advice for starting a sunken desert patio garden (Phoenix)

[razz]

Hello! I just joined and am looking for advice

Comments

[djinnthespazz]

What are you shaded by? Anything in a pot under a palo verde will do fine. Oranges cast a heavier shade and you would need to grow plants there that like a shady area.

[razz]

I'm shaded by the units upstairs. My patio is sort of set into the building about 6 feet, and the unit upstairs and the half-flight of stairs leading to it are above my patio. It's pretty much a solid block of shade.

There's about a five foot wall surrounding the patio, and four feet of open space to the patio's roof. There are neighboring patios to the left and right, so no sunlight coming from those directions. The only light comes from the patio's front "wall."

I looked at other sunken patios in the complex, and there are some interesting plants growing from them. One patio had a ficus growing from it, hacked at the top so it wouldn't grow into the patio roof, and an awkward branch growing out of the patio, into the sunlight.

[manofredclay]

i've grown herbs in shade. Its not that they won't grow, its just that they won't flourish and look awesome. You'll always have living plants, nothing that tastes good is going to look awesome in anything except full sun. You might try some types of lettuce and spinach and peas. They would work in that sort of condition. personally I'd abandon them all and just go after Shade living plants, like hosta, etc. I'd rather have nice looking plants than nasty ones that are for herb cuttings, cause they'll never really give u enough to cut without killing the plant.

[razz]

Thanks for the words.

For the herbs, I'm not really looking for ... well, for looks. I'm a cook so it's function over form here. Maybe I'm being selfish in a way, but I'd be a lot more excited about taking care of an outdoor garden if it gave me something I could use in my cooking.

Thanks for recommended the leafy stuff--I read that they would do okay in partial shade. I need to stake out the patio and see how the sun moves through it--maybe it gets more than I think. There seem to be spots here and there that get full sun while the sun is up, and maybe I can do creative things with clay pots there. Provided HOA approves of them, anyway.

I found an article on shade herbs: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/landscaping_herbs/98524

I'll use it as a reference, too.

I also need to look up how succulents do in the shade. My favorites are agave, but I've never seen those in the shade, and I've never owned one to know how to take care of one.

[ladydragonflyii]

you mentioned oleander~is this shrub or tree/going to be in the same "plant mix as yourherbs?..if so maybe you should reconsider-
oleander is a poisonus plant-(i think it is all parts of it-)if so that could mean -the sap-leaves -etc.could contaminate your herbs

[razz]

No no--that it's poisonous actually makes me scared of it and want to get rid of it, but I have a strange fear of being impaled by a piece of it while hacking it down. All the "looks only" plants would be with the oleander, and the edibles will be either in another plot of dirt or in a container.

Thank you for the warning, though! I'll be sure to keep my edibles (if I can do some) far away from the oleander.

[moontrail]

Hello and welcome. :)

[razz]

Thank you! =)