By Amy Galblum
Gardening has become an increasingly popular pastime at the same time that there has been an explosion of interest in healthy and locally produced food. And what could be more local and healthier than food grown in your own yard? Maybe you have a few favorite vegetables in a sunny spot out back, or even a full vegetable garden, but consider planting more edible foods around your yard – even in the front of your house!
There are many reasons to add edible plantings to your landscape. You can enjoy the freshest and tastiest berries, ripe fruits, and new and interesting herbs and vegetables at the same time that you enhance the beauty and interest of your yard. There is great satisfaction in growing your own edibles, and gardening in a way that is creative and adds to the overall sustainable footprint of your household and community.
Edibles can be included in your home landscape in a variety of ways. As an easy first step, tuck some attractive small vegetables and herbs into an existing open spot among perennials or annual flowers. Have you noticed the lovely window boxes in front of one of Roslindale’s newest restaurants, Redds in Rozzie on Washington Street, featuring luxuriant lettuce plants and mint?
Another fabulous “looker” is the newly trendy Romanesco broccoli. Shaped like a pyramid, this broccoli resembles a cauliflower but is light green in color. Most interestingly, the broccoli's floral pattern approximates a natural fractal – it has been used by math teachers as a demonstration model. I used it as a centerpiece on my table for a couple of weeks last fall before it landed in a pot on the stove.
In her book, “The Edible Front Yard,” Ivette Soler notes that, "out front you need to make deliberate choices that give your edibles as much ornamental appeal as any well designed-garden." She presents several criteria, including that entire plant must have a pleasing form and should not be chosen only on the merits of its flowers (or vegetable or fruit), it should offer at least two reasons to plant it (such as color and form, or texture and seedpods), and its leaves must hold up for the entire growing season.
Some attractive edible plants that fit these criteria include kale, multi-colored chard (with its eye-catching rainbow stems), chives (which have a charming spring bloom), sage, rosemary, thyme and rhubarb.
Berry bushes can also be very appealing additions to your landscape. Raspberries are expensive in the markets because they are difficult to store and ship – so why not have a patch in the backyard where you can pick them fresh before breakfast? Raspberry (and blackberry) bushes spread easily but domesticated varieties are unlikely to become a pest. They are both prickly, so it is wise to put them in an out-of-the-way spot.
High-bush blueberries (of which you must have at least two varieties for pollination) are a great choice with their charming bell-shaped flowers, shiny summer leaves and flaming fall foliage. Then there are gooseberries, currants and strawberries (low-growing ground-cover type plants) that can all make great additions to an urban backyard garden and delicious grazing opportunities for urban residents. A sampling of each could afford you the chance to make a rhubarb, strawberry, gooseberry, currant pie, as I did a number of years ago.
Fruit trees, such as dwarf apple, peach, pear or cherry trees, fit nicely into an urban yard. Even a crab apple tree has an edible fruit. Nan K. Chase, in her book, “Eat Your Yard,” recommends specific crab-apple varieties and provides recipes for crabapple jelly. She also provides recipes for the fruits of other interesting trees including the quince and nearly-forgotten paw-paw tree.
Think about how existing structures around your house might be enhanced with edible plants. A front entry could be topped with an edible vine-type plant such as a grape, or hop vine, or the surprising cool-weather kiwi. A wall or front stairway could be the backdrop for bushes or even an espaliered (trained to grow against a flat surface) apple or pear tree.
If you are deterred from the idea of planting an edible landscape because your yard is shady, you will be pleased to know that there are options for those with less sun too, such as arugula, chard, kale, lettuce, nasturtium and parsley.
Edible landscaping is back in fashion, and hopefully you will be inspired to make some delicious landscaping changes as the summer kicks off and your garden beckons.
Author Amy Galblum will be making a presentation on edible landscaping at the next GreeningRozzie Community meeting on Wednesday, June 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Roslindale Community Center.
This article first appeared in the Roslindale Transcript.
