Ferns in the Forest Garden

So it recently came to my attention that the edible Ostrich and Bracken Ferns are bio-accumulators of deep soil minerals, have a positive effect on soil carbon storage capacity, and are able to remediate polluted soils of heavy metals such as arsenic, copper, and nickle.

Ferns effect on soil food web:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285944348_Nutrient_ecology_of_ferns

Ferns acting on soil carbon:
https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/giardina/psw_2019_giardina001_lyu.pdf

Ferns accumulating Arsenic:
http://www.igsnrr.cas.cn/xwzx/jxlwtj/200607/P020090715580084142268.pdf

Ferns accumulating other Metals:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-42029-9

So I have plans to use ferns in the herbaceous layer of my copses, food forest, and riparian zone around my pond.

Bracken ferns are eaten in East Asia. In Korea they're part of the popular soup Yuk Gae Jang, and in Japan they are blanched and made into tenpura along with other Sansai (Mountain Vegetables). Bracken Ferns are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, and North America. They must be blanched several times to leach out the nicotine found naturally in the plant which results in a mushroomy tasting green vegetable. Failing to blanch it enough results in a bitter flavor.

Ostrich ferns are eaten similarly to bracken ferns and are better tasting when blanched. These taste different than Bracken ferns, with a flavor like asparagus. I would cook these with butter and fresh dill in a skillet. They are a common wild vegetable in damp areas of the US and Canada. I don't know where else they may live.

Both are eaten as fiddleheads.

On my farm, I have 4 areas where I can start colonies of ferns:

1. In the shade of the persimmon copse
2. In the shaded area between the willow copse and the hedgerow
3. along the back hedgerow and around the pond
4. in the food forest

Note, if your land is contaminated with heavy metals, don't eat your ferns.

Ryan,
I'm trying to establish ostrich fern in a couple of area here, although in it's second year it still doesn't seem to be doing very well. I'm wondering whether it would prefer somewhere a bit sunnier - dampness is not an issue! I hadn't heard that they were good metal accumulators, that could be useful to know.
Of course bracken is pretty well everywhere here, I may get brave enough to try it sometime! I hadn't heard that it contained nicotine - are you sure  you don't meant tannic acid (not the same thing). I think it's the extra preparation for eating that puts me off....

Nancy Reading wrote:Ryan,
I'm trying to establish ostrich fern in a couple of area here, although in it's second year it still doesn't seem to be doing very well. I'm wondering whether it would prefer somewhere a bit sunnier - dampness is not an issue! I hadn't heard that they were good metal accumulators, that could be useful to know.
Of course bracken is pretty well everywhere here, I may get brave enough to try it sometime! I hadn't heard that it contained nicotine - are you sure  you don't meant tannic acid (not the same thing). I think it's the extra preparation for eating that puts me off....

The instructions I was told when I made Yuk Gae Jang said it was nicotine. It was a recipe on the back of a package of dried bracken fern from a Korean market.  

Whatever it is, it certainly needs removing! the Ferns website (name not plants) doesn't mention nicotine. I'm inclined to think it may be a translation error, but who knows!

Yep, a translation error! Brackens contain ptalquiloside, which is a carcinogen (translator probably conflated carcinogen with nicotine since it is the most widely known English language carcinogen).  You gotta soak or boil bracken ferns (although ptalquiloside is water soluble, good penetration of the water throughout a fiddle head can be hard to ensure. Boiling is more reliable, as ptalquiloside begins to break down when even slightly warmed). Otherwise it's not the bitter flavor you worry about. Eat enough of them and you could be increasing your cancer risk. It's been known to cause cancer in cows and it is thought to be a contributing factor to the high rates of stomach cancer in Japan and Korea.

Nancy Reading wrote:Ryan,
I'm trying to establish ostrich fern in a couple of area here, although in it's second year it still doesn't seem to be doing very well. I'm wondering whether it would prefer somewhere a bit sunnier - dampness is not an issue! I hadn't heard that they were good metal accumulators, that could be useful to know.
Of course bracken is pretty well everywhere here, I may get brave enough to try it sometime! I hadn't heard that it contained nicotine - are you sure  you don't meant tannic acid (not the same thing). I think it's the extra preparation for eating that puts me off....

My ostrich ferns seem to be sun-seekers; they started in a shady corner, but have spread out into part-shade and even invading the lawn.  

I have no idea what kind of ferns these are but they’re everywhere. I would hate to guess how many square feet of ferns grow here. They line both sides of my creeks in full shade.

Bracken is also allelopathic, which could be a problem. The ptaquiloside is realeased from all parts of the bracken at every stage of life.

If you have a lot of it, you might want to consider that you'll be breathing in spores in the summer. They have fairly low levels of ptaquiloside in them, but you could potentially breathe in a lot.

Dry bracken takes forever to break down and is hydrophobic. I've dug into deep bracken mulch in the spring after a lot of snow has melted, and the mulch is totally dry just a few centimeters down. Not good if you have a lot of it mixed into your soil.

The dry stems are very brittle and hard. Slivers from bracken stems are like glass slivers. Very unpleasant.

Can you tell I don't like bracken? 😁