{"id":22245,"date":"2023-06-16T08:49:19","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T12:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?p=22245"},"modified":"2023-06-16T08:49:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T12:49:19","slug":"what-vegetables-and-fruits-will-grow-in-an-area-that-only-gets-three-to-five-hours-of-sunlight-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2023\/06\/16\/what-vegetables-and-fruits-will-grow-in-an-area-that-only-gets-three-to-five-hours-of-sunlight-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"What vegetables and fruits will grow in an area that only gets three to five hours of sunlight a day?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Question:<\/h3>\n<p><strong>I have an area of approximately 120 square feet that only gets about 3-5 hours of full sunlight a day. Are there any veggies or fruits that will grow in this area?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Answer:<\/h3>\n<div><em>Jonathan Foster, Special Project Assistant\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<p>Ah, the vegetable-loving shade gardener. I struggle with this particular issue in parts of my own vegetable garden, as I&#8217;m blessed\/cursed with a number of nearby maples and oaks.<\/p>\n<p>In general, as you can read in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cals.cornell.edu\/school-integrative-plant-science\/school-sections\/horticulture-section\/outreach-and-extension\/pandemic-vegetable-gardening\/pandemic-vegetable-gardening-2020-archive\/sunlight-key-great-vegetables\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/cals.cornell.edu\/school-integrative-plant-science\/school-sections\/horticulture-section\/outreach-and-extension\/pandemic-vegetable-gardening\/pandemic-vegetable-gardening-2020-archive\/sunlight-key-great-vegetables&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1687003250942000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2sypzuwDmKwrKi47m4t3KZ\">this excellent piece from Cornell Univ&#8217;s School of Integrative Plant Science<\/a>, you are working with the bare minimum for vegetables at 3-5 hours per day. That said, you can absolutely plant leafy crops like lettuce, spinach, chard, and hearty greens, and get very satisfactory\u00a0harvests. You *might* be able to get some root crops going, depending on how close you are to the 5 hour mark vs the 3. I recommend testing it with some radishes, which are very quick to grow and inexpensive to plant.<\/p>\n<p>Anything that produces fruit for its primary crop (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, etc.) needs a full blast of direct daily sunshine in the 8+ hour range to be successful. Making fruit is one of the most energetically expensive things a plant does in its lifetime, so planting these crops in shadier spots will be a waste of time and money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I have an area of approximately 120 square feet that only gets about 3-5 hours of full sunlight a day. Are there any veggies or fruits that will grow in this area?\u00a0 Answer: Jonathan Foster, Special Project Assistant\u00a0 Ah, the vegetable-loving shade gardener. I struggle with this particular issue in parts of my own [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,200,202,201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask","category-fruit","category-maintenance","category-vegetables"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What vegetables and fruits will grow in an area that only gets three to five hours of sunlight a day? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2023\/06\/16\/what-vegetables-and-fruits-will-grow-in-an-area-that-only-gets-three-to-five-hours-of-sunlight-a-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What vegetables and fruits will grow in an area that only gets three to five hours of sunlight a day? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: I have an area of approximately 120 square feet that only gets about 3-5 hours of full sunlight a day. 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