How To Grow Vegetables In Shade For BIGGER HARVESTS!

In this video, I share how to grow vegetables in shade for bigger harvests and explain why this method of growing vegetables is so effective. Many crops thought to be full sun crops actually are not, and growing them in full sun harms the plant. These crops can perform better in part shade or dappled light. If you think your yard is too shady to grow veggies, think again!

I use the following products* to grow vegetables in my vegetable garden:
Metal Raised Garden Bed (4X2FT): https://amzn.to/4bsMX2e
Metal Raised Garden Bed (6X3FT): https://amzn.to/3Qzh3cw
Metal Raised Garden Bed (8X2FT): https://amzn.to/4baPJcy
Shade Cloth (Many Sizes): https://amzn.to/3xfXG1g
Grow Bags (Many Sizes): https://amzn.to/4a0MHa5
Trellising Items: https://www.amazon.com/shop/themillennialgardener/list/23ADCD9GHK54L
Weed Barrier (Many Sizes): https://amzn.to/4cNOi5h
Insect Netting (Many Sizes): https://amzn.to/3TYm134
Crab & Lobster Shell Meal: https://amzn.to/3UBP5xF
Alaska Fish Fertilizer: https://amzn.to/3XP5EHU
Jobe’s Organic Vegetable Fertilizer (4lbs): https://amzn.to/45YHmh2
Jobe’s Fruit & Nut Fertilizer (4lbs): https://amzn.to/3sI3OwW
Burpee Bone Meal (3lb): https://amzn.to/48bcBGw
Jobe’s Bone Meal (4lb): https://amzn.to/3uC5klp
True Organic Blood Meal (3lb): https://amzn.to/49IkFk3
Espoma Plant Tone (36lbs): https://amzn.to/3Zgk98f
Jack’s All Purpose 20-20-20 (1.5lb): https://amzn.to/3MQ4I2A
Jack’s Blossom Booster 10-30-20 (1.5lb): https://amzn.to/3KyPTzg
Jack’s / JR Peters All Purpose 20-20-20 (25lb): https://amzn.to/44DUV58
Jack’s Blossom Booster 10-30-20 (25lb): https://amzn.to/45FIuXh
Full Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/themillennialgardener

TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 How To Grow A Shade Garden Intro
1:37 Benefits To Growing Vegetables In Shade
4:09 Metal Raised Garden Beds Benefits
4:26 Selecting A Part Shade Garden Location
5:49 Shade Gardening Tips And Tricks
7:22 Transplanting And Fertilizing Vegetables
8:43 Minimizing Heat Stress And Diseases
10:55 Adventures With Dale

If you have any questions about vegetables that grow in shade, want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and “how to” garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!

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EQUIPMENT I MOST OFTEN USE IN MY GARDEN*:

Miracle-Gro Soluble All Purpose Plant Food https://amzn.to/3qNPkXk
Miracle-Gro Soluble Bloom Booster Plant Food https://amzn.to/2GKYG0j
Miracle-Gro Soluble Tomato Plant Food https://amzn.to/2GDgJ8n
Jack’s Fertilizer, 20-20-20, 25 lb. https://amzn.to/3CW6xCK

Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide https://amzn.to/2HTCKRd
Southern Ag Natural Pyrethrin Concentrate https://amzn.to/2UHSNGE
Monterey Organic Spinosad Concentrate https://amzn.to/3qOU8f5
Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer (BT Concentrate) https://amzn.to/2SMXL8D

Cordless ULV Fogger Machine https://amzn.to/36e96Sl
Weed Barrier with UV Resistance https://amzn.to/3yp3MaJ
Organza Bags (Fig-size) https://amzn.to/3AyaMUz
Organza Bags (Tomato-size) https://amzn.to/36fy4Re

Injection Molded Nursery Pots https://amzn.to/3AucVAB
Heavy Duty Plant Grow Bags https://amzn.to/2UqvsgC
6.5 Inch Hand Pruner Pruning Shears https://amzn.to/3jHI1yL
Japanese Pruning Saw with Blade https://amzn.to/3wjpw6o

Double Tomato Hooks with Twine https://amzn.to/3Awptr9
String Trellis Tomato Support Clips https://amzn.to/3wiBjlB
Nylon Mason Line, 500FT https://amzn.to/3wd9cEo
Expandable Vinyl Garden Tape https://amzn.to/3jL7JCI

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SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow Me on TWITTER (@NCGardening) https://twitter.com/NCGardening
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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8B

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*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
© The Millennial Gardener

#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #shadegarden #vegetablegarden

what’s growing on gardeners it’s Saturday April 20th and it is a scorcher of a day here on the Southeastern coast of North Carolina do you have a very shady yard that you think doesn’t have enough sun to grow a vegetable garden or do you live in a climate that gets so hot in the summer that it outright kills your vegetable garden well this video is for you today I’m going to show you how to grow a shade garden to tremendously increase your harvests and grow things that you thought couldn’t grow in shade if you’re if you’re new to the Channel Please Subscribe and hit the Bell to receive new video notifications and check out our Amazon store and spreadshop links in the video description for everything I use in my garden and awesome custom designed apparel and other gear your support is greatly appreciated tomatoes peppers cucumbers melons squash they all have two things in common they are all incredibly popular to grow in the summer and we have all been told that they need full sun to grow in the first thing is true but the second thing isn’t and it is responsible for so many of the problems that we have with these plants we often consider these things to be vegetables but we actually eat the fruits off of these plants not the vegetation and fruits require a lot of energy in order to produce flowers set the fruit and actually ripen the fruits for the Harvest so for that reason when you buy these plants or if you grow these plants they are almost always tagged full sun and the definition of full sun is a minimum 6 hours a day of uninterrupted sunshin so for that reason if you have a very shady yard you often believe that you just don’t have enough sunshine in order for these plants to produce but the reality is these plants do not grow in full sun in their native habitat you’re not going to find an open sundrenched field anywhere full of tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers growing naturally in the wild these are not pioneer species they are an understory or forest floor species they grow as little weeds and Meandering Vines either in dappled light or in part shade at best they do not grow in full sun where they come from where these plants originate they do not have to deal with frost or freeze they can take their time to slowly grow and Meander and set flowers and set fruit the reason why it’s advise that we grow these plants in full sun is because we have to jam an entire lifespan of these plants in usually a six-month window because we do get Frost or freeze that is why it’s recommended we plant these in full sun we need to push these plants as hard as possible and give them as much energy as possible to fruit in a very narrow window and this culture of growing these understory and part-shade species out in full sun is the reason why we often have so many problems with them sure if you live in a really high latitude where it doesn’t get that hot persistently and the sun doesn’t get that strong the plants wind up doing really well out in full sun but if you live in the Southeast Florida Texas the desert where the sun is really strong these plants get absolutely smoked once spring turns to Summer and the UV index gets really high and the heat starts building they just can’t take it because they did not evolve and adapt to a full sun environment so if you live in a high latitude or you have a short growing season say you live in New England or the Pacific Northwest or you live in the Upper Midwest you will probably have to continue to grow these things out in full sun because your climate will just not be conducive and your growing season isn’t long enough to grow them in part shade but if you live in the south if you live in Florida Texas the desert and you have a long enough growing season say 240 days or longer the shade garden method is a great way to grow these plants because it’s you have a long enough growing season to do and your climate is probably too hot out in the open for these plants to thrive so what I’m going to do is I’m going to set up this raised garden bed in a very shady location and this is going to be my secret hidden Garden where I am going to grow additional things that out in my Open Garden will be smoked dead come July or August and I’m going to show you exactly how to do that but before I do that I’ve showed you these uh these raised garden beds that I’ve come into contact with in the past they’re really nice they are a steel very affordable if you want I’ll place a link down in the video description to a video where I show you these garden beds and I’ll also Place product links in the video description as well if you’re interested in them so what you see right here is the Northwest wall of my house and I have basically not planted much here because I’ve always been under the impression that it is too shady to grow anything but shade tolerant things but that’s actually not true it only gets about an hour’s worth of sunlight in the winter but now that we’re in the spring uh it’s 3:30 and it is finally in full sun so I will be able to get about 3 and 1/2 to 4 hours of direct sunlight here the rest of the day it is in shade and this is actually perfect for my tomatoes peppers and things that are likely to bolt uh because it’s just too hot here in full sun come the summer so I set up this little area right here where I’m going to place the raised beds I don’t normally put down weed barrier but I am in this location because it’s been so neglected it’s a little bit weedy so I’m going to set up a raised bed and then I’m going to fill it with 50% composted calor and top soil so now that the raised bed is in place we are going to fill it up with that 50/50 mix of composted calor and top soil and then get our hands in there and mix it together really well to make sure that everything is well Blended and Incorporated now the raised garden bed has been filled and everything has been mixed it took three bags of top soil and 3 and 1/2 bags of compost to fill this for a grand total of 6 and 1/2 cubic feet of mix now I will show you what I will be planting in here I will be planting two tomato plants on the left it is a determinant variety called celebrity and on the right it is a dwarf tomato project variety called dwarf Emerald Giant and then I have some pepper plants here that are called Melrose I found these at a grocery store for $2.99 for an eight pack it was a steel so I’m going to plant them and I also have a plug of parsley that I grew from seed parsley tends to bolt out in the open here in the summertime because it’s too hot I think I will be able to grow it here underneath the shade all summer long so this will be a little cheat to grow parsley where it would fail out in the open now my gut is telling me that because we are growing in a part-shade environment the best tomatoes to grow will be determinant and dwarf tomato style tomatoes because they grow to a predetermined height and then they focus all of their energy on ripening their fruits after a certain point so because of that they are more energy efficient and I think they will do better in this Shady environment however because I’m an engineer and I love experimenting I’m also growing a couple of indeterminate varieties on the sides as well I have a brandy boy here which is a beef steak indeterminate and I have a marinara plum style indeterminate right there so we’re going to see how they will do last year I grew an indeterminant beef steak underneath my rain gutters and S it and it worked absolutely brilliantly but it was in my backyard which gets about 6 hours of Sun in that location so we’re going to find out if this 3 to 4 Hour Sun environment is enough for these indeterminate larger fruited tomatoes to thrive now we have all of our plants in place I also decided to add a garden salsa hot pepper because I had an extra and this is a really nice productive plant that can grow tons of peppers in a very small space now they’ve all been set in their planting holes and I am going to fertilize them with a combination of a 555 organic fertilizer with bone meal and some L Lobster and crabshell meal I’ll make sure to place direct links to all of these things down in the video description for your convenience if you want to pick some of it up but I blended everything together and they’re going to get about 2 tablespoons each per plant and that will get them off to a perfect start and then we are going to water them in with my favorite fertilizer Alaska fish fertilizer this is about 3 to 4 tablespoons diluted into a 2 Gall watering can this will get them all off to an amazing start and help mitigate transplant shock and the last step of the process is to mulch the area and the garden beds itself in an effort to suppress weeds and evenly regulate soil moisture now I chose to use old wheat straw that I used last fall in order to insulate and overwinter my bananas it is one of my favorite types of mulch but any kind of natural mulch will do just fine just don’t use something like dyed Mulch Rubber Mulch or stone mulch I’m telling you I have extremely high hopes for this part shade garden right here last year I grew a big beef hybrid tomato underneath my rain gutter and sof it and the production was not only absolutely incredible but it outlived the tomatoes out in my Open Garden by two entire months and while I couldn’t ask the tomato plant exactly why it happened I hypothesize it’s because the overhead cover provided protection from the rain and also left it in part shade so it didn’t get nearly as much of the high heat stress that the plants out in the open unprotected areas of my garden got now if you have ever grown tomatoes melons cucumbers squash Peppers before you know that those plants absolutely hate getting wet it causes fungal diseases bacterial infections pest infestations it is a mess so growing them underneath a rain gutter or overhang or sopit and providing protection from the wetness and the rain it really makes an enormous difference and I just know that these plants are going to flourish and Excel so if you think that you can’t grow these things in part shade and you need at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sunlight each day I’m telling you that is not the case particularly if your growing season is long enough this is a total game Cher especially if your plants suffer from fungal diseases and heat stress not to mention the whole setup just looks beautiful it has such a lovely looking attractive curb appeal and I am making more efficient use of space that I otherwise wasn’t going to use to grow food and I’m telling you I’m going to get a fair amount of food out of here so everybody I sure hope you found this video helpful if you did please make sure to hit that like button subscribe to the channel and please ring that that notification Bell so you’re notified when I release more videos like these if you’re curious about any of the products that I used in this video like the fertilizers or the raised beds I will place direct links to them all down in the video description and while you’re there I’ll also place an Amazon storefront link to my Amazon store which includes everything I use in real life in my garden while you’re down there you could also check out my spreadshop link for custom merch if you want to support the channel thank you all so much for watching and I hope to see all of you again on the next video okay I just got back from the gym and just a prove a point that Dale can tell time he knows that we always go for a walk when I get back from the gym so I bet you he comes running downstairs really excited because he knows walk time and that he’s going to run right to the laundry room oh you you are the most predictable person on Earth you know that buddy what what do what do you want are you serious oh he hit his walk button oh I just want to prove a point the Dale can tell time let’s see what time it is Buddy oh it’s 7:30 at night it must be time for our evening walk you want to go for a walk tail all right I just wanted to all right I just wanted to make that point for yall