Although I grow a couple of familiar fruits (strawberries, raspberries), my garden is rich in fruits that either never show up at the markets, or when they do, it’s with a high price tag. I don’t have tons of garden space, and so fruit trees such as cherries and plums aren’t an option, but with these fruits I get to maximize the food I get from my small garden as well as enjoy their delicious, unusual flavors. One of them even grows in the shade.

Red Currants (Ribes rubrum)

This is a sweetheart of a plant that produces copious fruit even in partial shade (I’ve got mine planted underneath and between my Juneberry and my Autumn Olive). Too tart to eat much of raw, they are spectacular made into jam combined with strawberries (which are in peak season at about the same time). The currants contain high levels of pectin, making up for the low pectin content of the strawberries and ensuring a good gel (no commercial pectin required).

Gooseberry (Ribes grossularia), a close cousin of currants, does well in similar conditions and has similar uses.

Note: the dried currants sold in stores are usually not currants at all, but a miniature grape variety.

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)

This is the one that grows in the shade. The leaves come up on single stalks, with small but lovely off-white flowers in the spring. A young friend calls them “fairy palm trees,” and that is a bit what they look like. The fruits are egg-shaped and get to be about 2-inches long. The creamy edible part inside can be scooped out with a spoon.

Elderberry (Sambucus species)

Both the flowers and fruit of Elderberry are edible. The flowers can be used to make wine, or turned into lacy fritters, but arguably their best use is as a medicinal to break a fever. The umbels of small, dark purple fruits, which ripen in August, are not exciting raw but delicious when turned into jelly, pie, chutney, or wine.

A word of warning: elderberries are only suitable for small gardens if you keep them well-pruned. When I was out with a knee injury just over a year ago, mine got away from me and turned into 13-foot shrubs, totally shading out one side of my garden. Fortunately, elderberry will take hard pruning and bounce back with a full (and easier to reach) fruit harvest. Keep it cut back to whatever size works for your garden.

Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus species)

This is another one that you want to keep pruned so that you can easily reach the fruit and it doesn’t start shading out your garden. Fortunately, it is another fruit-producer that doesn’t mind such treatment.

Autumn olive, also called Silverberry, produces small olive-shaped speckled red fruits that make fabulous syrup, jelly, and wine. The jelly is just as good with meats and savory dishes as it is on toast.

Juneberry (Amelanchier species)

Juneberry has glorious white flowers in early spring, followed by fruit that look like blueberries in June. The fruit has a mild, sweet taste made interesting by the tiny seeds, which taste like almonds.

You can get quite a bit of fruit off of even a small Amelanchier. Last year I harvested about a quart off of one shrub that I keep pruned to about 4-feet.

Like Elderberry, this is one that can get tall if you let it, but is quite tolerant of pruning. It will fruit even in partial shade, but as with most fruit crops will give you a more abundant harvest if you can give it more light.

All of these plants are perennials and may not fruit the season after you transplant them into your garden. Some may take as long as 2-4 years. I know—too long to wait and why bother (she said, sipping a glass of elder flower “champagne”). Trust me, it’s worth it. Once they start fruiting, you will be rewarded year after year with abundant harvests of delicious fruits that are hard to find unless you grow them yourself (or forage, but more about that in future posts!).