What to grow under an oak tree

[JDParticipant]

Hello Guys,
You’re all such resourceful people that I’m sure someone can help me with my allotment planning.
Last year I was offered an allotment which was three quarters under the canopy of an oak tree and deep in weed seeds from several years of neglect. I converted it to no dig and grew an average crop of veg hindered by being in shade for a lot of the day, a continual rain of ‘debris’ (twigs/leaves etc) from the tree and being in the ‘splash zone’ of pigeons perched there.
I am now moving to the adjacent plot which is only a third under an (different, bigger) oak tree and gets more sun. Due to time constraints and having to transfer the beds/compost from next door I haven’t got very far. While unmaking the beds I couldn’t believe the amount of infiltration by oak tree roots (photos attached) in beds that had been down for less than six months! This is what is concerning me about the new allotment. Probably at least half the plot is going to have oak roots under. Would I be better digging this part every couple of years to break the roots up?? Or would they happily co-exist with something?
My main query is that the plot is not huge, about 28’ x 40’, with the tree located to the north-west. The other oak tree is to the east so the plot is shaded for some of the morning too. As well as veg beds I would like to grow gooseberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, blueberries, rhubarb and asparagus, with maybe a couple of apples (cordon) around the perimeter. My gooseberries are on my original plot, waiting to become dormant to transplant. They are mostly dessert varieties and I was intending to plant them as cordons to the south side of the plot so they didn’t cast too much shade. My query is what to plant where as some of it will have to be in the shadier area, probably trying to compete with increasing oak roots. I would also like to try to put a small greenhouse and cold frames on the plot which I think will have to be outside the tree canopy (oaks drop lots of twigs/branchlets), so they would also cast shade.
Would I be better off maybe just trying to grow something like phacelia/buckwheat in the root zone that I could make compost with when it’s finished flowering?
Sorry this is so long. Thanks for bearing with me.
Jan

[JDParticipant]

Trying to add photos again

[JDParticipant]

?

[ChristineParticipant]

This is really interesting to me too. W moved house 2 years ago into a forest! WE knew we wanted to take down a lot of trees to provide more light and sunshine but I really had not anticipated the roots that were left behind. WE got professionals in to cut down 30 trees and grind out the stumps but we wanted to leave the deciduous trees for birds and general prettiness. I then got into veg gardening and can now see that it may not be ideal for water/ shade etc.
I’ll try to upload the google maps image of what we started with

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[ChristineParticipant]

so the house is the blue spot and everything under that is woodland!

[ChristineParticipant]

This is how it looks now. Veg plot is on south border. also want to have a greenhouse but cant work out best position.

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[ChristineParticipant]

I planted 2 apple trees on west side but plan to keep these small. also have grown some asparagus from seed but am terrified of putting it into the wrong place!
The north east corner gets sun all day in the summer as the house is a bungalow so would this be a good space for the greenhouse?
There are still 3 large trees between the veggies and the house. i thought this would be ok as they are north of plot so less shading but will they take all the water?
Big maple at south end (bottom border of photo in centre) which does cause a lot of shade.
I am at home with broken ankle so hence the lovely long posts! Sorry about that! Cant do anything useful so will set mind to planning and all help is gratefully received!
Sorry Jen didn’t mean to hijack your thread! Hopefully any advice will be relevant to us both!

[NeilfrazermParticipant]

Hi JD and Christine,
So the problems are shade and water being taken out of the ground by the trees?
I would consider:
working with the trees using ‘forest gardening’ or
chopping a few limbs down and burrying them as in ‘hugelkultur’ to try and retain more moisture in the beds.
there are wikis on both of these subjects…
BR
Neil

[ChristineParticipant]

I have used a few chopped branches to try to grow mushrooms! Nothing yet but its early days.
this summer I started a few veggies in raised beds and they did fine.
My rhubarb which is in more shade seems to have died off though.
Massive lack of water this summer anyhow so it is hard to tell if effect is trees or drought conditions.
Thanks for response Neil you did well to wade through all this info!
chris

[Author]

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