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100% Shade Garden...Oh NO!

Posts: 20

Location: Rehovot, Israel

posted 10 years ago

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Hi all!
I live in Israel.
Just got a new project going on. The customer has a garden that has no direct sun light at all.
I must say it gives me a hack of a challange.

Looking around the internet for hours im strting to find some logic and a way to make this thing work.
But, the problem is the list of insact atracting plants and mineral plants that I have, are all for full sun\part shade so I cant use them.

I wanted to ask if any one here has any good plant to offer?

Thank you all!

Pics from the site (this is in about 10am):

The shade is from the house and wall.

Angelika Maier

pollinator

Posts: 1475

Location: Zone 10a, Australia

posted 10 years ago

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What are mineral plants?
Do you want productive plants or ornamentals?
Is the shade from houses or from trees?

Medicinal herbs, kitchen herbs, perennial edibles and berries: https://mountainherbs.net/ grown in the Blue Mountains, Australia

james Apodaca

Posts: 57

posted 10 years ago

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Angelika, I believe what Gilad means by Mineral Plants are Nitrogen Fixing plants or Dynamic Accumulators that bring trace minerals from lower soil levels into their leaves.

Gilad, you may want to view this thread and the associated links in it to hunt for shade tolerant plants that can be found on those lists.
https://permies.com/t/19436/fukuoka/List-Dynamic-Accumulators

A Google Search of Dynamic Accumulators would be a fine place to start as well Gilad. I hope you can find what you're looking for, I'm sorry I have no practical experience with most of these, especially in the shade so I cannot be of any service there.

Cj Sloane

pollinator

Posts: 3738

Location: Vermont, off grid for 24 years!

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posted 10 years ago

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Can you put in small pond? Then maybe you could do rain-forest plants which don't get much sunlight.
And don't forget mushrooms.

Can you post a pic?

My project thread
Agriculture collects solar energy two-dimensionally; but silviculture collects it three dimensionally.

Gilad Fisher

Posts: 20

Location: Rehovot, Israel

posted 10 years ago

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Thank you all for trying to help!
I have posted a pic to help you understand.
There is sun but no direct sunlight.

Cj Sloane

pollinator

Posts: 3738

Location: Vermont, off grid for 24 years!

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posted 10 years ago

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How tall is the wall?
Doesn't it get any sun at noon when the sun is directly overhead?

My project thread
Agriculture collects solar energy two-dimensionally; but silviculture collects it three dimensionally.

R Scott

pollinator

Posts: 4025

Location: Kansas Zone 6a

284

posted 10 years ago

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Your full shade is probably more light than my partial sun.

Can you put up a reflector to bounce a little light into the area? Maybe to help establish, then they should be OK.

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Cj Sloane

pollinator

Posts: 3738

Location: Vermont, off grid for 24 years!

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posted 10 years ago

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I do know that parsley is shade tolerant.

My project thread
Agriculture collects solar energy two-dimensionally; but silviculture collects it three dimensionally.

Gilad Fisher

Posts: 20

Location: Rehovot, Israel

posted 10 years ago

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Cj Verde wrote:How tall is the wall?
Doesn't it get any sun at noon when the sun is directly overhead?

The wall is more then 2 meters tall and its on the north side so no direct sun.

R Scott wrote:Your full shade is probably more light than my partial sun.

Can you put up a reflector to bounce a little light into the area? Maybe to help establish, then they should be OK.

Do you think that part shade plants will be ok there?
And what is reflectors? how do i install them?

Cj Verde wrote:I do know that parsley is shade tolerant.

That is very helpful, thank you!

Charles Tarnard

Posts: 337

Location: PDX Zone 8b 1/6th acre

posted 10 years ago

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Hosta is a shade loving plant that works well as a flowering plant here and the leaves are edible. It appears your climate is similar to mine.

I also have huckleberries, lingonberries, and wintergreen (Gaultheria_procumbens‎) in a shaded area, but haven't had them there long enough to tell you how they do here.

Angelika Maier

pollinator

Posts: 1475

Location: Zone 10a, Australia

posted 10 years ago

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I like the idea of the pond, maybe you can use runoff water from a roof. Gotu Kola loves shade and water so does brahmi. Mints grow in shade too. Everything with big green leaves grows in shade.

Medicinal herbs, kitchen herbs, perennial edibles and berries: https://mountainherbs.net/ grown in the Blue Mountains, Australia

Jen Shrock

pollinator

Posts: 363

Location: NW Pennsylvania Zone 5B bordering on Zone 6

posted 10 years ago

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Here are some sites that you might want to take a look at. I have a very shady front yard so I have been doing a lot of research on what I can do with it.

http://www.easyshadegardening.com/shade-garden-plants.html
http://practicalplants.org/wiki/Practical_Plants
http://mushroominfo.com/growing-mushrooms/

I had more but must have gotten delete happy the other week when I was organizing things on my computer. Hopefully this is a starting place for you.

Some possibilities are mints, kales, lettuces, garlic, currants/gooseberries/jostaberries, some brambles, some curbits (cabbage, broccoli, etc), paw paw. Some of these might and might not work. Look at the woods around you for inspiration. I remember reading about a bramble style berry, the other day, that can grow in full shade but I guess you have to be careful or dilligent with the maintenance of it because it can take over (like any of them do).

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you." ~Maori Proverb

www.permi-eden.com

R Scott

pollinator

Posts: 4025

Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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posted 10 years ago

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Reflectors are just that--white, silver, or mirrored surfaces sitting in full sun that reflect it back into the area. Easy to do if you don't care what it looks like, not so easy to make it look good. We use the cheap emergency blankets ("space blankets") tarped out to get extra light to plants that need a little extra light to get established but then do fine with shade. Looks ugly for a couple months, but I don't have neighbors to worry about. A reflecting pond, mirrored reflection balls, mirrrored room dividers, white gazebo or archway all will work. Last time I did that, I used mirrored tiles as decorations along the wall and side of a big archway.

William James

gardener

Posts: 1060

Location: Northern Italy

posted 10 years ago

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I have little light in one of the places I garden and I can say that mint, lettuce, sage, rosemary, chard, potatoes (never very big), sunchokes (probably won't work in isreal since they don't keep well), comfrey, grape (for leaf eating mostly), and lemon balm all work well for food growth. There's a smallish fig tree that puts out 5 figs a year.

I would second mushroom production, although I've never tried it.

Blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries have not worked well. I can get cherry tomatoes to grow in one spot that has the best light.

100% shade...do you have ambient light? If you don't have light you only have mushrooms to work with.

You should really think about watching the site and finding any niches where the light does enter and focus your plants on those spots. Or do a mirror technique and pipe the light in.

Gardening without light is a serious task of limiting oneself to what is possible and stretching potential as much as possible.
William

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