The western most row of my garden will receive the most afternoon shade. As a result, the rest of the space not occupied by hops crowns will be planted with more shade tolerant plants.
Mother Earth News and this chart gives options for shade tolerance and produce (all errors and typos preserved from source):
| Crop | Shade Notes | Growing Tips |
| Arugula | At least three to four hours of sun per day. | Arugula welcomes shade, as this crop is prone to bolting as soon as the weather turns warm if in full sun. |
| Asian greens | At least two hours of sun per day. | Asian greens such as bok choi (also spelled “pac choi” and “pak choi”), komatsuna and tatsoi will grow wonderfully with a couple hours of sun plus some bright shade or ambient light. |
| Chard | If you grow chard mainly for its crisp stalks, you will need at least five hours of sun per day; if you grow it mainly for the tender baby leaves, three to four hours of sun per day will be enough. | Expect chard grown in partial sade to be quite a bit smaller than that grown in full sun. Baby chard leaves are excellent cooked or served raw in salads. |
| Culinary herbs | At least three hours of sun per day. | While many culinary herbs need full sun, chives, cilantro, garlic chives, golden marjoram, lemon balm, mint, oregano and parsley will usually perform well in shadier gardens. |
| Kale | At least three to four hours of sun per day. | You’ll notice only a small reduction in growth if comparing kale grown in partial shade with kale grown in full sun. |
| Lettuce | At least three to four hours of sun per day. | Lettuce is perfect for shadier gardens because the shade protects it from the sun’s heat, preventing it from bolting as quickly. Often, the shade can buy a few more weeks of harvesting time that you’d get from lettuce grown in full sun. |
| Mesclun | One of the best crops for shady gardens. Grows in as little as two hours of sun per day and handles dappled shade well. | The delicate leaves of this salad mix can be harvested in about four weeks, and as long as you leave the roots intact, you should be able to get at least three good harvests before you have to replant. |
| Mustard greens | At least three hours of sun per day for baby mustard greens. | Mustard grown for baby greens is best-suited for shady gardens. |
| Peas and beans | At least four to five hours of sun. | If growing these crops in partial shade, getting a good harvest wil take longer. Try bush and dwarf varieties rather than pole varieties. |
| Root vegetables | At least four to five hours of sun per day for decent production. | Beets, carrots, potatoes, radishes and turnips will do OK in partial shade, but you’ll have to wait longer for a full crop. The more light you have, the faster they’ll mature. Alternatively, you can harvest baby carrots or small new potatoes for a gourment treat that would cost an arm and a leg at a grocery store. |
| Scallions | At least three hours of sun per day. | This crop does well in partial shade throughout the growing season. |
| Spinach | At least three to four hours of sun per day. | Spinach welcomes shade, as it bolts easliy if in full sun. If you grow it specifically to harvest as baby spinach, you’ll be able to harvest for quite a while as long as you continue to harvest the outmost leaves of each plant. |
Another consideration is shade-tolerant currants. However I will reserve these to grow on the garden boundary fence that get the most shade from the tall silo.
Peas are removed from consideration as they are already planned to be grown with corn and sunflowers in more sunny spots. Herbs deserve their own post so they will not be included here either.
The shadiest row has an abundance of space so both salad greens and highly marketable plants can be included. Considering brassicas reported affinity for rhubarb means that mustard (for greens and seeds), collard greens and kale will be experimented with in the spring while cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower can be added in the fall. Additionally, columbine flowers and numerous salad greens will be planted adjacent to rhubarb and compared to those grown away from the plant.
Therefore I will be filling out the shade row with Arugula, Chard, Kale, Lettuce, Mesclun (as a premixed salad that can be harvested directly as a mix), Mustard, and Spinach. Lettuce is really the only plant with varietal considerations so it will be planted in thirds: 1/3 will be iceberg (head) lettuce, 1/3 will be romaine, and 1/3 will be batavia. Considering aphids, companions will be planted along side the lettuce, but I have not yet determined which herbs or flowers to use.
Quickly weighting the plants by preference gave me the final amount of 1 square foot spaces to dedicate to each plant. Spacing requirements were determined entirely from this PDF from Virginia Tech.
Here is how the shade row looks all mapped out with spring plantings:
thegreenergrassfarm 