Vegetables In The Shade

Another crazy idea to grow vegetables in the shade.

If you have limited light in your garden you may already know that you can grow vegetables such as lettuces, spinach, kale and cabbage in partial shade.

However, here's an idea for an edible that can be grown full shade.  If you have no light in your garden, or if you have a shady area that you want to enhance as part of your edible landscaping plan, consider adding some Ostrich ferns. 

Ostrich ferns can sometimes be found in specialty grocery stores and are usually sold as "Fiddleheads."  They are available for only a very short period of time -- generally just two or three weeks.  This New England delicacy is harvested in the spring when the fronds of the fern are just about to unravel and the little coiled heads are then cooked by sauteing them in butter. 

However, there are other ways to prepare them, such as making them into soup.  You can find a bunch of interesting recipe ideas at About.com

By the way, About.com says that fiddle heads can be eaten raw.  I wouldn't do this.  My understanding is that they contain toxins which are neutralized during the cooking process.  For safety's sake, cook them.  And one more thing....You eat just the coiled head, not the stems or uncoiled fronds.

Fiddleheads grow in full shade, mature quickly, and are will grow in hardiness zones 2-8.  My garden is in Northern California (zone 9), which is technically a little too hot for fiddleheads, but planted them this year anyway as a test.  If you are in a colder climate you should have no problem growing these.

 

Special Note To Those in the San Francisco Bay Area:

My friends at Common Ground Garden Supply and Educational Center asked me to let you know about upcoming gardening classes.  You can find the complete listing and registration information at the Common Ground Web Site.  Upcoming classes including offerings such as Patricia Becker's upcoming Yoga for Gardeners Class and Jody Main's Herbs In the Garden, Herbs in the Kitchen and many other interesting and helpful courses.

Comments

[Ahmet Korkmaz]

Dear plantertomato ;

I want to publish an article ( a guest post ) on your webpage, about agriculture and gardening, which has link back to www.agricultureguide.org.
If you accept I can donate 30$ for this also.

i wrote here cuz i cant find any contact info.
Thank you soooooooooo much : )))))))))))
ahmet korkmaz

[Mark Delman]

Hi Ahmet:

Thanks for the offer, but this is a relatively new blog and I'm not doing guest bloggers at this time. I will keep you in mind for the future. Thanks for checking out PlanterTomato.com

[K]

I ate some unknown fiddle heads-looking ferns back in Sumatra a while back, and I'll never forget it- for about five hours, had an uncontrollable urge to void my bladder, even when there was nothing in it. Definitely cook all fern foods!

[H. Mark Delman]

Hi K:
That sounds pretty nasty, but I dont think you were eating fiddleheads (Ostrich Ferns). Here in the U.S. they grow in New England which is relatively cold. I dont know for sure, but I suspect they couldnt live in a place like Sumatra which is tropical. You probably ate some other specie of fern; heres an excerpt from the Kew Gardens (UK Royal Botanical Garden) which provides a clue --- Although the Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), which
provides the popular North American fiddleheads is the only edible
fern to be involved in international trade, young leaves of dozens of
species of ferns form a prominent part in the diet of many people in the
tropics - particularly South-east Asia including New Guinea. All are
harvested from the wild, and can be seen covering whole market stalls.
ecent research has shown that they are very nutritious. Bracken is eaten
in some countries, but has been shown to be carcinogenic. The link is: http://www.kew.org/science/ferns.html