Edible Landscapes: Garden to Table With Your Spring Harvest

Growing edible plants can be a win-win for your garden landscape and your dinner table. Veggies or flowers? There’s no reason you can’t combine both and create a garden that is a feast for the eyes and the table! 

Edible gardening is a new trend that is gaining in popularity. It allows you to harvest edible rewards and still have an ornamental garden. Edible gardens also make good use of limited space, and help maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle.

While it may seem difficult at first, integrating some edible veggies into your flower garden is easier than you think. Here are some tips for creating an edible gardenscape, no matter where you are. 

Have a clear goal 

Decide what’s most important to you before planning your edible garden. Having a clear goal will allow you to make good decisions on what and where to plant. If your objective is to grow the most variety of vegetables for example, you will likely make different choices than if you just want to add some veggies for your homemade meals. 

Choosing the Right Plants 

Similar to designing an ornamental garden, you should choose veggies that either complement your flower beds or provide contrast. This can be with regards to shape, texture, and color, combined to balance function and aesthetics for overall harmony. 

Taking your goal into consideration, you can either mix a few veggies amongst flowers in interesting ways, or opt for a majority of edibles. Think of your favorite homemade dishes, and also the garden vegetables you would like to add to them. 

Ornamental Vegetables 

Take a look around, and you will notice many common garden vegetables that come in striking colors and form. They can complement your flower beds, and some even come in ornamental varieties that are great for enhancing the look of your garden. Consider these popular veggies to create an amazing edible landscape. 

Squash

Squashes can make outstanding ornamental plants if you have some extra space in the garden. Their large orange blooms are actually edible, and they can be easily trained to grow vertically on trellises or tomato cages to save garden space.

Tomatoes 

Tomato plants are undoubtedly a staple of most gardens and especially edible ones. Grow them on trellises which can add to your garden design, or choose indeterminate varieties to start with. Tomatoes are one of the most prolific edible vegetables, adding a robust and colorful presence to your garden.

Kale 

Most kale varieties including flowering ones can be added to your garden to make it more visually interesting. Both edible and ornamental types come in colorful varieties including red, pink, green, and white, as well different textured leaves for various garden bed designs. 

Peppers

Peppers actually have a very distinct look, and ornamental types are great for adding color to your garden with their bright hues of orange, yellow, and red. Show them off in your garden beds, or plant them in containers. 

Garlic 

Garlic is an omnipresent herb that comes with a host of health benefits. They are also one of the easiest plants to grow, and are great companions for peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and cruciferous vegetables. Add them to soups or stir fry dishes. 

Let Your Crops Mingle 

Mixing perennial plants and edible veggies in your garden ultimately gives you more options. You can easily switch things up, or plan for different outcomes according to seasons. You can either choose to focus more on the ornamental side, or on edible harvests. 

Mingling different types of plants in the garden will also help increase biodiversity and attract beneficial insects. This will be great for deterring pests, while placing some veggies in the midst of flowers will also confuse these harmful insects. Edible gardens are a healthier ecosystem overall, and this means less maintenance and more joy for gardeners in general.