Edible Landscaping

When Grandma and Grandpa would share stories about the small farms in central Illinois that were their childhood homes during the Great Depression, the memories often included the food-growing diversity in which they lived. Not only were there cows and draft horses, pigs and chickens, but there were grape vines on the dividing fence, peach trees, apples, and more.

Today, so often when we think of landscaping, we think of flowers, trees, and shrubs that are of ornamental or shade value. To the old-school agrarian mind, landscaping means encouraging a biodiversity of plants that provide food and forage, whether wild or cultivated.

Encouraging an edible landscape takes time and tending. My grandparents planted a few apple trees many years ago, and we’ve continued to add new trees over the years. If the tree is dwarf, you may begin seeing apples in about five years, but non-dwarf varieties take considerably longer. Berries take time to establish as well, and some need more than one species in order to effectively pollinate. A landscape that involved fruiting plants are very dependent on healthy pollination, which means tending an environment that is enticing and safe for pollinators to visit and build their homes.

Our own homestead’s edible landscaping is a combination of food-bearing plants and pollinator gardens. Blue orchard bees find homes in old logs and help with early pollination, bumblebees bob from dandelions to blueberries and raspberries, and now the fuzzy ones delight in bee balm and feral marjoram.

With a permaculture mindset, edible landscaping becomes an art of knowing the micro-climates of your home. Red and black currants need their feet wet, so we planted them on the very edge of the yard near the swamp. Nearly 20 years into having just three spindly black currant cuttings, the bushes are now lush and huge and expanding their territory, offering more than enough berries for many batches of jams and black currant lemon gelato, as well as feeding birds and wildlife.

Apples appreciate protection from bright southern sunshine in winter, which can split their bark in extreme temperatures, so they enjoy slightly northern facing slopes. We plant crabapple trees nearby to encourage pollination, and the brilliant red of the of the little crabs adds a beautiful hue to autumn’s applesauce. Diversity of apple types means you can harvest the Duchess early while waiting for a good frost to pick your Haralsons.

Blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries also enjoy their own distinct habitats, with raspberries loving sun, blueberries loving acidity, and strawberries needing to move their home every few years to keep down diseases. Each has different predator defense needs. We thought the sheep would leave the raspberries alone as we allowed them to graze the yard, but nope, they love raspberry leaves! And apple leaves, and… Time for changing the fences.

Wild edibles are also an essential part of edible landscaping. We purposefully avoid mowing established patches of wild blackberries, raspberries, and chokecherries. It’s chokecherry picking season now, with the deep purple tiny clusters hanging heavily. It’s not as heavy a harvest this year as some because of the drought, but the fruits still stain my hands a deep violet as I peel them off the stems in handfuls. I reach up high to bend down a flexible limb, grasping more. They are too tart for me to eat fresh (hence the name chokecherry), but jam and wild cherry gelato will soon be in the making.

Edible landscaping can also include surprise species that invite themselves. Puffball mushrooms sprouting up in the yard after an August rain make a tasty treat in the skillet with butter, while some folks enjoy foraging for fiddlehead ferns and ramps (wild leeks) in the spring. Knowing that your landscaping is spray free means that anything that is edible is safe to eat, as well as providing a safe home for all the beneficial life forms that help make this happen.

Edible landscaping can also be on a small scale. An herb garden close to the kitchen or in planters by the back door is an excellent example. Flowers are delightful and bring joy, but you can also include food plants in the mix or even edible flowers like pansies and nasturtiums.

Yes, it takes time to establish an edible landscape, but the rewards are beautiful. I can grab a bowl in the morning and pick fresh blueberries for breakfast, munch on blackberries on my morning “commute” from the barnyard to Farmstead Creamery and enjoy the wonderful smell of apple picking right in my own backyard. This is a type of sustainability and food security that those with even small acreage can enjoy. Time to wash up those chokecherries in the bowl. See you down on the farm sometime.