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Hi
I am hoping that with all your combined wisdom you might be able to solve a problem area of my garden.

Along the south boundary of my garden are a row of lovely tall poplar trees. They can't be moved but they cast a huge shadow over that area of the garden. The roots run under the garden and draw a lot of the water out of the soil. I have a heavy clay soil which is very stony and the trees attract a lot of birds which take delight in pulling up any seedlings that I try to grow.

Grass doesn't grow well there. For the last couple of years I have been trying to establish a vegetable patch but I think it's a lost cause. Ideally I would like some food plants there but I really don't know what to grow.

Can anybody give me some tips of what I can grow that will tolerate the shade, cope with the lack of water, resist being pulled up by the birds and survive despite my soil (although I have added a lot of warrior compost this year)?

Cheers
Zoe

I'll check my tough places planting book... but as for the birds bit, have you tried netting the seedlings so that the birdies can't get in there for a free lunch?

Well, writing from the Land of Lots and Lots and Lots of Very Tall Poplar Trees (I think the Georgians and Victorians must have planted literally millions of them throughout Tasmania) I wish you lots of luck in your search. I guess it depends on just how tall they are ... I've never seen anything growing in poplar groves here ... just poplars.

Are there any weed flourishing there? This would give a clue as to what would survive. The birds can be dealt with by nettting the area. The ground is likely to be depleted of nutrients, so I think you could overcome this with raised beds with plenty of compost and muck added. Watering will be necessary, if this is a possibility. I like a challenge, there has to be something that will grow it's just a matter of finding it, whether it will be edible is another matter

I would go for raised beds too as I think it would be a nightmare trying to dig in amongst all those roots.

Lettuce ought to grow in a shady place in summer. Ummm what else?

Or, raised beds and some pretty non-edible plants that like the shade. Is there somewhere else you can site the veg patch?

I've got beetroot growing in a shady windowbox, It never gets direct sunlight. I had been trying to grow my herbs there but they just gave up and died from lack of light.

I have built raised beds for the veg patch and this year put in some warrior compost to help. I also put all the chook poo/bedding in the raised beds so this should help.

The watering is a problem - mainly because I don't always have time to go up there every day to water. I bought some leaky hose the other day with the thought that I could run it off the water butt.

The netting idea is a good one - would that keep the chooks and cats off as well?

I did grow beetroot up there last year. We have some planted this year so I'll see how it goes. There are also lettuces and they seem to be coming on but very slowly.

Light is a problem. The area has the shed to the east and the trees to the south so only gets sunlight in the evenings. On sunny days that area is really shaded. It's better on overcast days as there is less shadow.

I have two camellias in pots, they seem to be doing well.

I guess I'll keep going with the veg patch idea but just see if I can find things that will tolerate the conditions.

Cheers guys.

Zoe

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/todo_now/faqs.php?id=79

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