Edible Landscaping

September 4th, 2009 | Category: Green Garden | 4 comments |

Edible landscaping, it’s food in the front yard, but it’s more than that, it’s food which both looks good and tastes good. It’s like better-looking victory gardening. It’s green gardening at it’s best because it makes use of space – you can’t get more local – and cuts down on lawns. And it’s out front where the neighbors can see it, learn, communicate, and connect. Are you ready for it?

There are plenty of articles, and even whole websites, around on edible landscaping, but some are better than others. Here are the best edible landscaping sites I found – I’ve put them in order within each section with the best one at the top.

What, How, and Why to Edible Landscape

Edible Landscaping on YouTube – it’s all very well reading about growing food in your landscape, but really it’s about the senses, the sights, smells and tastes of fresh food. I love this video because it gives you the sights. The commentary also explains what edible landscaping is all about. If that’s not enough, there are lots more related videos on YouTube which you can access from the above link.

Maybe this is something you’d like to read about regularly. Edible Landscaping with Charlie Nardozzi is in a magazine style format with seasonal information to keep you on track. You can also find a list of all the articles you’ll need to get started in Charlie’s edible landscaping primer with topics like Planning Your Landscape 101. Charlie is writing under the umbrella of the National Gardening Association so you can be sure of the quality of the information he provides.

What is Edible Landscaping is a fairly succinct (4 screens worth) overview on the topic from How Stuff Works. If you like formal gardens there is a great photo at the start of the article which shows what is possible.

Edible Landscaping at Better Homes and Gardens – I’m not a great fan of sites which have clutter in the form colorful adverts. I find them distracting. If you don’t mind a bit of distraction, or even like it, this 3 page bullet-pointed overview is quite a nice read.

Planning Your Edible Landscape

Edible Landscaping Database is a list of things to consider for your edible landscape. The database includes herbs, flowers, vegetables, berry bushes, and fruit and nut trees. It’s a fairly simple site, readable, but with all the cultural details needed to make good choices for your garden. All of the plants described are perennials, which will form a permanent part of your eatable garden.

Landscaping Companies can be hard to find because the edible landscaping movement is really just getting started. I think we’ll see more landscape designers offering this as a service in the not-too-distant future. Meantime, if you’re in the area of Seattle, WA you’re in luck because there are several design companies listed at the above link.

Edible Landscaping at About.com has more inspiration for what to grow and articles on how to grow various edibles including apples, hickory nuts, and “weeds”.

Suppliers of Plants

During and after planning you’re going to need to find a supplier for the plants you want to grow for food. Unless you live in the Pacific Northwest you’re probably not going to find much selection in edible landscaping plants close to home.

Raintree Nursery and One Green World seem to share the lead in supplying fruit, berry, and nut plants for the garden and landscape. If you’re outside of zones 6-10 though Raintree.com don’t recommend fall planting and won’t ship to you until spring. That gives you more time to play around with your plan though, right? With 800 varieties to choose from at Raintree you could be planning for a long time! I’d go ahead and ask for their catalog – it’s nice to be able to mark pages to remind yourself what you are interested in. While you are at it, get a catalog from One Green World too.

If you’re on the east coast you might try Edible Landscaping Online which is based in Virginia. Their selection isn’t so extensive, but their prices appear similar. I like their plant search which helps you find disease resistant and pest resistant varieties. That is going to be useful – many fruit plants are subject to bothersome diseases and pests, which I’ve found out to my cost. You don’t want to be spraying – that’s not green gardening.

There are also a number of native fruit, nut and berry bushes, shrubs and trees which are disease resistant and also benefit wildlife, which you’d find at native plant nurseries. I will cover this another time.

Examples and Inspiration

Edible Estates

Heartland Harvest Garden at The Epicurean and Powell Gardens own site

18 Beautiful Edible Landscaping Plants at TreeHugger.com

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