An Introduction to Edible Landscapes

Due to the rising costs of store bought vegetables and herbs, more and more people are choosing to create natural looking edible landscapes, which means that the landscapes have plants that can be eaten. Do not think that these are ugly landscapes as many vegetables produce very pleasing flowers, and there are a lot of edible plants which are decorative. So, if done properly, these edible landscapes can be breathtaking.

Perennials vegetables are the usual choice for this type of landscaping, because they come back each year without having to replant them. As long as they are properly taken care of, they will provide both beauty and food for many years to come.

These plants are extremely easy to maintain, with just a little watering, fertilizing, pruning and insect control, they will provide many meals. There are plenty of types of vegetables that will help you to keep food on your table for a very long time and there is quite a difference in the taste of fresh vegetables from the ones that are store bought. This type of edible landscaping has been growing in popularity for quite some time now, especially with vegetable prices soaring.

You might want something easier to maintain than a traditional garden. They have be continuously raked, hoed, weeded, sprayed, watered and fertilized. Edible landscapes do not require this much work.

You can use a wide variety of plants to substitute for those in other types of landscaping. This can include using fruit trees instead of just regular shade trees. There are also quite a bit of variety of herbs which can be used to replace regular bushes and ground cover. Flowering ornamental vegetables can be used for borders, regular flowers, or other accenting plants.

In edible landscaping, regular plants and edible plants can be mixed to make beautiful displays. Some of the edible plants, mostly herbs, make a great addition to a flower bed. Many different plants, when put together, make a beautiful garden even more awesome. You can look in garden magazines or plant catalogs to see how certain edible plants will look when they are fully grown. This will help you to plan your edible landscape.

When planted in a mixture of different kinds of plants, curly parsley is very beautiful. Plant it along with pansies, lobelia, strawberries, dusty miller, or dianthus. Sage and oregano are both very beautiful herb plants that also make a functional low shrub. They look really good as front edging for larger bushes.

Wonderful for salads and sandwiches, leaf lettuces also make perfect accent areas when planted in beds. Plant a bed of different color and varieties of lettuce for a real visual treat, and then edge it with border grass. Several types of these lettuces also have tasty edible flowers.

Some of these plants for your edible landscape also have other parts that you can eat. They can look very eye catching as part of the landscape when they are blooming. Sugar snap peas have very attractive white, pink and purple flowers. The peas are very delicious too.