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Annual vegetable gardening in understory?

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TheVeggieProfessor:
Hi everyone. My vegetable garden is to the south of my house (about 20 feet from my house to the property line; about 12 feet from my house to my vegetable beds). This is a convenient location since its close to my kitchen, but the sun blaring through my south facing windows and nowhere shady to sit near the garden is not ideal. I am considering planting some trees about 10' off my house (2' from my vegetable beds) and keeping the lower branches pruned to ensure that the low winter sun can reaches the garden bed, but still benefit from the shade (and fruit) of the trees. Tree roots might post some problems, but my beds are 18 inches tall. I'm sure the roots would like the rich soil, but it's not as though I'm gardening in the ground. I think planting trees that are semi-deciduous such as mamey sapote and carambola might make sense for this context.

I am feeling some optimism about doing this on the basis of Galatians522's experiences with growing tomatoes in shade.

What say you?

Galatians522:
There are a good number of vegetables that grow ok in shade here in Florida. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, taro, malanga, and Belembe have done well for me. I even have a nice Seminole Pumpkin going in the shade right now--the leaves are huge! I have learned that the kind of shade you have makes a big difference in what you can grow. My shade is from live oaks. They have kindof a dappled shade that allows some light through. I do struggle with the roots, though. I am constantly hacking them back even though the trees are 20' and more away in most places.

roblack:
Everglades tomato and peppers have done well here in partial shade, but some direct sun helps. Lots of herbs do well, such as basils (especially Thai), mints, ginger, turmeric, galangal, and pandan leaf.  Have had decent results with different lettuces and kale, which need more light.

Coconut Cream:
I think it would work great and I do something similar. There are overstory trees with more skeletal, open canopies like Mamey Sapote, Guava, and some Avocados that will let through lots of light. Especially when those trees are young you have essentially full sunlight. It's much easier to grow vegetables in partial shade.

Just make sure that whatever you plant very close to the trunk isn't a root crop that you have to dig down to harvest. Sweet potatoes, ginger, turmeric, etc are all bad ideas to intermingle with the central root ball.

I have had good results with Mavuno Cow Pea, Bush Long Bean, Eggplant, Lolot Pepper Leaf, Longevity Spinach, Sissoo Spinach, Okinawa Spinach, Pineapples, Lemongrass, Garlic Chive, Ground Cherries, Everglades Tomato, and some squashes and pumpkins. You can plant any of those pretty close in to the trunk. A few feet further out go with Turmeric, Ginger, Galangal, Cardamom, Sweet Potatoes, Cassava, Taro Root or whatever other root crops you're into. Canna Lilies and Heliconia are also great but they spread by rhizome so keep them a safe distance from the tree roots.

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