Is it possible to grow vegetables in complete shade that will taste nice? I have a garden that gets virtually no sun.
Vegetables mostly evolved in open spaces such as grasslands, river banks or cliffs. Some came from forest margins: the sunny edge of the wood, not the middle. They like soils dominated by bacteria rather than fungi, and need sun to make sugars. We’ve bred veg to be dependent on the good times, so even if you can persuade them to grow in your shady garden, they won’t taste nice.
There are things that will survive deep shade and grow to find the light, however, such as Caucasian mountain spinach (Hablitzia tamnoides), a perennial climber with heart-shaped leaves and rather insignificant green flowers. You can eat the first flush of shoots as you might spinach.
There are a number of woodland plants that might work, too. Japanese parsley, or mitsuba, particularly the purple form, tastes better grown in the shade; the flavour is celery leaf meets chervil. You can also eat hostas (pictured) and bellflowers (campanula species). These will make for a strange supper together, but alone they can be delicious treats.
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