Can I grow fruit and veg in a shady, west-facing courtyard garden?

To increase your light levels and maximise yields, try to reflect as much light as possible from vertical and horizontal surfaces by choosing pale colours. Extenday is a ground-cover matting from New Zealand used commercially to reflect light and heat from the ground up which also reduces rots and moulds. It is not easy to buy here for small areas, but you can achieve a similar effect by using Agralan's Permealay, a weed-suppressing matting with a heavyweight 60g fleece on top.

It's available from Gardening Naturally (www.gardening-naturally.com, 0845 6800296) from about 80p per square metre. Remember to remove the top layer after you have harvested the crop, so that the lower, black surface can absorb the heat in cooler months. It would benefit taller crops, such as runner beans, peas and raspberries.

Raised beds or large containers are more productive as they do not have consolidated, trampled-on soil, receive more light, and warm up more quickly. Choose crops that tolerate lower ... more.

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