I need some ideas on how to use this space. It’s right on the edge of the woods. So, for most of the year it’s shaded. During the summer it does get a few hours of sun. I have my grapes, raspberries, blueberries, and currants in rows until about the edge of it.
I really hate having nothing but grass there 
The soil is super sandy and fairly acidic. I was thinking maybe artic kiwi or more currants, but I already have way more than I probably need.
Any suggestions?
honeyberries, serviceberries, kiwis and hazels can tolerate shade and still produce. they arent fussy about soil either. just mulch them well.
Another consideration would be to use this space as a large compost area where you can bring in piles of wood chips to decompose and use later to mulch your sunny growing areas. If you smother out the grass with newspaper or cardboard then cover with several feet of hardwood chips, the shade will actually speed up the natural breakdown process to turn the chips into the best mulch and organic topsoil thus enriching your growing areas as you take advantage of using it.
I use about foot of such mulch underneath my Illinois Everbearing mulberry and so with much less watering each summer I get a full season of nice fruit without a big water bill!
Seems like a good place to throw out a mess of pawpaw seeds. They would grow up thru the shade.
A great idea! Assuming they can reach a sunny spot. Eventually they do best in the sun but their first several years they need shade so I like that idea
Dennis
Do you have any experience on how well they produce? The honeyberries and currents would probably appreciate some shade in the summer. They start to look horrible around July.
Hah! I already have that started… I have a giant pile of my old raspberry canes I’ve been meaning to burn or do something with. I actually have wayyy more wood chips than I know what to do with right now after clearing a bunch of overgrown small pine trees last fall. I like the idea, but it faces right to the south of the house which is visible from most of the windows. I’m not sure my wife would appreciate looking at a even bigger compost pile 
I’ve always assumed they need a longer season to ripen. If not, then I have some great spots back further in those woods that could be great. There’s a few clearings back there.
I grow honeyberries as a foundation planting in zone 7b. much hotter here but they seem to do ok in shade. the humidity here causes a lot of disease issues.
I would go with ribes. my gooseberries produce the best in shade.
i do. you will get about 3/4 of a crop in mostly shade with those. also, if your shading trees are deciduous, serviceberry and honeyberry berries will be almost fully ripe by time your oaks, maples and such are even fully leafed out. grow early fruiting varieties like aurora honeys and Northline saskatoons. i have a wild 20ft. saskatoon growing out of the north side my spruce hedge. it only gets a few hours of direct sun light in the afternoon, and it produces well with no care. i grafted Northline to the upper scaffold last spring and the graft grew 6ft.strait up. im going to graft the lower branch next spring to Northline as well.
