How to Plan Your Edible Landscape

First, you need to know what an edible landscape is. It is planting plants that you can eat in a landscape manner. There are a couple of advantages to this type of landscaping. First, edible landscapes save a lot of gardening space. This is mainly because they combine landscaping and food gardening. This is why it is called an edible landscape.

Second, they turn an ordinary, but pretty, landscape into a valuable food source. And the new landscape doesnt have to totally edible either. You can use whatever percentage of your garden that you wish to be edible.
You can range the percentage from 100% edible to just one fruit tree. The method of edible landscaping has been around for many centuries. Not only was this type of gardening used in ancient Persia but also in medieval gardens as well.

In some areas, the total garden is made up of only edible plants. Some people think that it is a waste of time to plant anything that you cannot eat. They see everything else, such as flowers, a waste of valuable food growing space. Knowing which types of planting conditions are favorable for the types of edible plants that you want is very important. Some will need full sun and some will need more of a shady area. The proper soil conditions are necessary for plants to survive.

But just as important as soil conditions are the amount of sun that the plants will get as well as the nutrient and PH balance of the soil. Making sketches of your garden first will help you as well as buying a soil testing kit.
Mark off where you want to place certain plants. This is much easier to do if you mark them on your sketch first. Fruit trees do better in shady areas. Since hazelnuts and currents are deciduous, you might want to put them in a special area. You can place herbs where you would normally put shrubs and ground cover.

If you choose ornamental plants, then you can pretty well put them wherever you want since they dont require a lot of care. However, edible plants do require more attention if you want to reap a nice size harvest when the time comes. This might require more watering and fertilizing.

Since edible plants to tend to draw more insects than ornamental plants you might have to find a non-toxic way of controlling these pests. However, the amount of food that you will have from these plants makes a little extra work worth it.

One of the most necessary types of edible plants to have are fruit trees or bushes. Blueberry bushes do look very attractive in front of a house and apple trees make some of the best shade. With a little practical planning, your edible landscape can look great.