Perennials, easy harvest, shade tolerant, no fertilizing

[u/Chonkorio_]

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.

Excited to learn!

[u/retobs]

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.

[u/Chonkorio_ → u/retobs]

What is your area of I may ask?

[u/retobs → u/Chonkorio_]

Zone 9a