OldThymer

I wish to plant plants (I haven't decided what type yet) on the backside of my house. The issue with this is that the backside is facing the north (directly facing the north) so it doesn't get a lot of direct sun. I would love to plant some strawberries (or another low-lying berry) but I believe they need full sun. What are some other "food" related plants (including herbs) that would thrive in this type of sun? I am in PA so it will need to survive the winter if a perennial.

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Karmas Perfect Cannabutter

NMIgurl

Cool-season crops, such as lettuce, greens, spinich, radishes, carrots, and cabbage (including Kale, broccoli, brussells sprouts, cauliflower), peas, will do better than warm weather crops like tomato, cuke, melon, peppers, etc. Although peppers and sqaush for example like a bit of shade in the heat of the late summer day. Best sun for veggies is AM sun, IMO. Fuel them up and then let them put the carbs into the fruit later in the day.

Also, either plant the shortest plants closest to the house and tallest further away, or plant the rows in a north/south orientation (shortest to tallest plants in rows, from east to west) so that the taller plants don't shade out the shorter ones even more than the envionment already does.

depending on the height of the house, only the 4 to 5 feet closest to the house will be totally shaded. given how high the sun gets in summer in PA, there should be plenty of sun once you get a little further out from the house. The furthest from the house can be put on a trellis as well. Like cukes or beans- the bottom near the soil may not be in the sun, but perhaps they can grow up the trellis to get the fruiting part in the sun. Right up at the house, maybe broad leaf thyme, basil, mint, and parsley; those herbs might be ok in mostly shade and its not the large fruit you are trying to develope,. so even if the plant is a little spindly, the herbs should be just as aromatic.

OH, and I've done pretty well with very large leafed plants in low light- squash, pumpkin-- they make very attractive landscape plants actually and grow like crazy- so keep in mind they take up a lot of space. Integrating veggie plants into the landscape works well with some plants like peas(nice blooms), peppers, kale, and bush beans if you keep planting them throughout the season.

Strawberries, not too sure on that one. They are so low and really need sun to fruit up decently.

Finally, a bright white privacy fence running parallel to the house at the northern-most boundary of the garden can refelect some light back at the garden if you could swing that.

surfbum

agreed.

greens, like cauliflower, lettuce, kale, cabbage and so on, love a good morning beat down from the sun the the rest of the afternoon to cool off and relax in the shade. alot of herbs like it too. mint, thyme, and so on. i know basil likes full sun though.

strawberries are kind of a full sun fruit, but at the same time i had a few this past summer that got shade from about 1 o clock on through the day and they gave me a bunch of berries.

from my exp most fruits and veggies like full sun. i know cukes, tomatos, eggplants, melons and such like full on hot days to bask. raspberries and blackberries will do well with some shade during the day. carrots will do well shaded a bit.

hope i helped a bit im not much good at this cause my backyard faces due south so we get nonstop violent sunshine all summer in the whole yard almost.

surfbum

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hijinks

we have kind of a similar situation here. we put a handful of herbs out and they seemed to do alright. maybe they would have done better with more sunshine but they still grew pretty well. i think we had thyme and sage and cilantro. But i think i heard that mint grows well in shade but i cant say i know anything about mint.

we did put a lot of basil in the shade and that did not do so well. i think that needs as much sun as you can get on it.

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