Best perennials to grow with fruit trees

EDIT: Location is Tasmania, Australia.

Hiya,

I'm wondering what are the best perennial food plants to grow nearby, or even under fruit trees?

Perennial vegetables preferred, but open to other plants too.

I have created terraces with an excavator, and intermittently planted them out with fruit trees, with garden beds of perennials underneath. There is plenty of space between trees (about 8metres) and I am keeping the fruit trees very small.

Stupidly, I put sunchokes under an apricot tree (I disturb the tree roots every time I harvest), and asparagus on the bank where it dries out (I'll be moving that to a wetter location this winter).

I have an entire terrace dedicated to berries already, so I'm not looking for berry recommendations really, though I am eager to hear any perennial food plants that you have successfully planted under or in near proximity of fruit trees.

Thanks for your input!

Most folks will say berry bushes.  

I don't have experience with perennial vegetables with fruit trees though plenty of folks here do.

Also knowing what part of the world might help folks make suggestion as there is not need to recommend southern perennials if you live in the north.

I'm in southern Ontario and am still getting my tree guilds set up.

So far I have pear, quince, apples and some nut trees that have good starts on planting around them.
I'm using: many berries, ( aronia, several raspberry types, strawberry, haskap, gooseberry and different currants) peashrub, ( as a nitrogen fixer and potential fodder) walking onions, ( LOVE these!) garlic, herbs, ( chive, lovage, sage, fennel, oregano, chamomile, thyme, tarragon, beebalm) and comfrey.

I've got a bunch of other perennials I'm starting from seed to try and add in this year. Lots of perennial onion types, anise hyssop, perennial kales, cress and a bunch of native flowers that also have medicinal or flavouring uses.

I suggest raised beds that can be tripped over for harvest.
That would allow lots of different root crops.
Vining crops could work, something like air potatoes, which I think die back every year.
Shitaki mushroom logs,or woodchip winecap beds could be at home under fruit trees.
I'm planting Myoga ginger this year, it hardy to zone 5 and the harvest happens above ground.
Strawberries, purslane and hostas are other options.

Maybe ramps? They like it under trees and are delicious. I planted a patch under a honeysuckle shrub some years ago and they have liked the place.They seem like a root crop but they are just as good to harvest for leaves and more sustainable that way, though not terribly productive in that sense. If you have good enough soil, sometimes ramps come right out of the earth with a bit of tugging. In my family we have always pulled ramps, never dug. I like to gather the leaves better because I like the flavor just as much at least. Garlic chives are somewhere between ramps and “onion” chives in a lot of ways and may work well too.

Most of the perennials I have planted are near trees namely because there are so many trees around. Mugwort grows very well under the shade of a particular birch tree, though be careful with them. Dock seems to grow anywhere with good soil and moisture, Rumex obtusifolius (broad-leafed dock) especially. Think about nettle too, maybe wood nettle if that grows where you live. They are a very good vegetable, and a forest dweller, better in the estimation of many than stinging nettle (or at least more juicy and tender, and sting less potently.)

You can also try medicinal plants like motherwort, which likes a little shade, or any sort that prefers a shaded habitat—there are plenty of those. Hops may be a good one too but I have seen them pull over a wild plum tree. They are also a vegetable as you can eat the shoots, which are thin but quite good.

I was just extolling earlier the virtues of Korean bellflower, Campanula takesimana, a tasty leaf vegetable. It might also be that the roots are edible but I haven’t eaten them yet. They are still getting established here.

Other ideas based on my north-ish New England climate:

Asters of various kinds (New England aster is quite tasty right before the flower bud stage)
Ground ivy/creeping Charlie
Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum)
Trout lily
Milkweed (seems like a particularly good choice; I often see them in dappled sun settings)
Bee balm
Solomon’s seal
Dandelion, maybe chicory
Spicebush? (have never grown/foraged them)
Tilia, basswood, linden trees (edible & esculent leaves)
Fuki (Petasites japonicus—I saw those starting to shoot up their crazy flower buds in someone’s yard the other day).

I would look to your local wild plants and see which ones of them are edible and then which do you actually want to eat. They can oftentimes be the best choices for perennial vegetables, at least to begin with. (And even the ones you don’t want to eat are likely to be valuable medicines.)