Boulder County Home & Garden Magazine, Summer 2011
Pretty and practical, edible gardens are all the rage. Here are basic ideas to consider when creating one.
Photos by Liz Barbour’s The Creative Feast
By Julie Hauser
Edible landscapes may be in vogue, but they’re nothing new. The French grew potager gardens that incorporated ornamentals with edibles and herbs in the 18th century. Americans tended victory gardens to supplement food rations during World War II. Today, we’re more knowledgeable and concerned about food sources, prices and contamination, and the environmental impacts of large-scale agriculture.
Liz Barbour’s edible cottage garden lets her mix fruits and vegetables with edible and nonedible ornamentals in a variety of ways. She planted an edible border (pictured below) of young red cabbage, kohlrabi and assorted edible flowers, like marigolds and petunias. “All the makings for the perfect summer coleslaw,” she says.
These concerns have spurred a lot of people to plant edible gardens. How does an edible garden differ from a vegetable garden? An edible garden integrates fruits and vegetables within the framework of an ornamental or decorative garden, so it’s both pretty and practical. The same design principles apply to both landscapes. The only difference is that you grow a few edibles like greens, vegetables, fruit trees and berry bushes alongside your ornamental flowers, shrubs and trees.
The first step in creating an edible garden is to decide what to plant and what’s a practical amount of edibles for you and your family. A landscape composed of mostly edibles would likely produce too much food for the typical family. The best advice is to start small, so you can easily maintain your edible garden. Food plants not only require routine maintenance—watering, mulching, weeding, feeding and pruning—but also harvesting, cooking and oftentimes preserving, depending on the amount of your harvest.
According to author and landscape designer Rosalind Creasy, the undisputed pioneer of edible gardens (see rosalindcreasy.com), there are plenty of ways to creatively combine edibles with ornamentals. For example, she suggests a cool-season border of lettuces and spinach interspersed with nasturtiums, or warm-season peppers of any type combined with marigolds against a background of tall, red salvias.
In shady areas, she says borders of alpine strawberries and parsley under a hedge of currants do well. She also advises planting dwarf fruit trees in geometric beds surrounded by borders of culinary herbs, or planting them along a driveway in place of junipers. She prefers dwarf fruit trees to standard trees, because they produce less fruit and many varieties set fruit over many months.
This border of spicy globe basil is the perfect hedge for a small herb garden. “No clipping is necessary, although any clippings are a delicious addition to pasta or salad,” Liz says. The galvanized tub of flat-leafed parsley is another favorite “must-have” herb.
The placement of edible plants within an established ornamental landscape is easy to achieve. Herb borders, small fruit trees or a berry bush cascading over a trellis are wonderfully practical additions to an ornamental landscape. Usually, edibles prefer sunny locations with good soil. But some plants, like a few culinary herbs, grow well in poor soils or in rocky locations.
First, make a list of your favorite fruits, vegetables and herbs, and then check to see if they grow here. The Colorado State University Extension is a great resource for lists of edible plants that do well in our area (visit www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/720.html for a vegetable planting guide).
Once you’ve made a list, check out this book: Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte. Companion plants benefit each other when planted in close proximity. For instance, Native Americans traditionally companion-planted the “three sisters”—corn, beans and squash. When planted together, the sisters’ yield is higher and more flavorful. The beans provide stability for the corn stalk and add nitrogen to the soil, which helps improve the soil from year to year. Squash leaves provide mulch and shade, both of which reduce moisture evaporation and discourage weed growth.
Combining fresh herbs and edible flowers in a salad is a tasty way to consume your summer harvest.
Beneficial insects are another component of companion planting. Certain plants, like marigold, yarrow and morning glory, attract helpful garden insects like ladybugs, whose larvae feed on predatory aphids. According to Riotte, a major enemy of the carrot is the carrot fly, whereas leeks suffer attacks by the onion fly and leek moth. But when these two vegetables are planted close together, the strong and strangely different smell of the partner plant repels the insects so mightily that they don’t even attempt to lay eggs on the neighbor plant. It’s equally important to know what not to plant together, Riotte says.
And of course you’ll want to grow an organic edible garden to minimize exposure to toxic chemicals. Knowing the basics of companion planting helps promote a healthy garden.
Yummy Ideas
When planting edibles, carefully consider their locations. Are there microclimates in your landscape, say shady, cool areas or sunny southern exposures that would benefit the growth of certain plants and protect others from weather elements? Tomatoes and peppers, for example, love a southwest exposure and radiant heat. Planting them near the house or a wall will greatly improve their performance.
“My edible garden is a potager, of sorts,” Liz says, “featuring herbs, edible flowers, fruits and vegetables.” This photo shows her red cabbages, curly-leafed kale, and edible marigold, petunia and pansy flowers.
Lettuce greens will grow into the heat of the summer if you provide afternoon shade. Many edible plants prefer sunnier locations, depending on the time of the season, which progresses from cool season to warm season to root-crop season. Cool-season crops prefer temperatures from 60˚ to 80˚ F. These include broccoli, cabbage, peas, spinach and lettuces. Warm-season crops prefer temperatures from 70˚ to 95˚ F. These include squash, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. Cool-season crops are generally grown in spring and fall; warm-season crops in summer. Root crops, like potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots and some squashes, grow into the colder months to finish off the edible-garden season.
Remember, an edible garden should cater to your tastes. If you love Italian cooking, plant basil, oregano and fennel. If Asian is your thing, try bok choy, lemongrass and shiso. You may want to plant something you’ve never eaten, perhaps kohlrabi or stevia. An edible garden easily accommodates raised planters, potted plants, herb spirals, hanging baskets and vertical gardens, so you have plenty of growing options, in addition to planting in traditional, no-till, raised or keyhole beds.
Before planting any garden, test your soil and amend it accordingly with organic matter. You can purchase a simple soil test kit at garden stores, or contact the CSU Extension to have a professional test performed for minimum expense (visit www.extsoilcrop.colostate.edu/SoilLab/soillab.html).
Color, Texture and Form
Edible gardens allow for a greater mix of colors, textures and forms than a typical ornamental landscape. For burgundy or purple, try a purple leaf cherry tree, purple lettuce, purple cabbage or eggplant. The yellow, chartreuse and variegated leaves of feverfew, thyme, sorrel and some sages bring brightness to the garden, as do heirloom tomatoes with their yellow, red, orange, green and purple fruits. Silver foliage is eye-catching when paired with dark-green-leaved plants. Consider lavender, artichoke and sage. Experiment with heirloom varieties, which usually offer more color choices and taste better than hybrids.
Form is another aspect of the edible garden. Some edibles have amazing shapes that highlight the garden. Artichoke, for example, is incredibly striking. This tall plant has serrated gray leaves, purple flowers and fruiting bodies that resemble pinecones. Kohlrabi is another interesting plant. It has a swollen, turnip-like stem that’s mild and sweet, and can be eaten raw or cooked. It’s topped by large, leafy, edible greens.
Don’t forget to include edible flowers in your edible garden. Good choices include lavender, violets, calendula, daylily, nasturtium and pansies (see “Fabulous Flowers” below for more suggestions). A great reference book is Kathy Brown’s Edible Flowers, which also includes recipes.
Timing is everything, and knowing when to plant edibles is very important. All plants take time to germinate and mature—anywhere from 30 to 90 days to the point of harvest. This statement is a generalization, and you’ll need to research or read the seed packet for each edible plant. Many vegetable crops are annual, meaning they only produce for one season and die; some are perennial, coming back each year; and some are biennial, producing every other year, like parsley.
Many fruit trees and berry shrubs faithfully produce fruit each year without much effort on your part. On the Front Range, we can grow apples, cherries, peaches and plums, some varieties of grapes, and raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.
Finally, take into account that an edible garden needs strong lines, as defined by pathways, patios, planters, hedges, evergreens, and structures like trellises and arbors, Creasy says. Without this backbone, she warns, an edible landscape can look like just another scraggly vegetable patch.
Edible gardens enhance the ornamental landscape by increasing color, variety, shape and form, and by providing food. By growing your own food in your edible garden, you reduce your carbon footprint and connect with nature as well. What could be more satisfying than that?
Julie Hauser is the owner of Indigo Landscape Design. She specializes in designing gardens that incorporate edibles in an ornamental style.
FABULOUS FLOWERS
Here are some beautiful edible flowers that grow well here. Many varieties are similar in appearance, so check with your nursery before buying flowers to make sure they’re edible.
Alcea rosea (hollyhock)
Allium schoenoprasum (wild chive)
Bellis perennis (English daisy)
Borago officinalis (common borage)
Calendula officinalis (pot marigold)
Crocus sativus (saffron crocus)
Fuchsia arborescens (lilac fuchsia)
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Chinese hibiscus)
Humulus lupulus (common hops)
Monarda didyma (scarlet beebalm)
Pelargonium (different varieties of
scented geraniums)
Primula veris (cowslip)
Primula vulgaris (English primrose)
Salvia officinalis (common sage)
Viola odorata (sweet violet)
—Julie Hauser
COMPANION RECIPE: Rhubarb Crêpes with Raspberry Sauce
