shade tollerant veg
 

I have been asked to help a couple of new friends plant up a veggie patch that we are creating at the back of some tenement blocks in Edinburgh from some reclaimed wilderness. The buildings tower above the plot on three sides...it may get 5 or 6 hours sun. What can we plant there?

shade tollerant veg
 

"benjiboy" wrote
I have been asked to help a couple of new friends plant up a veggie
patch that we are creating at the back of some tenement blocks in
Edinburgh from some reclaimed wilderness. The buildings tower above the
plot on three sides...it may get 5 or 6 hours sun. What can we plant
there?

Presumably it's open aspect, the ground is open to the sky not overshadowed?
In which case most veg should be OK although you may have some problems with
those that like a lot of sun like Tomato, Chilli & Sweetcorn etc but even
with those it would be worth trying just to see, just plant them in the
sunniest bit. Things like Peas and Beans and even Marrows and Courgettes may
actually prefer it from what I've noticed over the years, they don't seem to
like too much heat.
The surrounding walls should also make a nice warm microclimate for the plot
so you may be able to plant out stuff earlier than others in the area, just
find out when the last frosts hit the plot, locals may know.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

A kaleyard is indicated - good traditional Scottish fare. Also potatoes next year.

shade tollerant veg
 

benjiboy wrote:
I have been asked to help a couple of new friends plant up a veggie
patch that we are creating at the back of some tenement blocks in
Edinburgh from some reclaimed wilderness. The buildings tower above the
plot on three sides...it may get 5 or 6 hours sun. What can we plant
there?

Hello,

I am in a very similar situation.. but worse! Also in Edinburgh, at the
back of a tenement building making the corner. So, in my case, no sun at
all, except the very back of the garden in summer for 1 or 2 hours.
Despite that I tried many times several vegetables: salads, onions,
leeks, etc. I have to say, in my case, the main problem was not the lack
of sun, but the thousands of snails and slugs, eating through every new
plants and seedlings quicker than every method of killing them (organic
or chemical). I decided to give up.

On the other end, this year, I decided to try on the tiny tenement front
garden, where it's much drier, and which receive maybe a good 4-5 hours
sun every day. For some reason, it is almost completely devoid of slugs
and snails. I've been really successful with all sorts of
salads/lettuces, onions and leeks look good, I got a few radishes and
carrots, it looks like I might have some french beans on the railings
and I have 4-5 lareg broccoli waiting to produce florets....

Philippe

I hope the land is not contaminated with some nasty that is taken up by the veg.

shade tollerant veg
 

On 2009-08-03 09:00:52 +0100, gogo said:

benjiboy wrote:
I have been asked to help a couple of new friends plant up a veggie
patch that we are creating at the back of some tenement blocks in
Edinburgh from some reclaimed wilderness. The buildings tower above the
plot on three sides...it may get 5 or 6 hours sun. What can we plant
there?

Hello,

I am in a very similar situation.. but worse! Also in Edinburgh, at the
back of a tenement building making the corner. So, in my case, no sun
at all, except the very back of the garden in summer for 1 or 2 hours.
Despite that I tried many times several vegetables: salads, onions,
leeks, etc. I have to say, in my case, the main problem was not the
lack of sun, but the thousands of snails and slugs, eating through
every new plants and seedlings quicker than every method of killing
them (organic or chemical). I decided to give up.

On the other end, this year, I decided to try on the tiny tenement
front garden, where it's much drier, and which receive maybe a good 4-5
hours sun every day. For some reason, it is almost completely devoid of
slugs and snails. I've been really successful with all sorts of
salads/lettuces, onions and leeks look good, I got a few radishes and
carrots, it looks like I might have some french beans on the railings
and I have 4-5 lareg broccoli waiting to produce florets....

Spinach does well in shade or dappled shade.

shade tollerant veg
 

On 31 July, 21:42, benjiboy
wrote:
I have been asked to help a couple of new friends plant up a veggie
patch that we are creating at the back of some tenement blocks in
Edinburgh from some reclaimed wilderness. The buildings tower above the
plot on three sides...it may get 5 or 6 hours sun. What can we plant
there?

Rhubarb. Mind, Edinburgh might be a bit cold for it. You might want
to stick something over the plants in the winter.

Potatoes and cabbage and brussels and broad beans will do well enough,
5 or 6 hours sun is quite a lot - and you are far enough north to have
long days in the summer.

Peas and runner beans do better in the sun, but again 5 or 6 is quite
a lot. My old Grandad mirrored his fence with aluminium foil to
persuade his runner beans to do better - no idea if it really worked.

After all, the wilderness plants did OK!

I reckon the quality of the soil will be a far bigger issue than the
amount of light, and you might find you need to do a lot of watering
too, modern cities tend to be very dry environments - the rainwater is
whizzed away rather than forming a natural water table in the soil