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mxbarbie

edibles in the shade

mxbarbie
16 years ago

any suggestions on edibles that will grow in mostly shade?

I'm in a zone 6 but they would be quite protected by a fence and a steep bank.

Comments (6)

  • stoloniferous
    16 years ago

    Ramps, fiddleheads, and mushrooms. :) Here's a link for ramp seeds. . .

    Here is a link that might be useful: ramp farm

  • mxbarbie
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Fiddleheads and mushrooms already grow there, I don't eat fungus which is really funny because I have been a field purchaser of NTFP for 11 years. I know way too much about mushrooms for someone who doesn't eat them. Mostly wild mushrooms - (Matsutake and Porcini are real big business around here) and fiddleheads and I'm shipping out 1000's of lbs of each of them in a season. I don't think of them as food so much as a paycheque. Maybe I should just let it be. I'll check out the ramps. Thanks for the link.

  • southsounder
    16 years ago

    Evergreen Huckleberry or Mountain Huckleberry would work.

  • chills71
    16 years ago

    I've got currants and gooseberry growing and fruiting in the shade (though the currant fruits better)

    ~Chills

  • carolync1
    16 years ago

    Actinidia kolomkita (Arctic Beauty kiwi) takes shade. Also makes shade. Might go on the fence. In the link below, "Pasha' is a male selection, females include September Sun and Viktor. There may be others. The Online catalog lists species only in the individual variety descriptions. You would need one male plant. They are more ornamental than the female plants.

    Raintree also has a page in their catalog which lists shade-tolerant edibles. Strawberries (woodland, wild, etc) might be another choice.

    Here is a link that might be useful: One Green World kiwis

  • jonathante
    13 years ago

    I posted this same response to another thread on shade gardening, but copy and paste is so easy, so...

    Solomon's seal grows nicely in full or part shade and the spring shoots are reported to be usable very similarly to asparagus. By one account in the book _Perennial Vegetables_, even preferable. The giant Solomon's seal variety (Polygonatum biflorum var. commutatum -- synonyms: P. commutatum, P. canaliculatum, P. giganteum) is more convenient for eating purposes because the shoots are much thicker than the standard smaller version. You'd have to pick quite a few of the smaller ones to contribute usefully to a meal since their shoots are pencil thin or maybe thinner.

    Other shade-tolerant listed in _Perennial Vegetables_ include ramps, fuki (aka butterbur), and wood nettles. The uncooked nettles, sadly, sting if touched, so would have to be located and treated with care. The book includes still others, but I haven't read through it with care outside of the plants that are suited to my colder climate.

    An article at http://hubpages.com/hub/Shade-Gardening-101 on shade gardening also lists ginseng, highbush cranberry, sumac (for 'pink lemonade' sun tea made from the fruits--other parts are poisonous and boiled tea is too bitter to drink).

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