Most plants need a sufficient amount of sunlight, since it is under its influence that the process of photosynthesis occurs, the important role of which in the growth and development of living organisms is undoubted. That is why many plants feel good in illuminated areas, and in the future, the summer resident always faces the question of what to plant in the shade in those areas where the sun rarely sees.

Any dacha is a site with the presence of several zones, where places with sufficient sunlight and shaded corners are located in a certain ratio. Amateur gardeners begin to think about what to plant in the shade of their summer cottage at the moment when they have a desire to use flower and vegetable crops, trees and shrubs are all useful places, including those with plenty of shade.

The shady areas available on a summer cottage differ from each other in the degree of penetration of light and sunlight. Some areas are characterized by the complete absence of any light, others receive only a few hours of sun during the day, and in some corners the presence tall trees allows only diffuse light to penetrate. So what can you plant in the shade under trees if nothing wants to grow there? It turns out that there are some garden crops that feel great in shaded areas. plot of land and at the same time they can boast of a good harvest of fruits. I would like to dwell in more detail on how to properly organize the planting of such plants in the shade, as well as what types of flowers, vegetables and garden plants give preference.

Planting trees and shrubs in the shade of a country house and fence

Correct distribution and planting of plants will be helped by a thorough study of the summer cottage, as well as identifying shaded corners and determining the time during which sunlight can penetrate through the dense crowns of trees. Only a small number of ornamental crops can develop in such conditions, because most require sunlight.

A piece of land that sits in the shadow of a house most of the time is not exactly an attractive place to plant vegetation. Only a special type of plant will feel good and comfortable in this area. However, such plants exist in nature and planting them near the house helps improve the aesthetic appearance of the area. The most suitable for these purposes are conifers, of which fir and yew are the priority .

They feel great in the shade of the house and many deciduous plants, which allow you to create a bright composition in your summer cottage. Among garden crops preference should be given to plantings serviceberry , rowan, honeysuckle, currant, serviceberry (here about her), viburnum, lilac And hawthorn .

Many shrubs grow and develop well without the sun or the creation of any additional conditions. One of the enemies of the sun is rhododendrons, which are preferably planted in partial shade under trees. Areas with slight shade are suitable for planting crops such as poppies And catchment (aquilegia) , hydrangea, And Amur wild, and ivy , which can be placed along the fence or wall of the house.

The most popular among summer residents are various varieties of red and black elderberry , which have bright decorative properties and the decorations fit well summer cottages. Landings serviceberry, hazel And mountain ash allow not only to create contrast garden plantings, but are also distinguished by their unpretentiousness to growing conditions, as well as their resistance and resistance to various diseases. Such crops can be used for planting both on the site and in the orchard.

Flowers and ornamental plants grown in the shade

Despite the great importance of the sun in life flowering plants, many of them feel great in the shade, and some are ready to do without it. All flowers and plants intended for planting in shaded corners of the site can be divided into several groups:

Perennial

They include the largest list of flowers that can be used both to create flower beds and to decorate the landscape.

• Badin - grows well in medium to dense shade, but with a strong degree of shading there may be problems with flowering.
• Day-lily - prefers to grow in partial shade, since excessive shading can reduce the amount of flowering of this plant.
• It is absolutely not picky about plants regarding the conditions of its place of residence, and also has the ability to grow quickly.
• are classic plants that can be found in the flower beds of most gardeners.
• Khosta - nature itself ordered this flower to live in the shade, only then its leaves will be able to show their full range.

And here are other shade-tolerant and shade-loving plants: kobeya, astilbe Andpeonies , such small-bulbed ones as muscari , irises And periwinkle , dicenter And tenacious , wild rosemary And saxifrage - all of them, including ground cover, can be successfully used to solve the problem of little or no sunlight in flower beds.

Biennial plants

The most common shade-loving flowers are pansies . Due to the diversity of their species, which grow well in areas without sunlight, you can observe the flowering of these plants throughout the entire summer season.

Full shade suitable for growing forget-me-nots Andbrunners , which are able to disperse independently and create a whole carpet of flowering plants.

Annuals

This is the smallest group of flowers, since there are very few lovers of shaded places here.

An area with partial shade is suitable for growing balsam , but a complete lack of sunlight can lead to a lack of flowering.

Sweet tobacco stands out for its beauty among other plants and feels most comfortable in a garden with diffused light.

Calendula - only a couple or three hours of exposure to the sun will be enough for her daytime in order to feel, in the future, in the shade in good health and bloom twice a season.

What to plant vegetables in the garden

The most picky crops among vegetables are sorrel And garlic , which can grow quietly in the complete absence of sunlight. Similar conditions are suitable for growing carrots However, the best and highest quality harvest of this root vegetable will be obtained at least with a short stay of these vegetables in the sun. A plot of land near the fence can be used for planting legumes such as beans And peas , as well as for growing salads And cucumbers .

For lovers of small root vegetables red beets , parsley root And parsnip You can safely plant in shaded areas. well and horseradish is simply the king of the shade, and even planting it in the most unattractive place without sunlight will allow the vegetable to grow and please everyone with a wonderful harvest of leaves and roots.

In this situation, let’s not forget about the useful borage grass (in this article) with its almost constant flowering throughout the season, and about rhubarb (A ) With lovage .

Of course, it is necessary to use the entire usable area of ​​the summer cottage, even if some of its places do not have an abundance of sunlight. Even a novice amateur gardener, through trial and error, will be able to select those plants that will not only feel great in a shaded area, but will also give the dacha an attractive appearance.

Vegetable beds, there they are located in orderly rows on large plot soil, there is a distance between them, compacted paths along which you can easily move when cultivating the soil or harvesting crops. The beds are well lit, watered and the harvests are excellent every year.

Everything is beautiful, but, alas, not every summer resident can say this about his plot. For many people, the situation with their garden is reminiscent of a beginner’s aquarium - there are a lot of fish, you want to have each one, but there is less and less space in the aquarium, fish lovers go around, looking at more and more new aquatic inhabitants and cannot afford them.

It’s the same with a vegetable garden, alas, its area is often very limited, vegetables are brought to the foreground, they are given the best place, only areas located in the shade remain; they can also be allocated for vegetable beds, but will they grow there? It turns out that there are a lot of such vegetables, but there is a caveat here, because the shades differ, and the shade in the warm regions of the country is very different from that in the center and even more so in the north.

Let's take the center of Russia, here in the shadows they can give good harvest:

• - rhubarb,
• - salad plants (lettuce, sorrel and others),
• - wild garlic,
• - garlic,
• - herbs and herbs,
• - beet,
• - root parsley and parsnips,
• - perennial onions,
• - bush beans and beans,
• - and also horseradish.

Let's start with rhubarb - in fact, the vegetable is universal, its stems are sour, but with their help you can prepare both soup and dessert. Rhubarb bushes grow well in the shade, the main thing is not to forget to water them. Rhubarb reproduces well by parts of the rhizome; in this case, the bush quickly grows, gains mass, and forms succulent stems, but if you sow it with seeds, you will have to wait a couple of years before the first real harvest.

Lettuce plants, such as lettuce or other leafy lettuces, as well as head salads, arugula, spinach, tender sorrel, chard, leaf mustard and watercress, grow well even in areas located in the shade. Of course, you won’t see a record harvest like you can get in an open garden bed, but you can cut the leaves slowly; in the shade they will remain fresh for a long time and will not give off bitterness.

Wild garlic, otherwise called bear onion, tastes like onions and garlic mixed together; it is also a medicinal crop. Just a couple of leaves in a spring salad and you will get a portion of vitamins that will last for the whole day. Ramson sometimes works even better in the shade than in open garden bed, because in natural environment Its habitat is sometimes located under the closed foliage of tall trees and is accustomed to dense shade.

Garlic, many will be surprised here - how can garlic produce a crop in the shade? These many are right, but garlic grown in such conditions is not suitable for winter canning, or for dry powder. The harvest from a shaded area will be small, the cloves will be small, but very tasty and aromatic and will be perfect as a seasoning for dishes or salads, and you will save a whole garden bed and use it for something interesting.

Greens and spices, not all, of course, basil is capable of dying in shaded conditions, but simpler ones - cilantro, curly parsley, celery, oregano, mint, tarragon, aromatic lemon balm, lovage and thyme, why give up precious and illuminated meters for them? Even in the twilight, herbs will be just as useful and fragrant.

Table beets - often they are given almost the best place, this is a waste of space, even in the shade they can give a good harvest, of course, if you do not need giant root crops. Under these conditions, the beet roots will be medium in size, but more juicy and tender and, as housewives note, such beets cook much faster - saving money and space!

Parsnips and root parsley, they also do well in the shade, and if this place is occasionally “visited” by the rays of the sun, then it is doubly wonderful, then you will definitely not be left without a harvest.

Perennial onions such as chives and slime onions; in the shade their greens will become even more juicy. It is noteworthy that chives grow even more actively in the shade than in the sun; they short term can occupy the area allotted to it, and it blooms more interestingly there, its gorgeous lilac caps will live there almost twice as long.

Beans and bush beans, of course, only some, most shade-tolerant varieties, they appear every year - just visit a seed shop and pick up a few for yourself, you won’t be disappointed. The harvest can be especially successful for those plants that are planted under the crown of a tree, and the tree will also benefit, because legumes accumulate nitrogen in the soil, and their tops are an excellent fertilizer.

And finally, the real inhabitant of the shadow is the horseradish. Feel free to plant it in the most shaded part of the site, where the soil was previously empty and even the weeds did not favor it. Even there, horseradish will form a magnificent harvest of the most tender and juicy leaves and roots used for various types pickling

By moving all these crops from an open area to the shade, you will save a lot of space and, most importantly, you will not lose anything, the yields will not be much less, and the pleasure of planting something new on the freed area will more than compensate for the shortage.

Stanislava Kovtun

From school we remember that every plant loves the sun, and without it it will not be able to grow and develop normally. And all because it is the sun’s rays that activate all metabolic processes and photosynthesis occurring in the leaves, stems and roots of plantings. That is why literally all recommendations for successful gardening begin the same way: “find the sunniest place for seedlings or crops.”

But what to do with those pieces of land that are “lazy” in the shadow of a fence, behind a bathhouse or barn, under the spreading crowns of fruit trees or behind the blank wall of a house?

Leaving them unattended is an unaffordable luxury, especially if suburban area not happy with the large square footage.

It’s worth starting with the fact that the shadow can also be different. For example, in the South, tomatoes and even watermelons grow well in partial shade, whereas in northern latitudes on similar soil it will be possible to grow only greens or salads.

This publication will give examples of what to plant in the shade at the dacha, which is located in middle lane.

Shade-tolerant shrubs and trees

With a small amount of sunlight, all kinds of conifers, yews or firs, for example, grow well. To create a bright decorative composition Rowan, honeysuckle, serviceberry, currant and viburnum are suitable. Also, plantings of tree-like lilac and hawthorn take root and develop well in the shade.

If you are puzzled by the problem of which shrubs to plant in the shade at your own dacha, study the following positions and choose the ones you like.

So, these could be the following plants:

• Rhododendrons, which grow well under trees;
• Hydrangea, maiden grape or ivy;
• All kinds of red and black elderberries, delighting with the unusual and bright color of their leaves and ripe berries;
• Combined plantings consisting of hazel, rowan and serviceberry look very beautiful. In addition, such shrubs are easy to care for and do not require complex treatment for diseases and pests.

Floral Framing Options

It may seem incredible, but the problem of which flowers to plant in the shade at your favorite dacha can also be solved quite simply. To do this, it is necessary to study several groups flower plants able to survive without sunlight.

For example, it is permissible to use perennial plantings:

• badin;
• all varieties of daylily;
• lilies of the valley;
• host;
• Brunner;
• irises and periwinkle;
• columbine and astilbe;
• muscari, saxifrage and wild rosemary.

The smallest group is the annual shade-tolerant flowers, since it consists only of calendula, balsam and fragrant tobacco.

Should we rely on vegetables?

The most pressing problem seems to be what edible vegetables to plant in partial shade at the dacha. But here, too, there is a worthy solution, since beds with sorrel or garlic feel great under a fence or tree crowns.

Similar areas will appeal to all legumes, cucumbers and even carrots, not to mention lettuce.

Growing greens in the shade comes down mainly to cultivating parsnips and root parsley, horseradish, lovage and rhubarb, although there is a chance to grow a fairly good harvest of table beets. Get ready for the tubers of the latter to be small, but quite sweet.

It is still possible to get a good harvest of broccoli, which loves diffused sunlight. The only disadvantage of this solution is that weeds constantly grow in a shady and damp place, and you have to regularly monitor the cleanliness of the soil.

How great are the benefits of sunlight?

This question may seem quite strange, especially to those who are spending their first gardening season at the dacha. In fact, a shady vegetable garden holds promise, especially for those who love lettuce, kale, spinach, mustard, parsnips and legumes. The cultivation of such plants is facilitated by the fact that vegetables and herbs need to be watered very rarely, the plantings do not go into arrows, and, therefore, they give a good, albeit late, harvest.

Despite the fact that eggplants and corn are considered southern crops, they also tolerate a lack of sunlight. It also happens that the beds even have to be covered with spunbond if a night cold snap is expected. The insulation will retain moisture and warm the bushes.

There is so little warm gentle sun on small summer cottages. In the shade of the house and trees there is a lot free space. How to manage it wisely usable area and what can be planted in the shade at the dacha? Let's talk about this in more detail.

Basic principles of planting planning

In addition to the wishes of the owner of the plot, there are specially developed norms for planting in dacha cooperatives, which it is advisable to adhere to in order to avoid getting into trouble with the law.

Basic standards that matter:

• Tall trees and shrubs must be located at a distance of at least five meters from the walls of the building. This requirement is due to several factors - fire safety and the requirements of engineering communications (electricity, gas, TV antenna). In addition, the close location of fruit trees to the walls of the house does not provide them with enough sunlight and nutrients. Pay attention to this before planting clover in your dacha under trees; it also takes nutrients from the soil;
• Planting of fruit trees on the site can be carried out according to a linear or group scheme. For small areas, group planting is better suited - the distance between seedlings is from two to five meters. Linear planting requires a distance of at least five meters and up to seven, which is too wasteful.

Advice. When deciding which apple trees are best to plant in your dacha, choose varieties as they ripen.
Early summer (white filling, glory to the winner, candy, June Chernenko), autumn (Belfleur, Antonovka, Altai), winter (Bogatyr, Semerenka, Antonovka).
The varieties are indicated for Central Russia.

• Shrubs in group plantings are planted at a distance of half a meter to one and a half meters, depending on the variety;
• In a hedge, plants can be planted at a distance of thirty centimeters. Country houses from block containers, for example, look great framed by a hedge of evergreen coniferous shrubs.

But let’s return to the issue of shade on the site and how to wisely use every centimeter of usable area.

Shade under trees and bushes

Naturally, the crown of an adult tree provides pleasant partial shade, but what plants are advisable to plant under the trees:

• Where to plant tulips in the country? Of course, use places shaded by the crown. Daffodils and peonies also feel great in the shade.

Advice. But before you plant peonies in the shade at the dacha, keep in mind that the bush will be quite spreading, but abundant flowering It will be difficult to achieve, just a few buds.

• It is important in what climatic zone there is a dacha. If in southern regions, then the partial shade under the trees is excellent for cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini and even watermelons. In the north you will have to limit yourself to wild garlic, salads and herbs. Below are tips for the middle zone with a temperate climate;
• Vegetable crops that easily tolerate partial shade under the crown - rhubarb, lettuce, wild garlic, garlic, herbs and greens, beets, some types of perennial onions (chives and mullet), beans, bush beans, horseradish;

• Shrubs that bear fruit in the shade - raspberries, honeysuckle, viburnum, rose hips, serviceberry, black rowan. In the southern regions, black and red currants are planted under the crown, which are demanding on constantly moist soil;
• Fashionable and advertised goji berries should be planted at the dacha under fruit trees is also quite possible. This shrub is unpretentious to the presence of sun. For the winter, it is better to move the plant to a warm place, for example, to, but you will need to rent a diesel generator for the dacha for heating if there are no centralized gas and electrical communications.

Advice. Shrubs under trees are not best idea, it is better to place them under a fence on the north side or in the shade of the house.

Recommendations for agricultural technology for some crops that are undemanding to bright sunlight

Gardeners have already decided on their preferences for planting in the shade. We offer options for the most popular flowers and herbs that will delight lush flowering even in the northern regions of our country.

Hydrangea - lush festive splendor

The lush bright balls of hydrangea inflorescences are in no way inferior to the queen of the garden, the rose. In the northern regions and central Russia, paniculata and garden hydrangea, which is resistant to our cold winters.

The plant blooms in early July and is decorated with bright inflorescences until late frosts. Does not require an abundance of sunlight, but is very sensitive to soil composition.

How to plant hydrangea in the country and what is the basic care of the bush:

• The less sunlight, the more colorful and better this shrub grows. The plant loves shady areas of the garden;
• Hydrangea is planted with ready-made roots, and propagated like currants, a branch is buried, allowed to take root, and in the fall a bush with an already well-developed root system is replanted.

Important. The better air access to the roots, the more flowers. It is necessary to constantly loosen the soil in the root zone or mulch with pine needles and sawdust.

• Since the name of the shrub literally translates as “vessel with water,” the plant’s watering requirements are very high. The soil must be kept moist at all times;
• Mineral or organic fertilizing twice a month. Ready-made fertilizer “Azalea” is suitable, the price of which is quite affordable;
• In areas with winter temperatures below 15 degrees, the plant must be covered with film.

Advice. It is better to carry out anti-aging pruning once every three years in the fall, September, October.

Lavender is an unpretentious healer

As with any gardening project, choosing the right varieties of vegetables is an important step in maintaining a healthy vegetable garden. When talking about these vegetables, you will see that most of green leafy varieties grow well in the shade. Depending on whether your planting site receives partial sunlight or not, you may want to consider the following vegetable varieties:

Lettuce

Lettuce, one of the most delicious and healthy ingredients for salads, grows well in partial shade. The advantage of salad and others leafy vegetables the fact that they can be collected at any stage. Grow lettuce in areas of the garden that receive 4 to 6 hours of sunlight per day.

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Beet

Beets and beans are nutritious vegetables that grow in partial shade. Grow beets planted in a straight line and make sure the plants are planted in an east to west direction. By doing this, vegetables can harvest maximum sunlight for better growth.

Broccoli

Cruciferous vegetables also thrive in shaded areas. This way, you can grow healthy broccoli even if your garden doesn't get much sunlight. The only obstacles are weed control and the need to add compost to the soil.

Cauliflower

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Onion

Onions are another vegetable that grows well in the shade. Use healthy bulbs onions for growing in a shady garden. As long as regular watering is provided, these vegetables will grow well. You can harvest onion leaves regularly to make soups and salads.

Herbs

Culinary herbs such as cardamom, parsley, garlic, mint and leek grow well in partial or even full shade. So, you can plant these herbs and collect the fresh leaves to season your soups. You can also dry these herbs for long-term use.

Is it possible to grow tomatoes in the shade?

Crops such as tomatoes, corn, and peppers require at least six hours of sunlight per day. So, if they are planted in full shade, you may not be successful in growing healthy tomatoes. Alternatively, you can grow tomatoes in pots and containers so that you can move them to light areas for better performance.