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How to Get Started With Edible Landscaping

Landscaping|Organic / Sustainable Landscaping|Landscape Design Ideas|Landscape Materials|How to Guides

Introduction

Edible landscaping blends the beauty of ornamental gardening with the practicality of growing your own food. This approach has recently gained popularity among gardeners who want to make the most of their outdoor space while reducing their environmental footprint.

However, creating a successful edible landscape requires more than simply planting vegetables in your front yard. It demands thoughtful design, proper plant selection, and understanding of how edible plants can serve multiple functions in your garden. Whether you’re motivated by rising food costs, are limited on space for a traditional garden plot, or seek the piece of mind from knowing what is going into your plants, this guide will help you create an edible landscape that thrives year round.

Pro Tip:

Regular harvesting improves the appearance of most edible plants by preventing them from going to seed and maintaining compact, attractive growth. Design your plantings to accommodate this harvest cycle, using succession planting to ensure continuous production and visual appeal.

What is Edible Landscaping?

Edible landscaping is the design practice of combining food-producing plants like herbs, vegetables, and fruits with ornamental landscaping to create attractive yet functional gardens. Unlike traditional vegetable plots, edible landscapes prioritize visual appeal while still yielding fresh, edible harvests.

How is Edible Landscaping Different from Traditional Vegetable Gardening?

Edible landscaping is also distinct from traditional vegetable gardening in the sense that it integrates food crops throughout the landscape both for form and function. Traditional gardens group crops for maximum production, while edible landscapes prioritize aesthetics and place visually appealing plants like citrus trees, herbs, and Swiss chard into ornamental designs.

3 Tips to Get Your Edible Landscaping Ready for Success

1. Start With a Complete Site Evaluation

Before you start planting, conduct a thorough site assessment in regard to sun exposure. Most edible plants require a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight per day, so identify your sunniest spots first. Then, start small with high-impact areas like herb gardens near the kitchen or replacing annual flower beds with attractive vegetables. This allows you to learn what works in your specific conditions before committing to larger changes like fruit trees or extensive vegetable borders.

2: Don’t Overlook These Edible Landscaping Design Principles

A well-planned design will ensure that your edible landscape actually works for your daily life. Without proper landscape design, you could end up with expensive fruit trees shading out your vegetables, herbs so far from the kitchen they never get utilized, and high-maintenance watering schedules that waste time and money.

Start by layering plants according to height, as you would in ornamental gardens. Utilize fruit trees as the structural backbones, perennials and herbs in the middle, and low-lying crops such as strawberries as borders. This creates visual depth while maximizing space and productivity, especially when you don’t have a lot of space to work with, such as a front or backyard.

Keeping your most utilized herbs within arm’s reach of the kitchen door is also helpful. Lastly, by keeping plants with similar watering needs together, you can design effective irrigation zones that minimize maintenance and save water.

3. A Planting Calendar is the Secret to Ongoing Harvests

Understanding when to plant cool-season and warm-season crops prevents crop failure and opens your harvest window as wide as possible.

The secret to continuous production lies in succession planting, starting new crops every few weeks rather than planting everything at once. Timing also affects plant establishment and long-term success. Planting perennials during the optimal season reduces transplant stress and gives plants time to develop strong root systems before facing challenging weather conditions. This strategic timing approach transforms sporadic harvests into a steady, reliable food supply throughout the year.

Bay Area Edible Landscape Ideas for What to Grow

  • Trees and big shrubs: Meyer lemon trees rank high among edible landscape top picks, offering year-round evergreen leaves, scented white blossoms, and plenty of fruit.
  • Perennial edibles and herbs: Rosemary is often the anchor of successful edible gardens, providing year-round form, drought resistance, and fresh herbs for cooking. Greek oregano offers a similar but smaller alternative, perfectly suited for pathway or container edge use.
  • Ornamental use of annual vegetables: Rainbow Swiss chard creates one of the most spectacular visual effects among ornamental vegetable varieties. Their brightly colored red, yellow, and orange stems rival any bedding plant. This hardy crop can grow continuously while providing nutritious greens for harvest. Purple kale makes an excellent alternative, offering textural contrast with its ruffled leaves and deep burgundy color.
  • Ground covers and living mulches: Strawberries are great edible ground covers, bearing white spring flowers, delicious summer fruit, and offering attractive foliage that will spread naturally to fill in spaces. Creeping thyme is a fragrant alternative and produces tiny flowers that attract beneficial insects.

Final Thoughts

Edible landscaping gives gardeners the opportunity to create beautiful, productive outdoor spaces that support both sustainable living and environmental stewardship. Whether you’re working with a small backyard or expansive suburban property, thoughtful plant selection and design can transform your landscape into a source of fresh food and year-round beauty.

At Lyngso, we provide the soil amendments, organic fertilizers, tools, and guidance needed to establish thriving edible landscapes. Visit our showroom and landscaping yard in San Carlos for expert advice and inspiration and contact us today to learn about delivery options for your SF Bay area home.

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