Acres of gigantic trees

Hi Friends,

I'm a wildcrafter at heart, and I love the cedar forests where I live, and we are about to move to a deep, dark corner of it with a tiny, tiny glade cut out for a home and garden. Our current home has only north-facing windows, so we will get more daylight, but not more sun, and I will miss my garden. And it is January, when I usually plan my garden. The new one will have enough light for lettuce, maybe. It looks like 4-5 hours at the solstice, but I'm not totally sure yet. I'm reaching out here for inspiration. We want to consider for a season, probably a year, before doing any clearing around the homesite. I've read you can cut wood for timber framing in fall so we may do that, or we may wait. There will be some nice surprises in the spring wildflower season, but it is uniformly very very dark, so not a lot of diversity. What else can I stoke myself up for? I love huge trees! I'm grateful to have the opportunity to care for my favorite part of the ecosystem, but I didn't think I would be so bummed to leave my little flailing herb and flower garden.

K

I am curious, where are you going?
Your description of the location means nothing to a boy from Australia!And can I ask why that spot?

Hi Kris,
A new house, a new year, a new challenge - good luck!

The lack of sun may not be too much of a problem depending on your summer temperatures. I read somewhere (talking about growing Erythroniums) that the whole of Scotland can be considered to be in shade - this is due to our lattitude, moderate temperatures and often cloudy days. If you generally have warm summers (to me that would be above 20 Celsius) you will probably be surprised how many vegetables will probably do pretty well, and not need watering so much. I'm stlll learning to grow well here, but have succeeded in growing good potatoes, rutabaga, kale and other brassicas, carrots, peas, fava beans and parsnips. I'm failing with scarlet runner beans and common beans and maize doesn't have a chance since we're lucky to get above 15 Celsius even in what passes for summer (!). I have grown sweetcorn in my polytunnel though, and that is where I grow tomatoes, and other plants that need it a bit hotter.
I also grow lots of shade loving perennials - there are lots of interesting native US edibles, many of which come from woodland areas that you might consider in a low maintenance area.

John C Daley wrote:I am curious, where are you going?
Your description of the location means nothing to a boy from Australia!And can I ask why that spot?

We are just moving around the corner to a darker part of the cedar forest covering the western slopes of the northern Rockies in the US. It is inland but very Pacific influenced, so we have a kind of split personality in weather, sometimes very moist with less extreme temperatures and cloudy, sometimes very dry and either hot in summer, above 38C, and very cold in winter, below -29C. Cedars are distantly related to redwoods and signify moist microclimates and ample surface water. Ross Creek Cedars is nearby, in the Kootenai National Forest, and if I do a good job, in 500-1000 years our woods will look similar. Very little biodiversity with that amount of tree cover and snow, and we will have no stream. Very lovely, though. My current home is on the road and we have a great sun break, anything that will grow in 100 days or zone 4 (-32C) does well. We are moving because there is a lot of growth in our area and we would like to be off the road, and because we'd like more land to work with, but it will be a while before we decide to clear trees, so the gardening will be totally different. I'm trying to take Nancy suggestion and get excited about shade perennials!

Nancy Reading wrote:Hi Kris,
A new house, a new year, a new challenge - good luck!

Thank you! That is chilly for summer, and I'm sure it is cloudy, if it resembles the Pacific Northwest. There is an old comic strip where the guy goes up to the counter to ask, Give me your best sunscreen, and the man hands him a piece of paper, so he asks, What is this? Directions to Seattle, the shopkeeper replies. 60 days of sun per year, but it rarely snows, and it is green year round, and so beautiful. We miss living there. We are on the west slopes of the Rockies here and it is brown in late summer and all through winter it is white, but there are a lot of shade plants that will still grow. I'm going to try to make a list to cheer me up. I'm sure I'll feel better when we've packed and moved and have work to do outside again.

Edited to correct html.

We have lots of threads about perennial vegetables, but fewer that are useful for shade specific locations. Try Daron Williams list of cold hardy perennials as a start. You could reply to Carla's request for dappled shade perennials and see if we can make a good list there. We also have a massive list of edible native plants that D Tucholske put together, their original discussion was here. Or you could just browse through the perennial vegetables forum and see what leaps out as ideas for you. I love making lists and planning, it's always so perfect on paper, but living there this year and seeing what your neighbours grow may give you more ideas too.

Sounds like a cool place to be, congratulations. What species of cedar are you referring to? I do not think western red cedar is that far east, but obviously I could be wrong. It does look like low biodiversity under western red cedar forests’ canopy, but like their tannic and similarly well preserved distant cousins in the coast redwoods, their soil hosts some of the highest biodiversity on Earth. When a huge energy source (big trees) evolves multitudes of biochemical defenses to keep that energy for itself, the FBI (fungi, bacteria, and insects/arthropods) evolves and speciates prolifically to get some of that sweet stored sunshine.  Their large limbs also have shoulders with soils several feet deep in places that also function like Galapagos islands of soil life unto themselves.

In addition to this intrinsic value, western red and yellow cedars have wood that is as valuable as any other in North America, so I would try to get every bit of that with value added out of any trees harvested, and do so with great care and planning. It seems like you moved there because you value these trees standing in all their glory, so I am glad they have a thoughtful steward on your land. Best of luck!

Ben Zumeta wrote:Sounds like a cool place to be, congratulations. What species of cedar are you referring to? I do not think western red cedar is that far east,

There is a whole band of Pacific coast flora running up the western slope of the Rockies from mid-Idaho well up into Alberta. I've even seen Salal here, but no Acer circinatum. The biodiversity is great in general, because we have Great basin flora in the rocky sunny Ponderosa Pine dominant areas, and tons of Rocky Mountain flora as well. But under the cedars where it is dark, it is pretty limited what you can grow there. As far as I know. We will definitely be taking our time if we do any clearing, and making some beautiful timberframe buildings or something worthwhile with the wood. Thank you for reminding me about the mushrooms, we love finding new ones. I think I'm going to have to take up archery, too.

Very cool, that seems similar to where we are, where redwoods meet the mountains and it quickly becomes pine-fir (23 conifer species), manzanita-tanoak, and then high desert going inland.