Fruit or vegetable that grow in damp and or shade

[Tweet2tweet]

I suspect that there are no options but I thought it would be worth asking. Does anyone know if there are any types of vegetable or fruit that will grow in the shade in a fairly damp garden?

[MariscallRoad]

Try the Royal Horticultural Society site plant selector. There are culinary herbs and berries or soft fruit that can grow in partial shade. depends on the soil.

[ShoeWhore]

How much shade OP? Do you get any sun at all?

There are some good ideas here

I would definitely try mixed salad leaves, perpetual spinach and runner beans. Maybe chicory might be worth a shot too?

Definitely dig in lots of organic matter before you start as this will help improve soil structure and drainage.

My little veg patch gets some sun but not enough really and I successfully grow runner beans, spinach, chard, rhubarb, lots of herbs and courgettes in the sunniest bit. Onions are a total disaster. Strawberries took too long to ripen so got eaten before they were ready to pick!

[ShoeWhore]

I think some raspberries might like shade. Would you be interested in quince?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Rhubarb likes it quite damp as do red currants.

[OddSockMonster]

How big is the space, could you plant a fruit tree? Might suck up the water nicely (depending on just how damp it is).

[nicename]

I have a wind-lashed north facing balcony. Everything dies

[MariscallRoad]

pawpaw does well in dappled shade
Chinese Lantern, physallis
medlar
lettuce
land cress, a salad leaf
berries, tayberries, blackberries - mine do well in shade.
crab apple
I have the same problem to solve in some parts of my garden. My blackberries grow in light and in shade but takes longer to ripen

[Tweet2tweet]

Thank you. I tried blackcurrants, raspberries and redcurrants. First two died and I harvested two redcurrants, the remaining plant was then eaten by slugs!

Will give salad a go. Thanks for the tip. I'm not sure what to do with quince, but rhubarb is another worth a try.

[MariscallRoad]

One way is to encourage predators with high diet on on slugs such as birds, but I do not know how and you may google on that. I do have many birds which come and eat the berries and other creatures.

Try also pots and planters above the ground or covered with a net. I read one can dig a little ditch around the plant which cannot be passed by the slugs. Some salads go into boxes and planters but do not know how they can be protected.

[Bearleigh]

Some of my fruit/veg plot is in shade, and I successfully grow Tayberries, gooseberries blackcurrants, redcurrants, autumn raspberries, alpine strawberries 'Alexandria' and morello cherries there. Those last two actually prefer shade, the rest seem fine, and crop well.

[Bearleigh]

Tweet, I have a quince tree, Cydonia oblonga, which has lovely pale pink flowers. That likes as much sun as it can get. It's related to pears and its fruit are large with a gorgeous flavour when cooked. They turn red when cooked long and slow. I make jam with them and they can be poached or make a lovely apple and quince pie

The other fruit known as quince is Chaenomeles, Japanese quince or Japonica. It typically has red flowers, and there used to be one growing and fruiting happily in shade in our last house. I made jelly with them once which tasted quite nice but TBH nothing special. It may have been the variety was a little dull in flavour. I don't think you can jam them as they are so small. The flowers, and fruit, are very pretty.

[Twiddlebum]

Rhubarb!!!

[NotAnotherNewNappy]

I have raspberries growing well in a v shady spot.

[Showtime]

Best shady spot for growing lettuce was in pots and trays last year, suspended from branches of shrubs. It did look a bit odd close to, but no slug/snail damage at all, and I now have a plastic bread tray
attached to branches away from the house, while the slimies starve.

[CalamitouslyWrong]

Chard. It seems to grow very happily in the shady spot in my garden where little else will.