One way we are working to green up our landscaping is by purchasing edible landscaping.  We’re aiming for the majority of our yard to be useful as well as beautiful, and the less mowing required, the more energy we save!

We already have an area set aside for our chicken coop and run, as well as several raised beds for our annual vegetable garden and compost.

BERRIES:

Out front, we trimmed several evergreen bushes and flowering bushes to make way for our fruits.  We have a back-layer, up against the porch, of gorgeous blackberry bushes.  They are viney plants, so we can train them to grow along the porch.  We buy thornless berries when possible, and these get beautiful green leaves and white flowers with lush berries. In front of those we have our blueberry buses.  Blueberries come in a variety of sizes, and ours will be the middle layer of landscaping.  Blueberry bushes are leafy and green all summer, with tiny white flowers in late spring, and juicy blueberries around June or July.  Finally, for our ground cover, we plant strawberries all around these bushes.  Strawberries grow runners, so instead of growing into taller bush-plants, they stay low to the ground and spread.  They easily take over a weeded area as ground cover, but also produce white flowers and great red berries all summer. We also have a raspberry bush out front, we’re setting up some stakes to keep it more upright, as raspberries are very similar to blackberry plants.

TREES:
We also have planted several fruit trees.  Fruit trees can be trimmed to stay at a certain height – which most people would prefer, so that all the fruit can be easily picked.  We have several apple trees that we will trim to grow along our fence line, as well as one along our front porch.  We also have a cherry tree in the front, and have plans for another cherry and a peach tree to follow.  Fruit trees all get great leaves all spring and summer, produce flowers and are followed by fruit, apples are generally early fall and cherries are early summer.  We will harvest the fruit for snacks, as well as jellies and applesauce and lots of pies!  Homemade pie filling can even be frozen for a fresh-baked pie all year long.

VINES:
Along our chicken coop we are growing some grape vines.  The vines will easily climb the chicken wire, and provide cool shade for the chickens in the summer.  Chickens will also love to eat the fallen fruit, and we can harvest the grapes as well for snacking, making jellies, juices or even wine.

PERRENIAL EDIBLE PLANTS:
We have a small asparagus patch on the side of the yard, and asparagus comes back every year.

Along the side of our house, in an area that was simply gravel when we moved in, we’ve mulched and planted several rhubarb plants.  Rhubarb is awesome in pies, and the plants grow bushy and have beautiful red stems.  Beware, though – the leaves are poisonous! We planted this well-away from the playing area! Rhubarb is also fantastic because it does well in a partial-shade area, unlike many other fruits and veggies.

NON-EDIBLE PLANTS:
Even though we call it edible landscaping, there are many plants that are useful even though they aren’t exactly edible. We have a beautiful lavender bush outside our dining room window, and the growing bush makes the whole room smell great. You can also dry lavender for great smells all year.

The very best part of our edible landscaping: we have locally grown organic produce at our fingertips all season long!

To start your own, check out our yard list for local plants!  Also check out our blog for more ideas on greener home life and your local businesses to get you started!

Do you have any edible landscaping?

5/30/15