Most vegetables require 6-8 hours of direct sunlight a day. Watch the sunshine patterns on that part of your garden, and make note of how long the sun shines directly on it. With 4-5 hours of direct sun, you can get a crop of bush beans, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, peas, summer squash, or rhubarb. If your area receives less than 4 hours of sunlight, you should lean toward salad crops, such as lettuce, spinach, or chard; they will tolerate more shade than fruit-bearing crops. Those crops may also actually last longer in the shady garden, because they won't get too hot in summer sun and go to seed as readily.
