Three to Grow on a Shady Balcony

By Kathryn Pankowski

Last month I wrote about three tough-to-kill perennial herbs for sunny spots.  And I promised that those who live (and garden) on the shady side of the street would get equal service. What we are looking for, if you recall, are plants that are tough, tasty, don’t need any special fussing over, and tend to live for years.

So, without more ado:

Sorrel

Sorrel is a leafy green with a hint of pucker-inducing sourness, rather as if a spinach had snuggled up with a lemon. It’s hard to find in stores and, even if you can find it, it often looks bedraggled. Better to get it fresh and zingy from a pot on the balcony. Because of its tartness, sorrel is used most often in small quantities as a flavouring. Snip a few young leaves into salads, sprinkle on fish, or add to potato dishes.

Sorrel dies down in mid-winter but starts putting out harvestable leaves again in February. If it’s happy, it will start pushing up a tall and ungainly seed stalk in late spring. Cut this off. After sulking a bit, the plant should put out another crop of tender leaves in the fall. Many reference books say to grow it in the sun, but mine is on the north side of the house, and is doing just fine, thank you very much.

And a word of warning: sorrel gets that tart taste from oxalic acid. If you have been advised to limit your intake due to a medical condition such as kidney stones, then give this one a miss.

Mint

Mint must be the classic perennial herb for shade. Spearmint is the most common, used for mint sauce and mojitos, but there are dozens of others: peppermint, chocolate mint, apple mint, Moroccan tea mint…. Plant each kind of mint in its own container, because mints are thugs, and the pushiest one will take over all available real estate.

The last few mild years, mint has kept growing all winter. If shoots get leggy or tattered, cut them back; there are always new shoots coming. If your mint gets a little sun, it may make modest but attractive pink, lavender, or white flower spikes. Let them bloom to feed the pollinators, and then cut off the flowering stems.

Horseradish

Horseradish is one of those wonderful plants that will give you two different harvests: leaves during the growing season and roots in the winter.

Raw leaves have that horseradish bite (though not as much as the root) while cooked leaves are milder. Sprinkle minced young leaves over salads, soups, and egg dishes as a flavouring herb, or add chopped older leaves to the final stages of stews or soups.

Horseradish condiments in stores are made from the grated root. Because the compounds that make it hot dissipate quickly after grating, the horseradish in store-bought products usually has been mixed with vinegar as a preservative – essentially, it’s been pickled. If you’ve never had fresh horseradish, you are in for a sinus-clearing surprise. Add in small amounts to salad dressings and sauces for a bit of zing. To harvest a root, wait until the leaves have died back, then loosen the soil, reach down and break off the top 10 cm or so, leaving the bottom part of the root to regrow the plant in the spring.

There you are. Three easy-care perennials for the shade that will give you lots of flavour for most of the year. Put them in biggish containers –I’m afraid these are not windowsill plants – at least 25 cm across and deep for chard & mint, and bigger for the horseradish. Make sure the containers have drainage holes, fill them with potting soil, and fertilize during the growing season with an organic fertilizer.

They come with a couple of words of warning though: first, all of these plants like to stay moist. You’ll need to keep on top of the watering. Second, interpret the word ‘shade’ loosely. Though all will tolerate shade, they will all be happier with a little sun. Observe how the light moves across your shady growing spot and put them where they will catch as much of it as possible. And third: even if you have ground, keep the horseradish and mint in pots, unless you have a lot of ground, and really, really like horseradish and mint.

Neighbourhood Gardening News

We’re planning a neighbourhood plant starts and garden gear swap for early in May. If you’ve got extra seedlings or plant divisions, pot them up and haul out any unused - but still usable – tools from the shed. More details in the next issue. If you’ve got questions or would like to help, email me at jamesbaygardens@gmail.com.

South Park School is launching some exciting gardening projects this spring: a small permaculture food forest on the north side of Michigan Street, and Garry Oak meadow restoration on part of field south of Michigan, with a small demonstration garden of First Nations food plants. Thanks to South Park for making not only the school grounds, but the whole neighbourhood, greener and more attractive.

Want to take up beekeeping? Beekeeper Brian Scullion is giving an introductory beekeeping course in James Bay this month. Pick up an application at Niagara Grocery.

Kathryn Pankowski is the James Bay Neighbourhood Association Neighbourhood Gardening Advocate. The JBNA would like to acknowledge the financial support of the City of Victoria for this initiative.