# Best crops to grow in a shaded, wooded areas



## Tacitus (Dec 30, 2012)

What are your picks for the best things to grow in a wooded, shaded (even hilly area) in southern Iillinois

Obviously, I don't have the best land for gardening. Guess I was wondering what I could seed that would do well, and possibly even return in following years (but that may be asking too much).

[Edit to add this: I always wondered when I saw typos in titles of threads: Why don't people fix them? Now I know. You can edit your post, but you cannot edit the title of a thread, apparently.]


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

Tacitus said:


> What are your picks for the best things to grow in a wooded, shaded (even hilly area) in southern Iillinois
> 
> Obviously, I don't have the best land for gardening. Guess I was wondering what I could seed that would do well, and possibly even return in following years (but that may be asking too much).
> 
> [Edit to add this: I always wondered when I saw typos in titles of threads: Why don't people fix them? Now I know. You can edit your post, but you cannot edit the title of a thread, apparently.]


I'm the sort of hunter/gatherer type with a bit of gardening thrown in, so I am no expert, but it seems to me that most crops need at least a certain amount of sunlight, and that goes for wild foods as well. So planting in total shade probably would not yield any results, however along the sunny south side of the woods or an interior meadow with some sun would likely yield good results. That's also one of the places I would look when looking for wild foods.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Onions and garlic seems to do somewhat OK, but not a lot of nutritional value by themselves. Sweet potatoes do just OK, but need at least a few hours of direct sunlight or you will just get very little crop at all. 

Good foods that make a lot of energy for human consumption also need a lot of light.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Here is a possibly useful chart, you may also want to look into "forest gardening" or whatever they are calling it now.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/shade-tolerant-vegetables-zm0z11zsto.aspx#axzz2cuYWkNQD

I have seen carrots, asparagus, swisschard, all kinds of greens do well in the shade but soil is going to be a big factor as well.

Do you like mushrooms, you can also consider shiitake, oyster and many more if you have wood and shade.


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## SlobberToofTigger (Dec 27, 2011)

The current term for what I think you are looking to do is called a “food forest”. It takes some time but you can re engineer your local woods to produce as much food as you might need with little work to keep it going.

To get started take walks through your local forests and look at what is growing throughout the year. Then use your local index of things that like to grow in your area to replant your forest. Of course try a few other things you like to see how they will do. And don't hesitate to thin some of your woods out to create differing environments for all of the local plants.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

You might want to see if your library has either of these titles:
Creating a Forest Garden...
Edible Forest Gardens

I have not read them, as they are pricey, but they were highly recommended to me by a naturalist who is working on edible forest gardening. (I'm hoping the nature center where he works will start carrying these titles in their gift shop - that way I could at least look at them first and see if they're worth the price - they aren't in my county's library system.)


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## SlobberToofTigger (Dec 27, 2011)

I have the Edible Forest Gardens set and they read like text books but are packed with lots of well researched information and ideas.

I do not have Creating a Forest Garden so if anyone has read both sets I would love to hear a comparative review?


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