What Is Edible Landscaping?
People hire landscapers to make their yards look beautiful. Why not combine beauty with sustainability? Environmentally conscious people find the concept of multifunctional edible urban landscaping very appealing. An edible landscaping business is an excellent idea for a start-up right now.
Edible landscaping is a gardening technique that uses edible plants and edible flowers. Homeowners will love the convenience of fresh produce right outside their front door.
A talented edible landscaper can combine the color of ornamental plants with edible plants. Traditionally, people would separate their flower gardens from their vegetable gardens, but an edible garden combines the two resulting in much more room for food production.
Successful landscapers will interview their clients to determine which edible plants are favored. There are many benefits to an edible landscape, and the most obvious is food production, and another advantage is teaching children what their food looks like while growing.
An edible landscape is great for the environment. You provide an area for pollinators and other beneficial insects, which eliminates the use of pesticides on your food.
You will enjoy cooking with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs. People can harvest fresh produce from their edible landscapes and bring it directly into their kitchens.
How Do You Make an Edible Landscape?
The first thing a landscaper should do is test the soil. Testing will determine if you need to add anything to the earth to help your plants grow.
Once your soil is taken care of, you should determine how the sun moves across the yard. It is best to identify shady areas and areas that get sun for a greater part of the day, and sun exposure will affect the choice of plants for specific areas of the yard.
Another crucial factor is the water flow. How does water flow through the yard? Are there areas with standing water after the rain? A landscaper must research these questions before designing the perfect food forest.
Study the existing landscaping to see what elements you have to work with. There may be elements you want to remove and replace with something else, and the current landscape is a great starting point.
An edible garden is much more than the traditional rows of vegetables. Landscapers can let their creativity flow. The more creative, the more beautiful the landscape will be.
Edible landscapes include containers, raised planter boxes, arbors, or trellises. There is no limit to the ideas you can incorporate into an edible landscape.
An essential aspect of your edible landscape is pathways. You will need access to all the plants and trees you want to harvest.
Why Is Landscaping Edible?
Edible landscaping is when you include edible plants and herbs with your ornamental plants. The goal is to be able to eat the foliage, flowers, roots, and other parts of the edible plants.
Traditionally, we find edible plants in the vegetable garden. This fact does not mean we can’t use these plants to design a fabulous landscape in our yards. Some of these plants have beautiful colored foliage that complements other ornamental plants.
What Is the Quickest Edible Plant To Grow?
One of the fastest edible plants you can grow is radish. Some radishes are ready to eat in as little as three weeks. They thrive in cool weather, which means they do best in the spring or fall. They usually grow up to one foot in height.
Radishes Grow Quickly
Harvest radishes as soon as they are bite-sized. When they are left in the ground too long, they become spicy.
What Is Edible Landscaping Called?
Edible landscaping is also called foodscaping. Foodscaping refers to creating a landscape that offers food solutions. It is the practical use of your yard.
An edible landscaper is knowledgeable about landscaping as well as farming. They know which plants grow best in certain conditions, and they know which plants grow best together.
What Is the Most Edible Plant?
The most edible plant would be a beet plant. You pull out the beets, cut off the leaves, and then you can boil the beets. The leaves, sometimes referred to as beet greens, are very similar to spinach. You can steam them the same way you would spinach, and they have a more pungent taste but are still quite tasty.
Can You Eat the Weeds in Your Yard?
Surprisingly, there are many weeds in your yard that you can eat. You must identify the weed before consuming it, as some weeds can be poisonous. Here are several weeds that you are sure to find in your yard.
Dandelions
Dandelions: an Edible Weed
Dandelions are an unusually ugly weed, and their mere presence typically motivates homeowners to mow their lawns. Dandelions are one of the most edible weeds that you will find, and every part of the dandelion is edible.
People can eat flowers, leaves, and roots. The small leaves add zest to any salad, and the yellow flowers add a splash of color, making them the perfect garnish.
Lamb’s Quarters
Gardeners will often find Lamb’s Quarters in their gardens. Instead of plucking these weeds out and throwing them out, you can substitute them for spinach in any salad. Lamb’s Quarters can grow exceedingly high, but they are most tender when you harvest them at knee-high height.
Chickweed
Chickweed is another weed that you can use in your salads. The taste of chickweed is quite similar to baby lettuce.
What Should You Put In Your Edible Garden?
You should choose vegetables and fruit that you eat regularly. Every edible landscape will be original, and the owner’s preferences will determine which edible plants will be included. Here are a few of the more popular choices.
Fruit
Blueberry and strawberry plants are a fantastic choice. These plants are perennials so you will enjoy them year after year. You will have to trim these plants occasionally as they spread quickly.
You can easily add a fruit tree to your yard, and homeowners can walk outside and pick fresh fruit from their fruit trees. The most popular fruit trees are pear, apricot, plum, cherry, apple, and peach, but some fruit trees require that you plant two trees for cross-pollination.
Vegetables
People have their favorite vegetables. You can choose your favorites but remember that you want to incorporate lots of color into your landscape.
Bell and hot peppers are terrific choices because they are versatile ingredients and will add myriad colors. Keeping these plants in a sheltered area is best because their leaves attract animals.
Artichokes are another great choice. The artichoke plant has a unique spiky texture and a bright purple flower, bringing your edible garden to life when it blooms. Animals do not like these plants, so they are safe to plant out in the open.
Eggplant plants can be an exciting addition to any yard. There are several colors you can choose from with beautiful star-shaped flowers.
You can plant beans near a trellis and watch them grow. Higher plants will add to the depth of your landscape.
Onions, garlic, and chives are excellent options for keeping animals away from your edibles. You can plant them among your other vegetables, and these plants have beautiful purple flowers.
Kale is a must. Kale is one of the healthiest vegetables, which comes in a variety of colors. The leaves grow thick and luscious, making your yard look full and healthy.
Tomatoes are an extremely versatile edible plant; people can enjoy them cooked or uncooked. You can add a trellis and let your tomatoes climb; it is another way to add height and a splash of red.
Herbs
Herb lovers can use their edible landscape to plant their favorite herbs. Nothing tastes like fresh herbs. It would be best if you considered planting perennials so you will enjoy them year after year.
Popular herbs are oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lavender. You can also include basil and cilantro, but these herbs often attract animals, so they should be kept in an enclosed space.
Thyme is a Great Addition to Any Outdoor Garden
Are There Edible Plants I Should Avoid?
An experienced gardener knows that certain plants can be pretty demanding. An edible landscaper will determine the best areas for specific plants and create the perfect permaculture design for your yard.
Their knowledge about how all the natural elements work together to create the ideal landscape will be invaluable.
Edible landscaping is the art of creating a beautiful yard that produces food. When you have a large area that will make great food, you can offer neighbors fresh produce, much like a community garden. Community gardens are a great way to feel connected and to help others.
You should not avoid certain plants; instead, you should learn where they will grow best. Several plants are incompatible and will not grow well when placed near one another. Some plants will have differing needs for sunlight and water, and there will also be different needs for the soil.
As an example, mint and onions will not do well when you plant them near asparagus. Beans should never be grown near beets, and strawberries should never be near cabbage if you’re dealing with a legitimate edible landscaping business.
