How to turn dogwood tree into productive area?

Hello fellow permies!

I'm in zone 7a (in the Great Appalachian Valley).

This is my first post on this forum (just joined to ask this question).

It is my goal to grow as much food from my suburban lawn as possible, so I have been sheet mulching (laying down untreated cardboard on grass and covering with a thick layer of arborist woodchips from ChipDrop) to replace lawn with beds to grow food in.

Because the lot is so small (I estimate less than 1/4 acre), there is pressure to maximize productivity for every square foot. The front yard is on a south to south-west facing slope, and is one of the more full-sun areas. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) there is a beautiful, mature dogwood tree on the west most part of this slope, adjacent to a ditch for stormwater (where all the icky rainwater from the street collects and eventually runs into the ditch and into a stream in the backyard). Since I assume that water is poisoning the soil adjacent to the ditch, I don't plan to use it to grow food (instead I am planting irises and flowers, and I just got some native seed mixes with grasses and rushes and other plants used to plant areas like this).

The dogwood shades part of the slope and I was looking for advice on how to turn this area into food and medicine.

In shaded areas elsewhere in the garden I already grow:

- solomon's seal
- ostrich fern
- pokeweed (more like allow to grow)
- mayapple
- wood nettles (in my opinion, more delicious than stinging nettles, but slower growing and more sensitive to over-harvest)

Would it be wise to use the tree as a trellis to grow certain plants on it? What are the best (i.e. tastiest, most nutritious, and most useful for medicine, textiles, etc.) plants to grow in this kind of shade?

I would consider cutting the tree down, but I think it would be a shame considering it's such a beautiful tree, and I wouldn't want to take that away from my neighbors.

Thanks so much!

Welcome and hello!

Maybe a way to think about the whole of your lot is in terms of direct vs indirect productivity. There will be plants that you personally may not be eating, but that attract pollinators, provide for wildlife, or benefit the soil. Perhaps the dogwood falls into the indirect benefit column.

Dogwoods have a lot of value as medicinal plants, and serve as a year round food source for wildlife. I also understand that they "mine" calcium from the soil and rocks and drop it in their leaves to mineralize the topsoil. They are important to the balance and health of the eastern forest and are under pressure from a fungus that has killed a lot of dogwoods in some areas. So in some ways, you have a treasure on your property!

As far as how to plant beneath it most effectively: hostas are shade-loving lower growing plants that are edible when their shoots are still furled ( I think they are related to asparagus and I've seen them cook as you would asparagus). I know they grow well in the Appalachian region. Nasturtium, lettuces and greens that bolt in heat like spinach and arugula, chives, and parsley have grown well for me in shaded spots (you may have to run some ducks through the area to keep down the slug population though ) . I understand sweet potatoes can tolerate some shade but would probably need to be grow in mounded soil rather than digging into the root area of the tree repeatedly.  Trellising peas and beans in its dappled shade, using the trunk as the center spoke, may also prolong their growing season when it gets really hot, depending on your specific micro-climate. My grandmother grew amazing raspberries in a semi shaded area of her yard too - ah, the memories that evokes!

I'd also love to get my hands on some wood nettles - I can never get enough nettles in springtime.

I haven't personally gardened in that region for quite a while, so I am certainly missing some good ideas. Hopefully some more experienced with your specific situation will weigh in as well!

Just an Idea. I know you said you dont want to cut down the dogwood because of the loss of its appeal. Would you, though, consider replacing it with another dogwood that produces edible fruit? Cornus kousa and Cornus mas both produce edible fruit. Kousa producing large pinkish fruits with a somewhat tropical flavor and mas producing yellow or red (depending on cultivar) fruits that are tart and sweet, similar to a cherry. The Ukrainian cultivars can be especially large and sweet.

Besides that, kousa flowers look almoat identical to our native C. florida flowers from a distance. Mas flowers, however, look nothing alike, but flower much earlier in the season.

Felix, welcome to the forum!

For a shady area, hostas make a lovely edible plant.

https://permies.com/t/162078/perennial-vegetables/edible-hostas

You or others might also enjoy these threads:
s
https://permies.com/t/143914/Edible-Yard-Visited

https://permies.com/t/145741/Sneaky-edibles-beautiful-edibles-garden

https://permies.com/t/181179/Ground-cover-layer-plants

https://permies.com/t/176173/perennial-vegetables/quality-palatability-perennial-vegetables

I coppice my smallish patch of dogwood every few years, in stages. I provides me with sticks to use in the vegetable garden, and keeping it coppices keeps the foliage low and dense as a more effective windbreak.

I was once told that the name "dogwood" comes from "dagger": "dag-wood", because it was traditionally used as a food safe skewer for cooking meat. It splits and peels easily, and when green is strong enough for the purpose.