Partial Shade

• Areas of the garden that receive some sun, but are shaded for most of the day create the ideal climate for vegetables with low-heat tolerance, such as beets, green beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, peas and Brussels sprouts. These vegetables produce well when exposed to sunlight for 3 to 6 hours each day and can tolerate the periodic shade produced by nearby hedges, fences or other structures.
  
  

Light Shade

• Garden areas that are sited near leafy, heavily branched trees, or bushy, dense hedges, may not receive much sun. The light that does reach the ground tends to be dappled, at best, creating a rather difficult area for productive gardening. Vegetables such as chard, cress, endive, leaf lettuce, radishes and spinach produce well with two hours or less of direct sunlight and thrive in the shady spaces created by tall buildings, towering hedges of lofty shade trees.
  
  

Dry Shade

• The soil in many shady gardening sites is cool and moist and does not require as much water as the rest of the garden. However, shady sites created by overhead structures are often dry on top of being dark; the canopy above tends to block out both sun and rain. When gardening in the dry shade, be sure to water the plants regularly and deeply, particularly during periods of windy or extremely hot weather.
  
  

Modifying Shade

• In many situations, densely shaded areas can be turned into lightly shaded ones by trimming a few branches from nearby trees, enabling the growth of a wider variety of plants. Thin shade trees by cutting the branches off right at the trunk, or by removing side branches where they fork into a "Y." Cut off any remaining stumps; leaving unsightly stubs behind will result in the development of poorly formed, oddly shaped new growth.