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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Time to find some shade vegetables

Curly kaleImage via Wikipedia

Although I didn't really believe it at first, there are some vegetables that will grow in part sun. I am going to head the the nursery this weekend and find some that will not only grow in the little bed outside the kitchen window, but also be something that we will actually eat.

I am a fussy eater, so that could be a challenge, but after doing a bit of research on the Net I find that kale, oregano (I know, a spice, not a vegetable), broccoli, cauliflower and a few others might do OK here. I plan on pulling out the little electric cultivator and perhaps working in some more of our homemade compost.

I also plan on putting in some salad mixes. According to some sites, growing this in partial shade, especially here in the hot San Fernando Valley might help to keep the lettuce from bolting as the days start to heat up.

This little project will help me complete a long list of to-do items so I am looking forward to it. Too often, I can come to dread various gardening projects, but this one holds a lot of interest for me.

Here is my list of things to accomplish fairly soon, if not this weekend:
  • Visit nursery for transplants and seeds
  • Empty mature compost from both compost bins
  • Work compost into the bed using electric cultivator
  • Plants seeds and transplants
  • Adjust/fix soaker irrigation system to minimize leaks
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4 Comments:

Anonymous Ben Kuo said...

Lettuce does work in the shade, particularly with the heat we get in summer.

8:40 AM  
OpenID rainman said...

If you like kale (and what's not to like!) I don't think you can count yourself as a fussy eater.... :)

"Too often, I can come to dread various gardening projects"

Wow. Just wow. I dread many things, but never time in the garden. (I've been known to weed by torchlight...)

I've just fetched an old greenhouse that I bought from a friend (500km round trip to fetch it today... pretty tired now) and I'm wishing I didn't have to go to work in the morning, but rather could start cleaning it up and building it onto a base in the back corner of the yard. Then there's shelving to do, and planter boxes, and moving the strawberries and peppers in before winter (S Hemisphere), and maybe even plumbing in a solar-power water pump for a sprinkler system...

But to get back on topic, I'm also going to experiment with shade gardening - I'm putting some pak choi into a spot that only gets a little sun each day. Will have to see how that goes.

1:29 AM  
Anonymous Karen said...

Your lettuce is gorgeus!

8:39 AM  
Blogger Douglas E Welch said...

Oh, I wish that was a picture of my kale, but alas that is a shot from wikipedia just to dress up the blog post. I will post pictures of my veggies when I get them going, though.

D

10:07 AM  

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