When I started on this journey of growing edibles, I was not too  keen on removing all the grass, and ornamentals to replace with rows of produce. I wanted the yard to look  good for myself and for my neighbors, and yet produce food. And so, I started digging into ideas on how to beautifully incorporate edibles into my existing landscape.
My front yard has several fruiting trees, blueberries in containers, grapes on a trellis, and lettuce, chard, oregano, chives, garlic, rosemary and various varieties of greens growing in containers. They beautifully blend in with grass, Japanese maple, roses and lavender plantings.
Even though my backyard is mostly dedicated for growing vegetables, I have mixed in flowering plants such as daffodils, paper whites, nasturtium, calendula, lavender, petunia, marigold, lilac, borage, pink jasmine, Arabian jasmine, sunflowers, echinacea, mums etc to attract pollinators, deter pests, and add color.
After much trial and error, here are a few tips and ideas on how you can leverage your existing landscape to produce food, without compromising on looks.
- Grow herbs and salads in containers
- In warmer weather, grow herbs in a wide ceramic bowls and bring them indoors to extend the growing season. Herbs like dwarf rosemary, thyme, variegated sage, violas, nastrutium, oregano add visual interest, texture and depth to your landscape.
- In cooler seasons, grow kales, mustards and chards close to each other for visual interest, and harvest them often as baby greens.
- Grow lettuce in pretty shallow containers. Most lettuce need only about 4-6 inch deep soil. Try varieties like cut and come again, deer tongue, black seeded simpson, red galactica.
- Dino kale with lemon thyme adds variation in height and provides visual interest.
- Lemon verbena’s bright green upright nature pairs well with trailing thyme. Mix in violas or strawberries for a pop of color.
- Swiss chard – Bright lights look stunning in a landscape with beautiful yellow or reddish stems. Choose a container atlast 10 inch deep for good growth. Group several together for drama.
- Tea garden – plant your favorite herbs for teas. A few good choices are: various mints, lemon verbena, chamomile, sage, bergamot, thyme etc. Plant what you like to drink.
- Go wild with mints – explore varieties of mints. Containers are preferred for growing mints due to their invasive nature. Some mints to try are peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, chocolate mint.
- Cuban oregano looks very pretty in a container. I have one by the entrance and it would easily pass for a cool looking succulent. Its my goto during the cold and flu season.
- Mix in perennials with annuals.
- Sorell is a perennial and the red veined variety looks like an ornamental.
- In containers, place the shortest plants up front, and the tallest and upright ones in the far back. Allow trailing herbs like thyme and flowers such as lobelia to spill over the container to soften the look.
2. Dwarf trees in containers – Select ultra dwarf varieties or grow slow growing trees.Â
A few good options are:
- Kumquats
- Limes
- Figs
- ultra dwarf Santa Rosa weeping plum
- Pineapple Guava
- Dwarf Mulberry
- Blueberries
- Pomegranates
- Olives
- Grouping of edible bushes like blueberries (see my post on best blueberries for Zone 9). They change color in Fall and add visual interest throughout the year.
- Pineapple Guava – they stay ever green in my area.
- Olives
- Lavender
- My favorite is rosemary. It is evergreen and its purple flowers in winter adds color and food for the bees.
- Mix in succulents with edible herbs for a cool look.
- Plant garlic near roses. They make great companions and garlic keeps your roses healthy.
- Rosemary or lavender sprinkled within the landscape, mixed in with other flowers for height and color.
- Strawberry with thyme and borage. Beautiful blue borage flowers add a pop of color, attract pollinators. Borage flowers tastes like cucumber. Add them to salads.
- Herbs like Fenugreek, parsley, cilantro look good on their own, or pair well with any other flowering plants.
- Carrot leaves fern like appearance combine well with dangling strawberries along the edge of a container.
- Mediterranean herbs grow well in dry conditions or in the rock garden.
- Blue or purple leaves of Italian kale add a nice backdrop with bright orange or yellow chrysanthemums during fall, winter and with annuals such as bright eyed Susan during summer.
- A grouping of purple basil looks dramatic on its own, or when planted with other ornamentals.
- Chives with their upright white or purple flowers are outstanding when paired with red cut and come again lettuce.
- Ginger against a backdrop of a water fountain looks quite dramatic.
5. Fruit producing trees
Keep them pruned to shape, once in early spring, and once in Fall.
- A grouping of figs with their beautiful broad leaves add visual interest in Spring, Summer and Fall. I allow them to grow tall, pruning off the side branches.
- Pomegranates with colors that change with the season. Bright red fruits render well in a Fall landscape, blending in beautifully with the maples in my area.
- Persimmon is one of my favorites. The leaves in Spring are bright green, and once the leaves shed in fall, persimmons resemble bright hanging lanterns on the tree.
- Mulberry tree is a recent addition to my landscape. Temporarily, I have added it in a container, until I move it to a more permanent setting. They produces delicious soft fruit with taste similar to raspberries, that are impossible to find in the stores.
- Grape vines beautifully trellised on an arbor above the garden gate.
- Kiwi vines trellised on a sturdy arbor.
- Lemon and orange trees.
- Plum, nectarine, peaches add beautiful pop of color in Spring when the tree breaks dormancy. You could add just one tree in the front yard as an anchor, and plant other edibles such as chives, garlic, pansy, calendula around the base of the tree.
- I add chives at the base of most of my fruit trees. Their strong smell deter pests.
A few key take aways …
Use good quality potting soil while planting in containers and fertilize periodically, and remember to water as needed.
While growing in the front yard, be mindful of pets.
Instantly modernize a container by adding gravel as mulch.
Pay attention to plant stature, water, sun requirements while choosing plants, and group similar ones together.
Keep design in mind – See how it fits in your overall landscape and mix in groupings of plants to make it appear dramatic. Repeat them across as the eye looks for repetition. Imagine your growing area to be a canvas and plant as you would paint.
Do not hesitate to mix in edibles with non-edibles and go where your imagination takes. There are no set rules to follow while having fun. Just stay away from poisonous plants while interplanting edibles, and you should be okay!
