It may seem hard to believe, but many people in today’s world have never grown any fruits, vegetables or herbs of their own. Maybe they think they need a huge plot of land, but that’s just not true. The fact is you don’t have to plant a big vegetable garden to enjoy homegrown food –you can integrate many lovely edibles right into your landscape.
In addition to being a pretty flower, daylily blooms can be cooked or eaten raw.
Photo Credit: Don Goode
Fruiting trees and shrubs (like this plum tree) offer attractive – and edible – additions to the landscape.
Photo Credit: Don Goode
This pokeweed/poke salad plant makes a nice addition to the edible landscape.
Photo Credit: Don Goode
When pokeweed first comes out of winter dormancy, the new growth makes excellent edible cooked greens – but you must avoid the plant once it blooms and fruits!
Photo Credit: Don Goode
Fruiting plants like plum, cherry, mulberry, citrus or persimmon make attractive garden additions. Figs can form large bushes to accent an open area. Blueberry bushes make lovely hedges that you can prune to a desired shape and size. And I enjoy driving my mower by my kumquat tree for a snack as I work in the yard!
We can’t forget the wonderful nut trees like hickory, pecan and walnuts either. They’re excellent shade providers. (Just be sure to plant them away from the house, utility buildings and parking areas – falling nuts can make quite a racket when they hit a rooftop!)
Vegetables can also add texture and beauty to your landscape. Even if you don’t have a garden area dedicated to veggies, you can still add a tomato plant to the corner of a flower bed and tie it to your rose arbor for support. Cabbage, broccoli and kale make attractive bedding plants, and the blooms of delicious okra look like their decorative hibiscus cousins. A cluster of corn stalks or amaranth makes a great ornamental grass arrangement after the stalks dry come fall. Sweet potato vines are an attractive groundcover. And many vegetables (think peppers and tomatoes for starters) are available in colorful varieties you can use to brighten your planting beds, as well as your plates. (Just be sure not to use harmful chemicals on any plants you intend to consume!)
Then there are the wild plants that are great for eating, too. In fact, the pioneers relied on them for a big portion of their food supply. It may surprise you, but a beautiful edible landscape can include plants that many consider “weeds!” If you’ve ever eaten the cooked greens of newly sprouting pokeweed, tried a pesto made from chickweed or munched on pickles made from the root of the rattlesnake weed, you can appreciate the value of these uncultivated plants. Some folks even look forward to a spring salad of wild violet leaves combined with dandelion leaves and wild onion greens.
That said, whenever harvesting “wild” food sources, always be sure you can positively identify any plant before you eat it! While there are several types of edible mushrooms, for example, there are also several types you definitely don’t want to mess with because they can seriously harm you! It’s also good to know that some edible wild plants are at their peak quality during certain stages of their growth and not so good for you at other times. For example, the pokeweed plant accumulates oxalic acid as it matures – especially during its blooming and fruiting stages. So you should only harvest this plant during the first flush of growth in spring to avoid the digestive “complications” that can result if you consume it later in the season.
And if you’re harvesting plants away from your own property, be sure to obtain permission from the landowner. Most state parks and national forests prohibit picking plants, so be sure to check on the policies and regulations for your area. Also, it’s neither polite nor sustainable to harvest all that you find. Leave some to set seed for next year and to feed the wildlife.
Finally – and very importantly – make sure any food you harvest hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals! Those tasty blackberries growing along the side of the road may have just been sprayed with insecticide by the agricultural crop duster the day before!
By whatever route you choose, do enjoy some edible plants from your garden this season. Harvest responsibly, and be sure to share some with the wildlife and your neighbors! Who knows – a dandelion greens salad may just become a family favorite!
