Growing vegetables near trees

[Marcus OfferParticipant]

Does anyone have any advice or tips on growing vegetables near mature trees? I have a vegetable garden which is only about 30 metres from some pretty large oak trees. MY garden runs north-south and the trees are on the south east side. It is not shaded by the house at all and in the summer most of the garden gets sun much of the day, as it also mostly does when the leaves are off the trees, but from September onwards till early spring the shadows cover most of the vegetable garden till around noon.

Obviously shade is one issue, but more importantly, I’ve recently come across tree roots – not that big but intrusive, fibrous and tough, in some of the vegetable beds nearest the south end of the garden which also gets the least light. These may come from the oak trees, about 20 metres or less away (how far exactly do roots of large trees extend beyond the area of the canopy?). I’ve also noticed poorer growth at these points in the vegetable beds.

These signs and symptoms seem obvious enough, but does one abandon vegetables in such situations or are some better at coping than others, and am I largely feeding trees when I mulch my veg plots? I do have two apple trees espaliered on the fence nearby too, though I don’t think the roots come from them. I also have a plum tree at the north end of the veg plot. This does seem to impoverish the bed nearest to it at that end. My neighbour on the west side has two large apple trees though I’ve not noticed any problem from that direction – my best veg beds are on the west side of the garden, which also gets sun most of the year round.

What are the important factors here and what vegetables can handle them best, if any? I haven;t visited Homeacres but from the pictures it looks as if there aren’t many large trees around?

I’m interested in the idea of “agroforestry” that seems to be becoming fashionable now, but how does one mix trees with other equally demanding food plants and still come up with a viable harvest??

All practical experience and tips welcome. I’ve had some success with red currants, and my own fruit trees do well, as do raspberries. Other things, I’m not so sure about…..

[charlesModerator]

Hi Marcus, yes there are no large trees here!
It’s the riddle of agroforestry, to grow good harvests of annual veg. In my experience it’s mostly about their roots taking moisture, some food too. Your mulches are feeding both trees and veg.
So winter and hungry gap veg are more possible, such as November-sown broad beans, garlic, early peas, spring cabbage sown August, and August or February sown spinach.

[TristanParticipant]

Hi Marcus,
A few thoughts occur on reading your post, oak trees are probably the least difficult tree for under planting, although water requirements will always be high.
Leafy veg tend to do well when shaded but will need more watering.
Most fruit plants are originally woodland edge plants so will get by at the drip line of the tree canopy. The crops will be smaller and later however.
Plum trees are greedy and i find suckers rising 25 ft from fan trained ones, but suckering is less likely on standard trees unless they are weakened.
Alpine strawberries love a shady spot and can self seed around if left to their owd devices.
I’ve had a good crop of leeks from a heavily shaded bed before, and good brassicas close on the south side of a huge conifer hedge, that did need some digging as i put a trench along the side of the bed to sever the feeder roots.
Hope that helps,
Tristan

[HeatheryWalesParticipant]

I tried growing runner beans up a mature hazel tree on my allotment. I thought that a climbing plant would do well but none of the plants grew very well & then the slugs ate them.

[ElizaDParticipant]

My lettuce, chervil, parsley, leaf beet, spinach, mizuna etc grow really well in the shade cast by my large apple tree in the summer. Slug damage can be a problem in really wet summers though as the beds take a while to dry out after heavy and persistent rains. In dryer summers I have to water more but try to do this in the mornings.

Eliza

[JDParticipant]

Hi Marcus
I have an allotment 7 feet away from a mature oak tree. Three quarters of the plot is directly under the tree canopy. It’s early days yet as this is my 1st season. I’ve put down cardboard and then some raised beds to grow veg in and am just hoping the tree roots take a while to penetrate. These photos of both ends of the same bed were taken earlier today. There’s broad beans, beetroot, carrot and spring cabbage. They’ve been under fleece to keep the wildlife and pigeon droppings from the tree off. Unfortunately by now the bed may look somewhat different as a few days ago a mole moved in and is causing havoc. You can see one of its tunnels in the gooseberry on the top right of the second photo. Just added third picture of lettuce. Fingers crossed!

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