Create an Edible Landscape

by Ilona Biro, Volunteer

Most avid gardeners spend spring and summer days tending to carefully chosen shrubs, annuals and perennials. While that can be as rewarding as any gardening you could do, why not introduce a few edibles to the mix? They can be just as beautiful, producing delicious berries, fruit and vegetables while attracting precious pollinators. You don’t need lots of space because plant breeders have developed more compact edibles that thrive in small spaces and containers without sacrificing taste and yield. Best of all they don’t require much more maintenance, though that depends on what you decide to introduce.  A vegetable garden requires weeding no matter what, although a raised bed will reduce a lot of work (and back strain) while creating elevated tiers of interest in an otherwise level plot.

Nice idea you think, but wait! Won’t that mess up my otherwise meticulously designed garden? It doesn’t have to if you select edible plants that can substitute for those already in your planting scheme. A gradual approach is possible, where you replace a few lacklustre shrubs for berry bushes – or a massive rhubarb patch. Soon you’ll be enjoying the fruits of your first tentative steps towards a more productive garden. There’s nothing quite as exciting as discovering the first ripe berries or harvesting homegrown beans in your own front yard, and there’s plenty of colour along the way as well.

Edible gardens are sure to grow on you as you find clever ways to use climbing plants for elevation in lieu of the usual non-flowering vines and introduce raised beds in strategic locations to ‘bulk up’ your garden and allow for easier access when weeding or harvesting. Plant combinations that work well are tall vegetables, like broccoli or chard, paired with a ground cover like allysium or lavender that will fill in the empty space below. Experiment with colour blocking and pairing plants with contrasting growing habits or hues.

There are plenty of examples of this popular gardening movement in the GTA, but while snowdrifts cover these prized gardens for now, you can hit up local libraries or bookstores for helpful guides. These relatively recent books cover edible plant selection and garden design and along the way provide helpful comebacks should any neighbours question your love of edibles. Fritz Haeg wrote his inspiring book, Edible Estates, in 2008 and since then has built hundreds of edible gardens across North America. Another giant in the edible landscaping world is Rosalind Creasy, whose groundbreaking classic Edible Landscaping is a bible for many converts. Feast on their ideas while thinking of how you might swap in some currants, or a rhubarb patch among your hostas, hydrangeas and viburna.

So there you have it. A beautiful, productive landscape that might be a good fit for summer 2021.

EXAMPLES OF EDIBLE PLANTS FOR LANDSCAPING

Hedges: Currants and other berry bushes will create a lovely hedge doing double duty in your garden.

Vines: Peas and beans are excellent for growing along fences, pillars, and columns.

Groundcover: Some low-growing varieties of herbs spread quickly and release a lovely scent when crushed. Put these near places where there’s a lot of foot traffic. Grow extra in the summer months and dry them for cooking all winter.

Raised beds: Lettuces and herbs will grow throughout the year, and kales and other brassicas will thrive until at least the first frost, if not longer. Arugula, spinach, and chard will do well all season, and rainbow chard will bring a lovely pop or orange, pink, and yellow to the garden. Carrots, kohlrabi, and turnips can grow 1-2 feet of greens above ground and add to ground cover and edging.

Trees: A specimen tree creates a focal point and many gardens have them as an organizing feature. Instead of a Japanese maple, dogwood, or other common specimen tree, try a fruit tree instead. Apples, cherries, plums, apricots, and peaches – these fruits can handle freezing temperatures that we get in Canada and will bloom in the spring with lovely blossoms, and then produce fruit in the early to late summer months.