Edible Landscaping Plans

Most landscaping plans these days focus on "low-maintenance" designs for the busy homeowner. So where do you turn for ideas if your ideal landscape is one that produces food for your family?

The Energy Bulletin has an article by famed edible landscaper Rosalind Creasy here which, if you scroll down far enough, includes a plan for a small, south-facing yard. The Ohio State University has a factsheet that includes a plan from Fred Hagy's beautiful book Landscaping With Fruits And Vegetables, although they have changed the side of the house into a lawn and replaced several of the plants listed in the book with ones better suited to Ohio's climate.

If you want to dig deeper than what the internet has to offer, the aforementioned book by Fred Hagy includes several plans, as well as detailing the ornamental values of many trees and shrubs, making it somewhat easy to replace non-hardy plants in the sample designs with ones hardy to your area. Rosalind Creasy's Complete Book Of Edible Landscaping also offers several landscaping plans, although they tend to focus largely on plants that grow well in California.

If you live in a short season climate, it is sometimes hard to think of a good variety of edible plants that will thrive in your area, especially trees and shrubs. Try consulting the DNA Gardens catalogue for ideas; you might be surprised at what you can grow.