Skip to main content

How to Grow an Edible Landscape

Do you think you just don’t have the space or time for a vegetable garden? Is the idea of vegetables in neatly spaced rows the only way you can imagine growing them? Think again.

There are vegetables that are so beautiful that they are right at home in any garden bed. Some kinds of flowers taste marvelous in a salad or served up with melted butter along with the vegetables. Grow a cucumber vine on that arbor for the delicate yellow flowers, interesting tendrils and of course cucumbers for your salad. A row of raspberry or blueberry bushes can make a lovely, and tasty hedge. A vegetable garden does not need to be hidden in the back yard. Plant these lovely edible plants in plain sight and create an edible landscape.

6 Plants for a great edible landscape

Rhubarb makes an outstanding plant for low maintenance borders and herb gardens as well as a dramatic landscape element planted singly or in groups. Choose a brightly colored variety that grows well in your part of the country. Both red and green stalk varieties are available but the red plants will be much more attractive in your beds. Rhubarb grows best in cool climates, in the cold winter regions of the country. Full sun is best, although in the warmer parts of it’s range it will benefit by partial shade in the afternoon. Be sure to mulch well to keep the soil as cool and moist as possible.

Learn more about Growing Rhubarb

Chives, with their spiky grass like foliage arrive early in the spring. The hollow stems can be snipped to use in salads, dressings, sprinkled on top of soups and of course on a sour cream topped baked potato for extra color and flavor. But the show really starts when the chive flowers emerge. Soft lavender spheres atop slender green stems are just lovely. Use the flowers to flavor vinegar and in fresh salads. Chives will reseed itself readily in most loamy garden soil.

Sage is a tough garden herb that thrives in dry conditions and poor soil. It can sprawl over stone walls and makes beautiful mounds of gray green foliage in the landscape. In the early summer you will be rewarded with sprays of purple flowers that last for weeks. Great as a single specimen or planted as an edible border or to cover a difficult bank, sage is a top choice. It will need some water in extremely dry conditions and can reseed and spread if conditions are favorable. Use in poultry stuffings and sausage.

Thyme is another great edible landscape herb. Plant creeping thyme between stepping stones to release it’s pleasant scent when stepped on. It grows well along the dry edges of driveways and paths. Lemon thyme is another great variety that can add interest to your landscaping beds. Consider incorporating other herbs in your flower beds as well.

Chard is another colorful multi use plant. It looks great in beds with it’s rainbow hued stems and richly veined leaves. Plant a seed mix that included red, orange and yellow stemmed varieties. Use chard in soups, stews and casseroles. It can be used in the early spring as a spinach substitute for great flavor and added nutrition.

Huge heads of red cabbage surrounded by pads of large flat leaves are dramatic and beautiful. The related kale plants come in fantastic color combinations and leaf types. Suitable for cooler temperatures, try growing these members of the cabbage family in the early spring or set out in the fall for winter interest.

Even common garden plants can be interesting and lovely in your edible landscape. A huge pot of cherry tomatoes near the front door will catch everyone’s eye, and you will surprise your guests with a mouthful of sun warmed sweet tomatoes almost every time! Colorful hot peppers mixed with your bedding plants, glistening purple eggplants and a sweet potato vine ground cover are additional ideas for a landscape that does double duty.

Spicy nasturtiums and dainty violets can be used in salads. Day lily buds can be served just like green beans. Roses and the rose hips that form on the plants after the flowers fall are high in vitamin C!

An edible landscape is a great way to supplement your grocery bill with delicious and nutritious home grown produce.

The post How to Grow an Edible Landscape appeared first on Downtown Homestead.



from Downtown Homestead http://downtownhomestead.com/grow-edible-landscape/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Changes Can I Make to My Garden to Be More Natural?

Gardening has changed a bit in recent years as people’s philosophy of gardening is starting to change to go back to more natural and organic methods. For those who have been gardening for a number of years, these new practices might be a bit hard to understand at first since the traditional ways of doing things is adding chemicals to the soil or plants to take care of problems and grow larger plants. Organic methods work a bit differently. Traditional methods use chemical fertilizers to add nutrients to the soil. Organic methods use compost . This is organic matter and carbon matter mixed together. This would be things like fruit peels, vegetables, grass, hay, leaves, and other types of waste mixed together. Over time it breaks down into rich soil that doesn’t need any fertilizer at all. A good compost is natural and doesn’t require extra chemicals. Pest control is a bit more difficult since you don’t want to use chemicals on your plants that end up killing everything. There are a fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Create an Evening Oasis of Bloom and Fragrance

I think it is equally important to turn your outside space into a place to feed your family, but not overlook the chance to escape into it. We have a suburban house, that has a backyard backed up to 5 other yards, so we wanted to create a perfect little oasis for ourselves to escape into. So, we are creating a moonlight garden, to give us a perfect little escape for those late-night bonfires.   Many plants bloom in the evening, particularly in warm climates, and their delicious fragrance can be smelled on the breeze perfuming the whole area. The flowers are usually white or light yellow.   One vine that I especially like is an annual called, appropriately enough, moonflower. It’s in the same family as morning glories and the large white flowers can be up to 6 inches across and very fragrant.   The great thing about this plant is the way it opens its flowers. The large buds look like furled white beach umbrellas. But look again. Did you see the bud move? As the twili...
Post a Comment
Read more

Soil Basics – Creating Fertile, Healthy Soil

Have you ever looked at the soil in your garden and considered it as anything more than dirt? If not you should because there is a lot more there than meets the eye. It performs many functions that you may not be aware of and having good quality soil in your garden is essential for your plants. In this article we will look at the functions of soil, what different types there are and finally some ways to make it healthier. Functions of Soil The most immediately apparent function of soil is a medium to support plant life. It provides support both physically and biologically. Physical support is provided by allowing the plant to grow its roots through the soil to hold itself in place. Biological support is provided by its ability to hold nutrients and water that the plant needs. It also supports other types of life as well. Microorganisms and insects live in the soil and they in turn aid plant life by helping to decay organic material and adding structure to the soil. Soil allows the gr...
Post a Comment
Read more