Peas and Courgettes (Zucchini) - i never have a problem with any of them :)
That's an awesome list Kim! Thank you for sharing some perennials too - if we do a part two of this video I think I'd like to include more of them.
I click the like button and subscribe too 😏I live in Minneapolis and we are still in 40s in 2 of may ! Too cold to plant anything and for me to go out ( I am skinny 76 years old lady )
During the day?! I hope Summer comes quickly for you =) I don't like to garden in the cold much either...
Thank you very much for supporting our video and channel!
I’m in Zone 10-11 or so. It’s a no frost place S FL. Everglades Tomatoes are amazing if you can grow them. They reestablish themselves wherever they were last year, spontaneous, season depends on shade to a degree but generally Dec through May. Tiny tasty fruits. My dog grazes on them. Me too of course.
Wow, that's very cool Peter! You just sent me down a bit of a Google rabbit hole. It seems that Everglades tomatoes are a local name for currant (aka spoon) tomato - does that seem right to you?
I've had half a dozen recommendations to try spoon/currant tomatoes lately and am looking for a good variety to sneak into an empty spot this year.
My first video of yours. It's like trying to find a . specific star in the night sky to find people like you. So I had to subscribe because you are so interesting, and of course a thumbs up. I have huge pots that are so big they are not moveable. So I am going to get a blueberry bush or two to put in the pot behind my elderberry bushes. I wrote all the info down because I want it when the next Carrington event happens...😎
That's incredibly kind Dianna - I'm so glad our videos were interesting =)
And thank you for teaching me about the Carrington Event! Learn something new every day!
I'm already planning to try planting carrots and blueberries this year but I hadn't thought of mint. I think I'll have to try that too
It's one of my favorite things to grow period! My only advice is don't give up on it too fast - it takes its time and then *explodes* and plant it in a container =)
Best of luck with the garden this year!