Want to grow fruit and veg but stuck in the shade? Look on the upside with hanging baskets
Gardeners with northfacing plots may be looking enviously at neighbours whose strawberries and peas are ripening in the sun but it is possible to grow fruit and vegetables if sunshine hours are limited.
Swiss chard, cabbages, broccoli and radishes will all tolerate some degree of shade.
Leeks and carrots will all thrive if they have sun in the morning, even if the part of the garden they are growing in is shady after lunchtime.
Salad leaves, too, will do just fine without constant sunshine and raspberries, gooseberries and rhubarb are all good choices for a semi-shaded position.
If you do want to grow strawberries and your back garden never quite gets warm enough, then try raising them in hanging baskets or in tubs either side of the front door.
One fruit that does need sunshine is the lemon and trees that have spent winter and spring indoors can be put outside this month in a warm, sheltered spot where they can remain until September.
Lemons need lots of feeding and watering and they can grow quickly, which can result in spindly growth but if you keep pinching out the ends of stems then the crown will become bushier.
Water the trees regularly and apply a high nitrogen citrus feed to keep them productive and healthy.
All fruit trees grown in pots, whether they are apples or different varieties of citrus, will need daily watering during the summer when they can dry out very quickly.
The same goes for container-grown vegetables. In fact it is almost impossible to over-water anything growing in a pot at this time of year and an easy way to determine how much moisture there is in a pot is by checking its weight. Do this regularly and you will quickly be able to judge whether more water is needed.
You can help to conserve water for crops growing in the soil by hoeing between the rows. Not only does this remove annual weeds, which would complete for moisture, but it also makes the top layer of soil act like a mulch, helping to keep the water already in the soil from being lost.