What if You Find You Don’t Have Enough Sun?

So what if, after trying all of your best spots, you find that there just isn’t a spot on your property that gets enough sun?

Do what you can, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Lack of sunlight is by far the most common cause of unhealthy plants and underperforming gardens. Around 80-95% of the gardens I see could use more sun, and about 50-60% are in dire need of more sun. Part of the reason for writing this is so others can realize the root cause for their struggles is very likely merely lack of adequate direct sunlight (and maybe the need to build their soil a bit) and that they’re not alone in this struggle. It’s much more common than most would believe. Knowing this, hopefully, those who’ve struggled can stop beating themselves up over it, fix it, and start having the successes they’ve desired.

Gardening is never perfect. When your bean sprouts or lettuce seedlings never advance past a certain stage, realize that their being next to a tree that casts any amount of shade on them, let alone under a tree, is the cause.

Still try, especially if gardening is still something you feel pulled by the inner core of you to do, but do so with plants that are the most likely to be successful in less sun. Since it takes much less sun energy for plans to grow leaves than it does for them to develop flowers, seeds, bulbs, tubers, and fruit, you can get decent harvests of greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, bok choy, chijimisai, mizuna, tatsoi, arugula, mustard, and others; herbs like basil, oregano, and thyme; plant tops like green onions; and even some pods like peas, which are kind of an exception, in 6 or 7 hours of direct sunlight per day and usually at least some kind of harvest in even less sun.

Continue trying a few others that are your favorites. Maybe you’ve underestimated your amount of available direct sunlight, and they’ll do better than you think. Or maybe some tomatoes, peppers, or whatever you want, to harvest, even from plants that aren’t ideal, are better than none at all.

And try not to get too discouraged or blame yourself. Most garden plants need massive amounts of direct sunlight to really thrive, and not everyone has this. Do what you can, and know that—in spite of your efforts to improve your soil, and plant at the right times with perfect spacing next to ideal companions—there’s only so much you can do with too little sun. Don’t punish yourself for it—or think you somehow missed having a magical, mythical green thumb this is really the result of sustained, passion, effort, and growth, not some pre-birth miracle.

Accept reduced results and know it’s not your fault just the result of not having a spot with enough direct sunlight, put the damned vegetables somewhere else, or cut down the tree.

Or do none of the above and instead spend your time nurturing something else that grows: your kids, a team, people learning a skill, a new friendship. You can even start visiting or playing cards with an elderly person in your neighborhood or at a local nursing home—sure, you’ll likely hear some shocking perspectives that put culture lag in full spotlight, but you’ll also learn some interesting new perspectives on life and get to know a beautiful person.

And, instead, buy your vegetables from a local farmer or the farmers’ market.

Sometimes the beauty around you that might be destroyed or neglected in order for you to have a perfect garden is more important than having said perfect garden. Perhaps, your yard, acreage, child, spouse, other hobbies, learning, or time spent for reflection, are more fruitful for your soul than a garden would be.

If so, buying from those who become trusted friends at a local farm or farmers’ market nurtures your health and palate the way a garden can but also nourishes your sense of community with your fellow humans—and their relationship to the land, and hence yours as well—in a way a garden just can’t. 

I’ve lived both sides of this. Both of my parents worked their lives away when my siblings and I were children. We had, among other things, multiple, 75-yard rows of tomatoes, three acres of strawberries, a 525-tree apple orchard, and hay wagons filled on every square inch and then mounded high in the middle with squash and pumpkins. But as we only sold one squash from one of those wagons after having spent all day at a roadside stand, most of those tomatoes turned on the vine and rotted into the soil, and the fruit trees languished over the years from too many other projects taking precedence, I started to wonder if their time would have been better spent being present for the people in their lives. I’m just saying, keep an open mind, and don’t stress out too much about making the perfect garden. It’s not worth destroying trees or views that are precious to you, and it’s definitely not worth neglecting your children or the other important people in your life.