Two Old Gardeners and a Blog

More and more people are moving away from the idea of simple lawns and towards making their outdoor space into more natural landscapes including useful, even edible plants! A lot of edible plants happen to be quite aesthetically pleasing; some vegetables and herbs also have ornamental varieties. It’s great to have your own vegetables - fuel costs are driving up the price of all food products, and produce is no exception.

If you’re interested in creating edible landscapes yourself, you’ll likely want to opt for perennials, since they will return year after year, saving you a lot of work each spring. After planting them once, these plants will give you food and something pleasing to look at for years to come.

Most of them just need regular water and feeding, and occasionally weeding and pruning, as well as insect control. If you plant the right vegetables, they can keep you supplied with delicious food for many years to come. Usually they will die in winter but revive in spring, experiencing a new growth cycle.

Perhaps you are a little leery of this idea - after all, doesn’t a vegetable garden require a lot of care? This is certainly the case for traditional vegetable gardens; however, edible landscapes require only a little bit more work than other landscape plants!

This is all easier than you may think. You can simply replace some elements used in traditional landscaping with edible plants. For example, plant fruit trees rather than non-fruit bearing varieties. Wouldn’t you rather have say, plums than acorns? Many vegetables work well as ornamentals and can be planted in place of flowers and other landscape accents.

Try combining edible plants with ordinary flowers and ornamental plants for an attractive arrangement. Many edible plants, particularly herbs, are good complements to a flower garden. You can blend many varieties of plants together to create a distinctive and appealing landscape.

Curly parsley is striking in combination with a variety of other plants. Try mixing it with pansies, lobelia, strawberries, dusty miller, or dianthus. Sage and oregano are highly attractive plants, and make for a wonderful border. They are also attractive as edging around a large shrub.

Why not plant some leaf lettuce in beds as accents? Leaf lettuce comes in different colors and shapes - combine them for a stunning look, edged with a border of grass.

Edible flowers are also a wonderful idea. There are plants which give in more ways than one. Snap peas, for instance. Besides producing peas, they also give you the gift of beautiful pink, white and purple flowers on attractive vines.

Fava beans produce red and white blossoms. Chives have remarkable purple globe-shaped blooms. Dill has attractive yellow flowers. Nasturtiums are another beautiful edible flower, and bloom in shades of orange, yellow and red. Sage and salvia both have purple and blue flowers.

Perennial vegetables and herbs are perfect for ornamental, edible landscapes, because they involve so little care and tending. Look for perennial broccoli, dandelions, sweet potatoes, rhubarb, sorrel, artichokes and Jerusalem artichokes, chives, fennel, garlic chives, ginger, and asparagus.

Sarah Duke is publisher of The Vegetable Patch at http://www.vegetablegardensite.com, where you’ll find lots of information for starting a vegetable garden.