Eat My Yard!

I was talking to a friend, who’s lawn is barren, and she wants to surround herself with beauty. She considers it a blank canvas from which to create a masterful piece of art!

For those who have a yard, a small balcony and a little sun, you can have an edible landscape! Most of my neighbors have the typical yard consisting of a certain amount of visual appeal, however, none of their gardens feed people or provide a home for the butterflies bees,and birds.
So, here are some quick design tips:
Create primary and secondary focal points.
Use color, texture, and seasons of blooms and fruit when choosing your garden’s palette.
Avoid a busy and random appearance and make sure the eye leads from one end of the garden to the other.
Grow vines on arbors.
Use containers as accents and grow decorative, edible borders!
These are some suggestions for getting the most produce from a small space:
Grow cherry tomatoes in a window box.
Plant a fruit tree in the corner of your yard.
Put Herb pots on the patio or windowsill in your kitchen.
Grow Red Jewel cabbage.
Plant colorful peppers such as Lipstick or Habanero alongside flowers.
Grow chives around your mailbox.
Plant yellow or rainbow chard.
Grow nasturtiums, violas, borage or calendula to use in salads!

Yummy! Beautiful! and Edible!
If you would like more history on edible landscaping read Carol Venolia’s article in Natural Home Magazine's spring issue. Also, take a peek at Fritz Haeg’s Edible Estates program at www.edibleestates.org. You’ll be amazed at his transformations of lawns that are now productive environments!