How Much Sunlight Do Vegetables Really Need?

I'm sure you've heard plenty of gardening commandments. Thou shalt not transplant carrots. Thou shalt not harvest more than a third of a plant's leaves at once. And the big one: Thou shalt not start a vegetable garden with less than 8 hours of direct sunlight.

But as it turns out, this last commandment is bit misleading. And it's probably held many of us back from starting a garden.

Sunlight is, of course, necessary for plants to live. I'm pretty sure we all learned that in like third-grade science, right? Leaves absorb rays from the sun and use it to make their own food through photosynthesis. This food helps the plants grow and produce all kinds of wonderful things like leaves, roots, flowers, fruits, and seeds.

Plants need sunlight, but not all plants need 8 or more hours of direct sun. There are plenty of nutritious, delicious plants that you can grow if your space receives less than 8 hours of sunlight daily. They just might not be the first plants that pop into your mind when you picture a thriving vegetable garden filled with produce.

Here are 20 herbs and vegetables you can grow in shade or partial sun, no matter where you live, no matter how much gardening experience you have.

Herbs & Vegetables That Grow in Shade

• Arugula
• Bok choy
• Chives
• Cilantro
• Collard greens
• Dill
• Kale
• Lemon balm
• Looseleaf lettuce
• Mint
• Mustard greens
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Radicchio
• Romaine (and other heading lettuces)
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Spinach
• Swiss chard
• Thyme

Let's kick this off by talking about herbs. Herbs are one of the simplest things to grow in the garden, and that's because we're just growing them for their leaves. They don't need to build up a lot of energy to form flowers and fruit. That means you'll still get delicious leaves to harvest from herbs that are given just 4 hours of sun per day, though you'll get more leaves if you can give them more sunshine. Look for herbs growing leggy (tall and spindly) or stunted leaves—both signs your herbs could use a bit more sun.

For most of these herbs, you'll start them by plant instead of seed. Head to your local nursery and buy some healthy-looking plants. You'll get more than enough bang for your buck because these are cut-and-come-again varieties. That means you can take harvests each and every week.

You can grow these herbs in containers or in raised beds. Some you can even just add to your landscaping.

Here are herbs you can grow, even if you have almost no direct sunlight in your vegetable garden.

Rosemary Grows Really Well in Shade

Rosemary is an herb that originated in the Mediterranean. While it's true that rosemary thrives in a pool of sunlight, it also survives and continues to grow with just a little bit of sun. Aim to give this plant 4 hours of sunlight, if nothing more.

Learn more about growing rosemary.

Oregano Grows with Just 4 Hours of Sun

Oregano is also a Mediterranean herb. While it does really well with lots of sunlight, it continues to grow in gardens with more shade than sun. I've got oregano growing in every corner of my garden, and it's thriving in both really sunny spots and the shadiest of shaded areas.

You can grow oregano in the ground or in raised beds and containers. Just keep in mind that it will slowly spread outward.

Learn more about growing organic oregano.

Sage Thrives Without Much Sunshine

Sage comes from the—you guessed it!—Mediterranean. Sage is super tolerant of low-light situations and will continue to grow without much sun at all.

Learn more about growing sage at home.

Thyme Is a Shade-Loving Herb

Thyme, another Mediterranean herb, grows with just 4 hours of light on its leaves. I'd say thyme and sage are even more likely to thrive in shade than rosemary and oregano. You can grow oregano in a raised bed or right in the ground if you have good drainage.

Learn how to grow your own thyme.

Chives Will Grow No Matter How Much Sunlight You Have

Chives are literally the easiest plant to grow in the garden. They demand nothing from you. You can neglect them, forget about them for months, and they'll just be doing their thing, ready for you to harvest them whenever.

Chives are something absolutely all of us, no matter our light situation, can be growing to replace some of those plastic herb containers from the grocery store. I plant chives in the corners of every single one of my raised beds. You can also grow chives in the ground.

Chives multiply every single year, so you end up with double the plants you had the year before—it's a real win-win crop!

Learn more about planting and growing chives.

Mint Grows in Shaded Areas

Mint is a little different from its herb cousins in that it actually prefers shade over bright sunlight. While most herbs will thrive if given more than 6 hours of direct sun, mint typically will burn or just struggle.

Mint is a great herb to grow in a container all by itself in a shady area. With just one mint plant, you can completely replace mint from the grocery store. You'll have enough leaves to make mint ice cream, mint chutney, and mint-infused water. You can absolutely grow enough mint to have leaves every day, even in a shady yard.

Mint spreads pretty aggressively, so if you plant it in the ground, be aware of what's nearby.

Learn how to grow mint in an organic herb garden.

Lemon Balm Loves Shade

Lemon balm is a prolific plant. So prolific, in fact, that you don't want to put it in a raised bed unless you're ready for it to take over. Lemon balm does great in bright sun, but it also loves shade. Actually, there's not much that lemon balm doesn't love. It's pretty easy going. Give it a wide patch in the ground and let it go to town.

If you've never smelled lemon balm before, you're in for a treat. One of my little garden hacks is that the smell lemon balm puts off actually helps repel mosquitos, which also love shady places. That makes lemon balm a wonderful plant to help manage pesky bugs in your garden.

Learn more about growing lemon balm in your garden.

Cilantro, Parsley, and Dill Don't Need Much Sun to Grow

So far, we've covered a ton of herbs from the Lamiaceae, or mint, family, plus one from the onion family (chives). Now, we've got three herbs from the Apiaceae, or carrot, family.

These herbs are the exception to what I said before about growing herbs from plant. Cilantro, parsley, and dill grow pretty quickly from seed. This trio also prefers when the weather is cool, and they don't mind shade one bit. Will they grow with lots of bright sunlight? Of course they will, but they'll also be much more likely to bolt, or go to seed. That's because they're motivated to flower and form seeds when the days grow longer and warmer.

These are three great herbs to try out in a shady bed in your vegetable garden or even just in a little container.

Learn more about how to grow cilantro, parsley, and dill at home.

We've pretty much covered the main culinary herbs you might grow. Even if you don't grow anything else in your garden, your harvest basket can still be full of leaves that you've grown in spots with just a little bit of sun. You'll be able to replace the herbs you've been buying from the grocery store with those that you grow in your vegetable garden, and that's huge!

Now, let's talk about some of the other leaves that I love to grow besides herbs. You can grow all your favorite leaves that you love to toss into smoothies and salads right in your shaded garden. Some of these leafy greens can even grow almost year round.

Kale Grows Comes Rain or Shine

Kale is a biennial plant, which means it wants to stay in your garden for two years before it goes to seed. Toscano kale, red Russian kale, curly kale—pretty much any type of kale you want to grow will put up with shade, sleet, snow, you name it, so that it can reach its seed-producing year.

Case in point: I planted a couple baby kale plants behind some pepper plants that were already established in the garden. The kale plants grew slowly while they were in the shade of the taller plants, but they stayed alive with very little direct light on their leaves. Once the pepper plants came out, the kale plants shot right up.

You can start kale from seed or buy well-grown kale seedlings from your local nursery. These plants will stay in your yard from the time before your last frost of the spring all the way to well past your first frost of the fall. They're super hardy plants that'll give you tons of leaves for a long, long time.

Learn how to grow kale in your vegetable garden.

Swiss Chard Grows in Low Light Conditions

The next plant that will stay in your garden for a long time and give you lots of greens, even in the shade, is Swiss chard. It's also a biennial, so the same rules apply.

You can start Swiss chard by seed, or you can grab a couple plants from the store. Like with kale, you'll be able to harvest beautiful Swiss chard leaves again and again, no matter how little sun your garden gets.

Learn more about growing your own Swiss chard.

Asian Greens, Mustard Greens, & Collard Greens Produce with Just 4 Hours of Sun

Two other greens that will grow large even in shaded areas are mustard greens and collards. They're not as long lasting as kale and Swiss chard, but you'll still get lots and lots of leaves from these gals over a period of several months.

I'm also a huge fan of bok choy, tatsoi, toy choy, and pak choy. If you've never tasted homegrown bok choy before, let me tell you, you're going to love it, and you're especially going to be so proud that you pulled all those yummy leaves from a shaded spot.

Learn how to grow your own mustard greens.

Arugula Doesn't Need a Ton of Sun

If you don't grow anything else from this list, you have to at least grow some arugula in the shade. It's a smaller leafy green, a classic, that's so easy to grow from seed. It's actually in the same family as kale, Asian greens, and mustards (that's the Brassica family), but it's much easier and faster to start from seed.

If you're still eating arugula leaves that have been trucked all over the country to your nearest Trader Joe's, you're seriously missing out. You can fill an entire container on a shaded patio with arugula and so easily replace your grocery-store leaves.

Here's the easiest way to plant, grow, and harvest your own organic arugula.

Looseleaf Lettuce Plants, Endive, & Radicchio Grow with Very Little Sun

Small lettuce plants grow really well in the shade. Black seeded simpson and spring mixes grow very quickly from seed, even in low light. You'll get the tastiest, most beautiful leaves with little frilled edges and lots of crunch. Similar to lettuces are endive and radicchio, which you haven't even tasted unless you've tasted the homegrown version. Their names sound fancy, but they're similarly easy to grow if you're feeling fancy.

You know those plastic boxes you buy from the store and then put at the back of your fridge and throw out two weeks later? Yeah, those. You can replace all those plastic boxes with homegrown lettuce during the months when your temps are nice and cool. When the weather warms, that shaded location will actually keep your plants producing a little longer than they would if they were growing in full sun.

Here are our tips to grow lettuce from seed.

Spinach Grows Well in Shade

Spinach comes from the same family as Swiss chard, the Amaranth family, which contains lots of plants that are ridiculously good for you. My favorite type of spinach is called Bloomsdale long standing spinach. Even though this type is bred to not go to seed quickly when the weather warms, you can still do it a big favor by planting it in the shade. And you'll be doing yourself a favor, too, because you'll get more leaves!

To grow spinach, plant some seeds in the shade, water it well, and then be patient. You're going to think it's not coming up, but it just takes some time (at least two weeks). Then it'll take off. And you'll love spinach so much more (maybe love it for the first time in your life) because you grew it yourself in the shade.

Learn a little bit more about how to grow organic spinach.

Romaine Lettuce Is Easy to Grow in Partial Shade

Even heading lettuces like romaine are super easy to grow in shaded gardens. You're going to be asking yourself real soon, "Why haven't I tried to grow this before?" Even though romaine is much larger than looseleaf lettuce, you can still grow it by seed. And you don't have to wait until a full head has formed to harvest. You can actually take a couple leaves from the outside here and there.

I've already talked about plastic boxes plenty and how easily you can replace them with garden-fresh leaves. Let me also remind you of all those E. coli recalls for store-bought romaine. You can decrease your risk of buying contaminated lettuce by switching to homegrown romaine for half the year.

Learn more about growing your own romaine.

Sorrel Grows in Shady Spots 

Last but not least, we have sorrel, a wonderfully citrus-flavored green. Sorrel is actually a perennial in the garden, so it'll grow in full sun or shade. It's even frost tolerant, so you can plant it before your last frost date and harvest leaves after your first frost.

You can make sauces with sorrel leaves. I love just chopping up the leaves and using them as a garnish in salads.

How Can These Plants Grow With So Little Sunlight?

Think back to what you learned about the stages of plant growth back in like third-grade science class. Plants don't actually need any sunlight at all to pop up out of the ground. At that point, they're just reacting to water and soil temperature. The magic is happening underground, and the plants don't even come into contact with any light until their first two leaves break the surface of the soil.

After that, the plants only need a little bit of light to generate enough energy to grow to the next stage, which is putting on more leaves and stems. That's why plants that we grow for their leaves (which are also smaller and not as bright in color than the typical stars of a harvest basket) really don't need all that much sun. The more sun these plants absorb as they grow, the better they establish their roots underground.

There are so many plants that can mature in less than 90 days and give us nutritious harvests without 8 hours of sunlight. We're catching these plants at the beginning of their growth long before they have to produce fruit or seeds.

Which Plants Do Need 8+ Hours of Sunlight to Grow?

Does your mind jump to big, beautiful, brightly colored vegetables when you picture a quintessential vegetable garden? These plants need 90 to 120 days to go from seed to leaves to deep roots and then all the way to flower and fruit. And it's really only these fruiting and flowering plants that require at least 8 hours of direct sun.

Of course, in addition to sunlight, these plants also tend to need more water, more space, more tending, and more nutrients than plants that are grown for their leaves and roots. (Speaking of roots, you'll need about 6 hours of sunlight to grow root crops like carrots, radishes, and beets.)

Plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, okra, pumpkins, and green beans (yep, all those are technically fruits) definitely need 8 hours to produce their colorful, shiny parts.

Plants like broccoli and cauliflower that we technically grow for their immature flower heads will also need 8 or more hours to mature.

Of course, most plants will survive with a little less sunlight than they prefer. They just won't thrive. You can stretch the boundaries with plants you decide to grow in your space if you're okay with them either taking forever to grow to maturity or never fully maturing.

Don't Let Shade Keep You from Starting a Garden

There you have it. You can grow way more delicious crops with way less sunlight that you thought you'd need. Just focus on plants we grow for their leaves—plants that are lower down on the spectrum in terms of their needs. That's how you get a kitchen garden overflowing with things you get to harvest.

Sure, you'll have to skip those big, beautiful, brightly colored plants like tomatoes and peppers and eggplants, but you'll still get tons of leaves that are just as nutritious and just as delicious. You'll get plants that are actually way more productive overall also, because plants can grow new leaves much faster than they can ripen fruits.

If you look through many of the gardens that I've planted for clients, you'll notice that leaves are really the focus. That's how my own garden is, as well, especially my back raised beds, which are shaded most of the year because our house backs right up to a forest. The trees don't stop me from growing loads of things almost year-round.

So if shade is the thing that's been holding you back from having a garden, now you don't have an excuse! Get out there and start growing these 20 plants that are low on the sunlight spectrum right away!

We're on a mission to make gardening ordinary again, and part of that means disputing all those limitations that you've been told about gardening. Thanks for being here and tossing those old rules out the window!