Edible Landscaping Ideas

Edible landscaping is a very convenient and quite rewarding idea that will serve you a dual purpose. You can transform your landscape with some beautiful wild edible plants that will give you a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables that you can pluck out and use whenever they are ripe and ready. In addition to this, your landscape will look attractive with the various green plants punctuated with colorful edible wild berries here and there. In this Buzzle article, you can check out some landscaping ideas that may suit your 'taste' as well as your landscape.

Designs for an Edible Landscape

An edible garden is nothing but a garden, outdoor or indoor, that instead of having just the usual flowering or ornamental plants, has plants which bear fruits and vegetables. One peculiar feature about edible landscaping is that it includes plants that are generally short in stature. So you will not really find tall fruit trees. Instead, you'll have shrubs, bushes and vines which bear berries or edible herbs. Given below are some ideas that you can apply to transform a landscaping plan that you have into a gorgeous edible one.

Berries and Vines
This is a good idea if you want to add some color to your garden. You can have a section within your garden dedicated for the edible part. Border it with some smooth and polished rocks, and divide it into sections. In each section, plant a small shrub of a berry. It can be strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or any other small berry bush that you can think of. At the borders, have tall sticks firmly stuck into the ground, and a mesh of bamboo connecting all the sticks. Have your own trellis of grapes growing on this mesh. It will look good and taste good too!

Herbs and Mushrooms
Have you ever grumbled about how you can never seem to find fresh mushrooms and how you always have to opt for the frozen ones? Well, how about growing your own wild edible mushrooms in your garden? Instead of a pumpkin patch, develop a mushroom patch, so you have a fresh batch of mushrooms ready when you want them. You can have a herb garden growing side by side with it. Coriander, thyme, mint, curry leaves, you have so many options of herbs that are used in almost everyday cooking.

Creepers and Bushes
This is also a good idea. You can have small bushes of vegetables like tomatoes, lemons, gooseberry, etc. inside your garden. You can have creepers which bear big vegetables like pumpkins, cucumber, gourds, okra, etc. bordering them. Overall, you'll get an impression of the big vegetables guarding the little ones. You can also make use of many vegetable bushes, which have a thick foliage, as privacy hedges. A thick vegetable garden bordering your home can also be a nice idea.

Roots and Spices
Another combination that you can try out is roots and spices. You can plant roots and tubers like potatoes, carrots, radishes, beetroot, ginger, etc. along with spices like mustard, cumin, chillies, etc. The spice plants look great when they are in full bloom, and the roots will give a lovely coat of green to the garden. You can have them surrounding a garden bench if you wish. The aroma of the fresh spices will be hard to resist.

Apart from these ideas, you can try out various different combinations and patterns of cultivating plants which will provide you with fresh ingredients for your kitchen. They may be small, but they will enhance your landscape effectively. In addition to that, you'll have the mental satisfaction of having used ingredients from your own private garden for whipping up a healthy meal for your family!