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To my loving husband, David Arthur,and neighborhood garden helpers Aidan and Abby DelGatto.Your inspiration can be seen in every landscapethat embraces beauty and bounty.Thank you for your unwavering support,hard work and laughter.
Here is my own Foodscape. I used a scaled drawing converted from my property plot plan as my base map.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Anatomy of a Foodscape
Chapter Two: Creating a Foodscape Framework: the Ornamentals
Chapter Three: Just Add Edibles
Chapter Four: What to Plant: Veggies & Herbs
Chapter Five: What to Plant: Fruits, Nuts, Berries & Grains
Chapter Six: Foodscape Basic Care & Maintenance
PART TWO: Foodscaping Projects
Harvesting, Preserving & Processing
Ornamental Plants for Every Region
INTRODUCTION
FOODSCAPING is the logical integration of edibles in a traditional ornamental landscape. In other words, to foodscape is to grow food alongside your flowers, within the landscape that already exists. It is a design and growing strategy that makes the most of the square footage in every landscape. I’m not suggesting everyone “become a farmer” by digging up the front yard – far from it. Through foodscaping, you can harness the sunny open mulch space that’s already in a prime spot and add your favorite edibles like kale, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, lettuce and carrots. The average suburban foundation landscape – the landscape around the house – offers open space the equivalent of 1,250 sq ft, or 48 average-sized 4x8 raised beds. That’s a lot of edible potential! While an urban house on a small lot may offer less planting space, any sunny area can be foodscaped, even if you’re living in a townhome or condo with only a deck or front porch.
Foundation landscapes should incorporate a beautiful mix of native ornamental plants, such as pink muhly grass and tender edibles like lemongrass.
In North Carolina where I live, builders cannot close on a new housing development without planning for developed space around each home, which means every homeowner (or renter) has a ready-made plot of land likely suitable for growing food, along with ornamental plants. This open space often has irrigation installed or, at the very least, is close to a water source. This is ideal for the foodscaper, since the closer to your home you can grow vegetables, the better you’ll be able to care for them.
You might be asking, But what if I don’t want to make a longterm commitment? That’s the beauty of foodscaping: If life gets in the way one year and you didn’t get those annual veggies in the ground, you don’t have to worry about having an empty garden space for weeds to take over. You’ll always have the shrubs, perennials and trees that were already there. Go ahead and enjoy them until you can get back to planting your edibles again.
“I’ll Never Buy Lettuce Again”
My foodscaping story started when I was in college. Once a week I’d treat myself to lunch at the café down the street from the Horticulture building on campus. The café had the most delicious mac and cheese and pre-made salads. Unfortunately, one fateful day I got sick. Like, really sick. What I thought was the flu turned out to be E. coli from one of those salads. (Since then, I try to only eat lettuce I have grown, washed and prepared.)
