Turn Your Yard into a Food Forest with Edible Landscaping

Edible landscaping has become more sought after as individuals realize that a garden can be more than just beautiful to look at.

Edible landscaping is a type of gardening where edible plants take center stage in your landscape plan, which has become very popular in recent years. In a well-thought-out plan, this can be beneficial for your grocery budget and aesthetically pleasing for your senses.

Think of creating an edible landscape that will provide you with a vast amount of return for your hard work. It may not always be a quick fix, like a vegetable garden, but it will bring your benefits for years.

So what exactly is an edible landscape, and how can you plan to include it in your gardening future?

What Exactly Edible Landscaping?

This gardening style is not just about growing edible plants, edible landscaping takes everything to a whole new level. An edible landscape will always include edibles such as vegetables, fruits, and herbs, but it may even include other non-edible plants to add structure to your yard.

Rather than just another vegetable garden, an edible landscape is always tied together with beauty in mind, for the purpose of a visually pleasing area.

An edible landscape will include any growing plant that is desired by the individual who creates it. Choose elements that will draw your eye to focus points in a well-planned scheme. It may have these elements:

• trees,
• shrubs,
• herbs,
• annual vegetable plants,
• ornamental and edible bushes,
• edible flowers,
• and even hanging pots.

Who Can Create an Edible Landscape?

You don’t need to be a gardening guru to create a beautiful and functional edible landscape. Anyone with an interest in it and enough time to devote to caring for it can attempt one.

Although a large and spacious backyard will give you much variety to work with in order to create any design, many people have only small spaces and create a beautiful and sufficient little area.

The groupings will often include perennial plants, so if you are a renter and have a significant investment into their purchase, care, and maintenance, you may want to grow your plants in large containers so they are portable.

What Kind of Space Is Required?

To create an edible landscape, the basic requirement is having a space of land to place it. As mentioned above, any size will do, and there are a variety of plants which can accommodate your space – no matter whether your area includes rocks or grass, walls or open space.

Make a sketch of your available space, and use your creativity to decide on a plan for it. We’ll learn how later on in the series.

Do You Need to Live in a Certain Climate?

Although areas where there is plenty of sun all year round have an advantage when it comes to sustaining an edible landscape, you can make it happen anywhere. Having said that, you will certainly need to do some research and study what kind of fruits, vegetables, and herbs fare well in your region.

Look at your neighbor’s yard to see what plants you admire and what is growing. Ask nearby family and friends who love to garden for advice.

Go to local garden centers to see what types of plants, edible and non-edible, are recommended for you.

How Do You Start an Edible Garden?

In order to begin your edible landscaping adventures, find out info about what kinds of plants grow well where you live. Make a list of edible plants you would like to grow, along with favorite flowers and non-edibles you enjoy.

Figure out how to tie it all into the grand scheme and create a beautiful, eye-pleasing garden. Begin small in order not to overwhelm yourself. Make a point of highlighting both beauty and functionality.

Suggested Plants to Get Started With Your Edible Garden

• Strawberries – easy to grow and easy to tuck into small places around your yard. These can be found at garden centers in the early spring.
• Raspberry – also easy to grow once you learn how to prune them back each fall.  Raspberries may be climate sensitive. Some areas of the South cannot grow them, due to humidity.
• Any kind of herb – grow these in many areas around your yard or group them into their own garden. You can even make specialty gardens like this idea for a Tea Garden.

Edible landscaping may have become more popular only in recent years, but it is not just a trend that will disappear. People are always looking for ways to integrate things they love to view with things that serve them well, and a well-thought-out edible landscape accomplishes this.

Create an edible landscape that will fit your specific situation while you experience satisfaction harvesting your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs. It’s the feeling of sweet success when you eat food from your own garden.