How To Create An Edible Garden
Have you noticed lately how the price of fresh vegetables and fruit is going through the roof? I sure have and I've done something about it, I've started an edible garden! A lot more folks are doing this and it's a sensible move. There are some very attractive vegetable plants available that provide a lovely landscape and also supply good crops.
It certainly helped to halve my spending on fresh vegetables and I now have a beautiful edible garden instead of the traditional veggie patch. With a little planning, you too can grow a decorative extended vegetable garden that will repay you over and over again. Don't let a lack of space stop you, they can be successfully grown in containers too.
If you choose from the many perennial types of vegetables, then you'll be rewarded with crops every year, so you've effectively removed the need to sow again year after year. You'll not only have food to eat, you'll also have a very pretty garden, so it's a two in one!
So with the choice of plants taken care of for a yearly harvest, all you need to do now is a little feeding, watering, occasional pruning, weeding and pest control. In exchange you'll have fresh fruits and vegetables for years and years.
These perennials will die down during the colder months, but come springtime they'll shoot again and produce another great crop. So by being selective with your planting you'll ensure that you get fresh produce every year.
With a little research you'll find that you can replace a lot of your conventional garden with the large variety of edible plants available. You don't have to stop at ornamental vegetables around your garden, what about using some of the perennial herbs instead of shrubs or ground cover. Then there's the great advantage of replacing some of your trees with highly decorative fruit trees. If you're short on space there are many dwarf varieties of fruit trees that are not only pretty but prolific producers of fresh fruit.
If you want your garden to retain some individuality you can plant all sorts of combinations of plants, for example some of the different varieties of herbs will look spectacular among your flowers. Don't be afraid to experiment with mixing all sorts of plants to achieve the look you desire.
For something different, try planting a herb such as curly parsley amongst your lobelia, pansies, strawberries or dianthus. Also for really pretty low growing shrubs, sage, rosemary and oregano look sensational.
Leaf lettuces look lovely planted in beds as accent areas. You can plant a bed of different colors and varieties of leaf lettuce, and then edge it with a border grass. There are several types of plants that have edible flowers.
Many of these plants also have other edible parts. They can look very striking as part of a landscape while they're in bloom. Sugar snap peas have gorgeous white, pink or purple flowers, and they produce delicious peas.
Fava beans produce white and red flowers. Chives have amazing purple globe-shaped flowers. Dill has lovely yellowish blossoms. Nasturtium blossoms are edible, and some in red, yellow, and orange. Sage has blue and purple blossoms. And salvia also has blue and purple blooms.
Going back to the perennial vegetables and herbs mentioned earlier, you have a good variety to choose from including ginger, dandelions, asparagus, rhubarb, fennel, broccoli, garlic chives, sorrel, sweet potatoes, artichokes and chives. These and others make wonderful edible gardens and are very easy to maintain.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
Ready to fill your small garden with flowers and perfume? Tom Johnson has a Free eBook for you called Container Gardening Secrets.
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by: TomJohnson
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