Instead of using a traditional garden style, edible landscaping is the method of putting edible plants into your landscape. This has two primary benefits. First and foremost, edible landscaping saves space: instead of using up part of your yard to grow these edible plants, you are combining them with your landscape into a single, accessible space.
The second benefit is that it not only makes your landscape aesthetically pleasing, but also allows you to grow your own food. And you don’t have to make your edible landscape 100{9cee231af4442b6aea73d6ab676325b3161b84c5f43230a6f869604305edf9eb} edible. If you want, you can base your edible landscape upon any percentage of your edible plants.
Edible Landscaping: How Far Do You Go?
You could make your landscape entirely edible, or maybe you’ll only include one berry bush. Edible landscaping has been around since as early as ancient Persia, and has been used consistently since then, even in medieval gardens and the like. Some parts of the world frown on anything less than edible landscaping. People there don’t see any point in wasting valuable space for growing food with a purely aesthetic plant.
If you want to plan your edible landscape, you have to begin with an understanding of the plants you’re going to use. Knowing the conditions each type of plant needs is vital, since some will need more sun, whereas others will need a lot of shade. You should also ensure that your soil conditions are acceptable. You need to check on all the plant varieties you’re using so that you know what its soil and sunlight requirements are, and what the nutrient and pH balance needs are. Besides that, a proper lawn care schedule with a reel mower is mandatory.
Planning Your Edible Landscape On Paper
You should begin with a piece of paper and an idea. Mark down on the paper where you want certain plants to be placed, and you should be sure that those locations fit the needs of those plants. You can use fruit trees to create shade for plants that need that. Planting hazelnuts and currants can replace a deciduous shrub. For ground cover or low-lying shrubs, use herbs.
Purely ornamental plants don’t usually need much care, but edible plants need a little more, especially if you want them to supply you with a good harvest. Watering them more often, fertilizing them efficiently or mowing the next areas properly with a self-propelled mower are often good places to begin.
Pest control is also more difficult with edible plants, if only because what’s edible for you is often more edible for insects, too. But getting food out of the deal makes that little bit of extra work worth it.
Remember To Add These To Your Edible Landscaping Design
A very important feature of an edible landscape is the fruit tree or bush. Fruit trees can easily replace shade trees, and berry bushes can be a very lovely replacement for shrubbery. For example, blueberry bushes make a front yard positively delightful—and apple trees can provide excellent shade!
In place of flower beds, try the beds of herbs, greens, or lettuce. A lot of kinds of mint have darling blooms. Lettuce and greens like it often come in many colors. Ornamental cabbage or kale is available in a wide range of coloration, too. Including tomatoes and peppers can make the area very attractive.
Grape arbors can make an excellent addition to your landscape. They’ve been used for a long time to enhance lawns with their beauty, and the fruit is great, too. Don’t forget, too, that a lot of flowers are edible. Borage, Calendula, daylilies, nasturtiums, and violas are all edible, and they can make great inclusions in salads or decorating cakes—so even if you want to stay 100{9cee231af4442b6aea73d6ab676325b3161b84c5f43230a6f869604305edf9eb} edible, you’ve still got plenty of flowers you can throw in!