Picked a shaded patio over full sun for my tomato plants, everyone said I was wrong

I chose a spot under my big oak tree instead of the open backyard last spring. People on here kept saying tomatoes need 8 hours of direct sun, but my plants actually did fine with about 5 hours of dappled light. They were a bit smaller but I didn't have to water them every day like my neighbor did with his sun-baked ones. Has anyone else had luck with a weird planting spot that goes against the usual advice?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifer_jenkins21d ago

Oh wow, that's awesome! My friend Sarah tried something similar with her backyard. She planted her tomatoes right up against the south side of her wooden fence, which only got about 4 hours of afternoon sun. Everyone told her they'd be leggy and sad, but they were actually super productive. She got tons of cherry tomatoes while my ones in full sun kept getting sunscald and needing constant watering. The fence also blocked some strong wind that had been messing with my plants. I was honestly jealous of how little work hers took!

daniel_martin21d ago

That 5 hour mark you hit is interesting @jennifer_jenkins because I've noticed this pattern with a lot of gardening advice. People act like there's one perfect way to do everything, but nature doesn't really work in absolutes like that. I had a friend who grew peppers in basically full shade against a brick wall and they still produced, just took a bit longer to ripen. It's like people forget that plants have been adapting to imperfect conditions for millions of years before we showed up with our rules.