With the prices of food, the uncertainties of the economics – it is certainly time

to plant some food no matter what way we live.

Edible Landscape…

I love this term!  Exactly what we need in this year of focus on

“Local Food and Gardens”…

fresh, juicy and delicious surroundings – the most local  of  all

foods – on our own lawns!

As spring arrives – I am looking at my yard with its different problems and opportunities.

I believe there is an edible or herbal plant for every situation – climbing, low, shade or sun,

dry or moist – in my garden patch… with some research, you can find plants for every situation in your location too! So – why plant just any old plant in your landscaping when you can plant something edible and make food and fun for your family & the future?

Read more: “Edible Landscaping for Beginners | beingfrugal.net”

I was also recently very inspired by the film “The Power of Community” – about how Cuba survived their

“power down” and loss of  imported food in  the ‘90’s…they planted food everywhere – on the balconies of

tall buildings, in old tubs on benches outside of Office buildings; it seemed that everyone helped to get more

calories and nutrition by planting small or large Organic “Victory Gardens” all over the place.

On that note – Let’s help promote a National Victory Garden Movement to support the transition of backyard,

front yard, window boxes, rooftops, and unused land into organic food production areas.

Starting with a White House Food Patch, we can all get started by taking action in our own communities.

Edible Landscape…

Back to your own food production – What do you like to eat?  Plant some! If you already have an established

flower garden or border, it is easy to interplant some delicious looking veggies like peppers or basil and maybe

strawberries as edible ground cover in areas you are already planting and watering.  Instead of putting in that neat

edging row of annual pansies, make it a row of low growing herbs such as Thyme. They will offer you cooking

condiments, tea, small flowers and as an added bonus – you won’t have to replant them every year!

While you are at it – offer your soil some compost or mulch, some soil enhancers like manure or bone meal to give

your veggies more oomph!

There are all kinds of great resources on planting properly with soil additives, and must at least add in nutrients that

the plants use up.  The benefits of permaculture and no-dig methods take you even a bit further into the realm of super great gardens and less work!

I’m all for that – so my winter reading included a number of books –

The #1 A+  book to get is this one -

Gaia’s Garden, A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway

– as well as recommending the following:

* The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy;
* Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally by Robert Kourik;
* Perennial Vegetables: From Artichoke to Zuiki Taro – A Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious Easy-to-Grow Edibles by Eric Toensmeier;
* Self-Sufficiency Gardening; Financial, Physical, and Emotional Security from Your Own Backyard by Martin P. Waterman;
* The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour
* How to Grow More Vegetables… – by John Jeavons
* The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book, Gardening Without Work for the Aging, the Busy and the Indolent, & How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back – all by Ruth Stout ( and out of print, I think)

Edible Landscape…

This spring I am replanting the borders of my yard with goji berries,olive trees, rugosa roses, elderberries, a fig,

medicinal herbs and even rhubarb – so pretty with its red and green colors…

I love rhubarb pie.

I am also excited about Polyculture planting…intermixing selected plants together by

broadcast seeding – such that

you end  up with a very diverse mix in your garden, a blend of varieties that defies pests

and ripens over time to

offer months of food – perhaps even self-mulches the area over the season.

If all you have is a balcony and an old plastic 1 gal pot filled with dried soil and a dead houseplant you are in luck!

Coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed egg shells can be added to that soil using an old spoon, and then planted with a

few things. Just shred up that dead plant and place in the bottom to help drainage and  over time it will nourish the

soil as well. Occasionally use the rinse water from your spaghetti or even leftover beer to water your garden and

you will be saving water and nourishing the plants too! Frugal measures are

fun and adventurous…

Here are some Container combinations – pretty and practical ideas:

* Curly parsley and yellow pansies (Violas)
* Red leaf lettuce with yellow and orange calendulas
* Red chard and New Zealand spinach
* Dwarf curly kale with dusty miller, pink nemesia, and dianthus
* Curly parsley with trailing blue lobelia
* Oregano with red chard and trailing white lobelia
* Curly parsley and strawberries

Edible Landscape…

Whatever you have time and room for – it  will be a bonus in  your life –

super nutrition & better quality food at a

lower price, a feeling of genuine happiness each day that your hands are in the soil,

and a sense of security that you

can provide for yourself, no matter what comes to pass in this uncertain time.

Try organizing  some community gardens -

I think there are grants out there just for this!

Edible Landscape…sounds a bit like the Garden of Eden, now doesn’t it?

Excuse me while I go munch some groundcover mint…