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| Striking ornamental kale can be planted among edible kale |
Fall is just ahead and it’s the perfect time for bold action: adding edibles to your suburban front yard. If you have a conventionally landscaped front yard and you aren’t sure how to begin, here are some ideas to help you get started.
Getting Started
For the front yard there is still an aesthetic norm to
overcome in lawn-centric
suburbia, but that convention has been shifting steadily. Growing
vegetables, herbs, and fruit boldly in plain sight needn’t be the eyesore of
the neighborhood if you give some thought to how they will fit into your garden design.
In my opinion, both edible and ornamental plants coexist in a
beautifully in a garden. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.
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| America spinach with violets |
To start, you'll have to consider the exposure to direct
sunlight, at least 4-6 hours per day, and the condition of the soil. Check with
your local UC Master Gardeners for more details on planting and soil prep for your
region. They will also have seasonal planting charts. Sign up for their excellent monthly newsletter that reminds you about seasonal garden tasks, including planting edibles.
Below are some simple ideas for small additions with the
potential for a big impact.
Where to Add Edibles Now
Flower Beds and Borders:
If you have existing flowerbeds, that’s a great place to
begin. If not, you might consider removing a strip or patch of lawn to make a
combined flower and edibles bed. This would be nice as border along a walkway
or fence, or even in the center of a lawn (remove and prepare a square or round
shaped patch). Small shrubby herbs such as thyme (choose from lemon or lime
thyme) or sage (add a trio of culinary sage with blue-gray leaves, tri-color
sage edged with purple, cream and green, and yellow sage) fit well among
flowers, and they hold up to the mild frosts in our San Francisco Bay Area. Rosemary is a popular, large landscaping plant that is covered with sweet blue-lavender or purplish flowers for months of the year.
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| Trailing rosemary is attractive, fragrant, and great for cooking |
You
can easily slip in vegetable seedlings when planting out flowering annuals or
among bulbs. Spinach, lettuces, kale (including ornamental kale), and
Asian greens, can be grown in fall since they prefer cooler temperatures and
can be grown during winter in our region. These leafy green veggies will add
attractive foliage to a bed of flowers, and if you really want to be on your
game, plant edible and beneficial flowers, such as calendulas,
and add nasturtiums and marigolds for summer.
The viola family, which includes violets and pansies, are good
cool weather choices for fall and are high impact for their varied colors. This
group is semi-perennial in mild winter climates and provides lots of blooms
fall through spring, going dormant in hot summer weather (some will reseed).
For annuals such as nasturtiums, which are frost tender, wait until spring. But
beware: if you buy nursery seedlings make sure they were grown without pesticides
and herbicides, otherwise, don't eat the flowers!
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| Artichokes have spectacular foliage, but need space |
Go Big and Bold with Artichokes
If you have the space for them, artichokes are a spectacular addition to the garden. Their bold foliage is striking, and in spring they'll reward you with edible artichoke heads. I particularly love the violet ones, such as Violetto and Purple of Romagna. Romanesco is a tightly rounded variety that is tinged with purple. The green globe types have equally beautiful foliage. Fall through early summer is the best time for artichokes. They tend to go dormant with the heat of summer, at this point you can cut them back and keep them mulched. Mine are shaded in the later part of the afternoon for the hot sun so they begin to sprout new growth if I water them occasionally during summer. Towards fall they really start to bulk up.
All of them will eventually yield huge flowers with purple stamens if you leave the heads on the plants. I always leave a few to flower, then watch the bees enjoy them!
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| Artichokes will eventually explode with purple flowers if they aren't harvested |
Containers:
Planting into containers is another great way to experiment
with edibles since containers can be moved around, grouped in different
locations or used as a welcoming feature on a porch. Numerous colors, sizes,
shapes and textures are available to match or brighten up your existing
landscape. Containers filled with flowers and lettuce are sure to be a
conversation piece. For the coming cool months you could pair lettuce, kale, or
spinach, in containers with edible flowers for a beautiful display. Mix with
ornamental kale for an extra showy focal piece.
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| Showy heirlooms: Dwarf Gray Sugar Peas date back to 1892 |
Trellises:
I also love growing snap peas and snow peas over winter and
early spring. They are beautiful on a trellis, and you can plant flowers and
leafy greens around them. I have several different trellises in the front yard
of different types and sizes for climbing edibles. Lovely bicolored Dwarf Gray Sugar Peas resemble sweet pea flowers (which are NOT edible) and would be a winning combination with cool season flowers in your front yard.
Start Small, But Start Now
Eating sweet crisp pea pods with fresh salad greens and
herbs, plus edible flowers from your own front yard may inspire you to expand your edible landscape
into a beautiful productive kitchen garden by the time spring rolls around. A good approach is to start gradually. You can start this fall by adding these varieties that will overwinter well, then plan to add warm season edibles in spring and summer. Enjoy learning as you grow, gather ideas about what you enjoy growing and eating, and design features you’d like to add. If you are new to growing vegetables and herbs, getting some experience first will help shape your overall landscaping goals.
Note: during our cool and rainy months in California you will have to have
a plan for slug and snail control. Handpicking in the early morning or evenings
is effective if you keep at it. You can supplement handpicking with a sprinkle
of a non-toxic product such as Sluggo.
A earlier version of this post was published in March 1, 2012 at Eat Drink Better
Photos: Patricia Larenas, Urban Artichoke
