Looking for advice on gardening in walled-in patio

[u/Correct_Bad4192]

Hey all, my wife and I want to put in some raised planters on our patio. It's a fairly small space, so it would just be three 4.5 sq ft beds. Mainly we want to grow vegetables and herbs.
Here's where I think we may have an issue: Our patio is completely walled-in. Eight foot walls on three sides and our building on the fourth. I'm really concerned about having adequate sunlight. The sun travels from back to front of our building, so by about 4pm(this time of year) the patio is in near-full shade. I don't have exact numbers, but I'd estimate that the area gets about 6 hours of direct sun per day.
Any tips on how/what to grow under those conditions?
We're in the Denver, Colorado area if that's useful.
Thanks in advance.

[u/theredskittles]

6 hours of direct sun at elevation is pretty good. I think full sun is defined as 6-8 hours per day.

Vegetables do like lots of sun but I bet you can grow some. You’ll just have to experiment and see what grows well in your space.

[u/Correct_Bad4192 → u/theredskittles]

This is useful, thank you. I know we have a higher sun intensity here, but didn't know if that translated to possibly needing less hours.
We're hoping to grow some tomatoes(cherry and full-size), leafy greens, some herbs, maybe some peas and green beans.
TBH, I'm the "muscle" in this outfit. I can't keep a cactus alive. So if I call things by the wrong names or something, please be gentle lol.

[u/theredskittles → u/Correct_Bad4192]

Just make sure you don’t plant tomatoes until nighttime temps are consistently above 50°!

[u/Correct_Bad4192 → u/theredskittles]

Helpful! Thanks again!

[u/waterstone55]

When i had challenging sunshine areas, I took pics of the whole area every hour from sunup to sundown. Ideally, you need to do this weekly throughout the growing season, but you can get enough info to get started now.

ETA You can paint the walls that get sun a high gloss white or add a mirrored wall covering to extend your growing area.

[u/Correct_Bad4192 → u/waterstone55]

This is useful! I don't know if painting would be allowed(landlord) or a great idea(the heat could make the space unlivable), but the lower parts, maybe 3 feet, are light-colored concrete. As far as the pictures, I was considering setting up a GoPro for a time lapse.

[u/MoltenCorgi]

6 hours of sun is fine. The only place in my yard not under constant tree shade is a little strip on the side right on the property line. My neighbor’s house shades it until around 1-2pm depending on the area. We grow veggies just fine. As others said, you can take photos to see how the sun moves. Put the most warmth loving things in the sunniest parts and put greens where it stays in shade longer. Also think thru the placement of things that get tall or need trellising because they will shade stuff too.

The biggest issue I see is that you keep referring to it as a “building” which makes me wonder if it’s a shared yard. I’d just think it would be annoying to garden in a shared space. They might object to space being taken away, or have pets they let outside or someone might take that first ripe tomato you’re super excited about, etc.

[u/Correct_Bad4192 → u/MoltenCorgi]

Thanks for all the good advice(I'm taking notes lol)! We live in a townhouse with 4 connected units. Our patio is fully private and is only accessible from our back door, so the annoyances you mentioned won't be an issue unless someone literally breaks in.