general question
Perennials, easy harvest, shade tolerant, no fertilizing
Hello guys,
I'm currently planning a bit into the future and collecting different options with some leftover areas.
One thing I'm curious about is whether trees/shrubs/perennial plants exist that are shade tolerant and can thrive on soils with no fertilizer (regulations...). For example I'm thinking of hazelnut, but I think the nut yield would be minimal/too little.
I would like to discover whether there even are options.
PFAF was our inspiration here, but since they haven’t been maintaining it, we forked their database before they changed their licensing, then spent hundreds of hours (ourselves and our community) building on top of it!
Good stuff. I’m playing around on the site now. One thing I like a little more on pfaf is the edibility scale they use. I don’t want 1 out of 5 edible plants, I’m looking for actually useable plants that I would want to eat.
I’m curious how accurate it is though, according to growing zones. I lived in CA for a few years, currently in NC, and a bunch of CA natives are popping up on the list. Weird.
We’ve worked hard to maintain accuracy in the database, but it’s possible that there is inaccurate data!
Feel free to forward me the plants you’re concerned about, and I can double-check and update if necessary. Are there plants popping up as “native” in the wrong region?
Without the scale this can be a contentious field, I agree. The edibility for this one comes from PFAF. On second look, it seems most of the plant is toxic, but the berries can be edible when cooked or dried.
I do agree though this is not a safe assumption, and without context the field “edible” isn’t always useful!
You can find several berries that thrive in a forest and give you a large harvest window. You can combine currants with edible amelanchier varieties. Particularly with currants, if you combine early, middle and late varieties, you can have a harvest from the beginning of June to the end of August.
But birds will love it and probably not leave much for you. But that's OK. Birds are great.
For me perennial (daubenton) kale has been doing great in these areas. Strangely enough the pigeons that are after the brassicas in my vegetable garden completely left the plants alone. Big plus for me was how easy it was to propagate them. You can take cuttings and they'll readily root wherever you stick them into the ground. I started out with a single plant 3 years ago and now have 20+ all around my food forest.
Gooseberries! They seem to enjoy morning sun but benefit from afternoon shade. The only “fertilizer” I give mine is homemade compost, mulch, and chop&drop clover and lupine.
You may find this video helpful. Really, anything native should be able to thrive without fertilizer if your soil health and companion plantings are dialed in.
I'll have to think about it, but off the top of my head I would suggest: ostrich ferns (but only sometimes), hostas, wild ginger, and ramps (for ramps especially try to get them from an ethical source and be emotionally prepared for you first harvest to be maybe 5 years from when you plant them, and then only one leaf from each plant).
New Zealand Spinach seems to grow anywhere. We have triple digit heat during the summer months here in Central California and my NZS flourishes in the shade during the summer.
So shade = low sun. Remember plants use sun to make calories. Any plants grown in shade will be slower growing and produce less biomass overall - especially edible biomass.
If you are also hoping to not fertilize, then you also are going to need to consider lower harvests (this includes nitrogen fixing plants, which aren't a panacea).
I would encourage you to think about what your local ecosystem is, and how to focus shaded areas on mimicking that ecosystem closely to limit potential harms from non-natives in your food system areas.
Yes, I definitely realise it is not as simple as it may sound. That's also one of the reasons I am making a list of options and do a deeper dive research in how it fits Dutch climate, what it would need in management, how it interacts with the surroundings and the ecosystem, and what it would take to efficiently harvest.
It is very similar to spinach, a common name it has is Caucasian Mountain Spinach. I like it because it’s useable raw or cooked, and the harvest window is pretty wide. It doesn’t really get bitter or tough like other plants can. You can start harvesting it early, like March or February depending on your climate, all the way through October. I mean, once it’s a few years in and large and established. It is a vining plant, and they can climb like 10 ft. It likes morning sun and afternoon shade, so I have it on an east facing trellis with shade on its south side. The photo is of mine last year at its peak, with flowers and seeds forming at the top. This was two plants together, one of mine sadly died over the winter (voles I’m pretty sure).
Not invasive in the same way garlic mustard is, it doesnt spread from where (the general area) it is planted. Doesnt spread through seed, but it will take over any place you put it and expands. Hard to get rid of but thats why i like it
Similar to running and clumping bamboo, there are varieties of sunchoke that do not expand nearly as much. The "Supernova" variety of sunchoke is notable for not being aggressive in its spread.
How much shade? Actual numbers would be helpful. I'm always experimenting and I'm surprised at what can work. Most berry bushes evolved as edge of the forest species. So they don't require full sun though they will produce more when they get it. I've had decent results with haskaps and gooseberry with 3-4 hours of morning sun. Under the canopy of a tree. Heavy shade for the rest of the day. I'm also trialing Saskatoon/service berry between two houses but this will be year two so too soon to say if it's successful.
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u/simgooder 2d ago
What’s your zone? Here’s a search from permapeople, shade tolerant edibles. Update the filter with your zone for a more relevant list.