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Light is the one thing you cannot add to a spot later, so it decides what you can grow where. Here is what full sun and partial shade really mean in hours, how to read the light your own beds get, and which crops fit each.
Six or more hours of direct sun a day. Most crops you grow for their fruit, like tomatoes, peppers, squash, and beans, need this much. Give them less and the plant still grows, but you get few flowers and little to harvest.Six or more hours of direct sun a day. This is the band most fruiting vegetables evolved for: tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, and beans need the full photosynthetic load to flower and ripen. Below it they still grow, but fruit set falls off sharply.
Three to six hours of direct sun, or bright dappled light all day. Leafy greens like lettuce and spinach, most root crops, and many herbs do well here. They grow a little slower than in full sun, and in hot weather some afternoon shade can keep them from bolting, which is when a plant rushes to seed and turns bitter.Three to six hours of direct sun, or bright dappled light through the day. Leafy greens, most roots, and many herbs perform here, and in hot regions a few hours of afternoon shade actually slows bolting. Yields run lower and maturity slower than in full sun.
Under three hours of direct sun. Not much food grows well in deep shade. A few leafy greens and herbs like mint and parsley will get by, but plants stay thin and harvests stay small. If this is all you have, growing in pots you can move into the sun is often a better bet.Under three hours of direct sun. Few edibles are productive here. Some leafy greens and a handful of herbs such as mint, parsley, and chervil will hold on, but expect thin growth and modest harvests. This is the hardest light to garden in.
No verified crops in this tier yet. Leafy greens and a few herbs like mint and parsley are the realistic options.
These are the crops with verified growing guides. We add each crop's range as its guide is checked against university extension sources, so the list keeps growing.
You can add water, food, and better soil to a spot, but you cannot add sun, so check what a spot actually gets before you plant. Only direct sun counts. A bright but shaded corner is not the same thing.Light is the one input you cannot amend in later, so read the site before you plant it. Direct sun is what counts; bright shade and reflected light do not drive the same photosynthesis.
Pick a sunny day, ideally in the same season you plan to grow. A cloudy day, or the low winter sun, will make a spot look shadier than it really is in summer.Choose a clear day near the season you will be growing in. Cloud cover and the low winter sun will both understate a summer bed.
Look at the spot every hour or two from morning to night, and note when the sun is hitting it directly. Houses, fences, and trees cast shade that moves through the day.Check the bed every hour or two from morning to evening and note when it sits in direct sun versus shade. Buildings, fences, and trees track shade across it as the sun moves.
Add up only the hours of direct sun, then match that number to a tier above. Patchy light coming through a tree counts as about half.Add up only the hours of direct sun and match the total to a tier above. Dappled light under a tree counts as roughly half.
Keep in mind the sun sits lower and days are shorter in spring and fall, and trees grow leaves that add shade. A spot can get very different light from one season to the next.Remember the sun rides lower and the day runs shorter in spring and fall, and deciduous trees leaf out, so a spot measured in one season will read differently in another.
When a plant is not getting enough light it stretches: tall, pale, floppy stems leaning toward the window, with big gaps between the leaves and little or no fruit. The answer is more light, not more food. Feeding a plant that is short on sun just makes more weak growth. Move it somewhere brighter, or grow it in a pot you can shift into the sun.Too little light shows up as etiolation: long, pale, weak stems reaching for the window or the sky, wide spacing between leaves, and few or no flowers. The fix is relocation, not fertilizer; feeding a light-starved plant only forces more weak growth. Move it to a brighter spot, or grow it in a container you can chase the sun with.
These sun tiers assume normal summer light. Where summers are intense, zones 9 to 11, inland valleys, and the desert, heat becomes the real problem rather than light, and even sun-loving crops do better with some shade during the hottest part of the afternoon. Shade cloth, a spot that gets morning sun, or a taller plant nearby can all help.The hours-of-sun tiers assume temperate light. In hot-summer regions, zones 9 to 11, interior valleys, and the desert, the limiting factor flips from light to heat and water, and even full-sun crops benefit from shade through the harshest afternoon hours. Shade cloth, an east-facing exposure, or a taller neighbor crop all cut the load without starving the plant of light.
Sun is the where to plant. Frost dates and soil temperature are the when: which season, and which day inside it.
Most vegetables want full sun, which means six or more hours of direct sun a day. Fruiting crops like tomatoes, peppers, and squash are the hungriest for light and need the full six-plus to set fruit. Leafy greens, roots, and many herbs get by on three to six hours of partial shade, and grow more slowly for it. Almost nothing produces well on less than three hours.
Full sun means at least six hours of direct sunlight on the plant during the day, not bright shade or reflected light. The hours do not have to be back to back; morning and late-afternoon sun both count. Patchy light filtering through a tree counts as roughly half, so all-day dappled shade is closer to partial sun than to full.
Partial shade, three to six hours of direct sun, suits leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, and chard, most root crops like carrots and beets, and many herbs. They mature more slowly than in full sun, but in hot climates a few hours of afternoon shade actually helps by slowing bolting. Fruiting crops like tomatoes will grow there but set little fruit.
Under three hours of direct sun, your options are narrow. A few leafy greens and shade-tolerant herbs like mint and parsley will survive, but growth is thin and harvests are small. If a shady spot is all you have, grow in containers you can move into whatever sun you can find rather than fighting the shade in a fixed bed.
That stretching is the classic sign of too little light: the plant grows long, pale, weak stems reaching for the sun, with wide gaps between leaves and few flowers. More fertilizer will not fix it and often makes it worse. The fix is more light, so move the plant to a brighter spot or into a pot you can chase the sun with.
They still need the same light to photosynthesize, but in very hot regions, zones 9 to 11, inland valleys, and the desert, heat becomes a bigger problem than light. There, even full-sun crops often do better with shade through the harshest afternoon hours, using shade cloth, a morning-sun exposure, or a taller neighbor plant. The sun tiers on this page assume more temperate light.
Every recommendation on this page is drawn from land-grant university Cooperative Extension services, the public agricultural research arm of US state universities.
Sources are graded by reliability. Tier 1 is primary research from a land-grant university Cooperative Extension.
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