Every plant species has its own particular preferences when it comes to light. Some feel most comfortable in a warm, full sun location, others prefer a bright spot. If you plant the plants in a location that is unsuitable for them, they will thrive less well - and in the worst case they will die.
Lettuce and kohlrabi also thrive in semi-shade
Shadow is not the same as shadow
Crops in particular need a lot of sun for the development of fruits and leaves. In the absence of sunlight, the fruits remain small, become less palatable, and the plants become ailing. In a shady location you should therefore only plant those plants that are explicitly suitable for it - or at least tolerate it. However, there are also big differences between the shady locations: Some shady places may only get direct light for two to three hours a day, but are still quite bright - perhaps because the raised bed is near shady fruit trees. Other shady locations, on the other hand, are very dark - the gardener calls them fully shady - and hardly a ray of light gets lost there. Such places are, for example, in front of the north wall of a house or directly in front of a high, dense hedge. Naturally, light shade is more suitable for growing vegetables and herbs than full shade - this leaves only a small selection of suitable plants.
Suitable vegetables for the shady raised bed
In the light shade you can still put many vegetables, for example:
- Root vegetables such as carrots, radishes, parsnips, celeriac, beets and yellow beets
- Onions and leeks (leeks, spring onions)
- many types of cabbage, such as kohlrabi and kale
- Salads (corn salad, rocket, Asian salads such as pak choi)
- leafy greens like spinach, chard, rhubarb)
- French and pole beans, peas
- broccoli, cauliflower
With many of the vegetables mentioned, however, you have to reckon with the fact that the harvest will be smaller than in a sunnier location.
Vegetables such as:
- arugula
- Chicory salad (e.g. endive)
- other classic leaf salads
- spinach and chard
- Kale, Brussels sprouts
tips
Fruit, especially soft fruit or early-ripening apples and pears, can basically also be cultivated in light shade. Due to the lack of sun, however, the fruits are not nearly as sweet as in a sunnier location. Exception: Typical forest fruits such as wild strawberries also thrive very well in a shady raised bed.