to learn how to grow food. It is my goal, though, to make the foodscape model so mainstream that every landscape contractor offers it as a service. There are horticulture professionals who can cultivate food and flowers for you while managing your property in a sound and sustainable way. Most HOA landscapes are already professionally managed, so if the landscaper can also work with edibles, there’s no additional cost to the homeowner. When landscapers adopt foodscaping, their businesses become more relevant because they’re providing a vital service. However, change starts with individuals. Change will start with you – whether you’re a homeowner or a landscaper.
It starts by getting people to associate landscapes with food production. I think of rice as a great “gateway plant.” It looks just like the ornamental grasses we are used to growing – like fountain grass – and has much better structural integrity. While it’s unlikely that you’ll harvest enough rice in a foundation landscape to never need to purchase it, the meals you prepare from your homegrown plants will be special. This experience of eating what you’ve grown expands your awareness and appreciation of food. Even as a novelty, edibles deserve a place in the landscape to make people pay attention. There are okra plants that are as beautiful as hibiscus. People are already accustomed to seeing ornamental kale, cabbage and Swiss chard in the landscape. It’s time to crank things up a notch.
There’s a lot going on in this biodiverse, sustainable foodscape: Turf provides a permeable surface for water management. Flowers attract pollinators, while shrubs provide an architectural framework for the edibles.
Leading a Change
Once you make the switch in your mind to thinking about growing food in existing landscapes, every bit of open, sunny mulch space – school campuses, parks, office buildings, senior centers and new housing developments – will look like an opportunity just waiting to be cultivated.
This book will give you the tools to create your own foodscape and the information to work edibles into other landscapes you might manage beyond your home base, whether as a volunteer or as a paid contractor.
Why foodscaping should be top in everyone’s mind:
Benefits for homeowners
• Fresh food
• Reduced risk of food-borne illnesses
• Lower food costs
• Fewer pest problems in overall landscape (due to increased biodiversity)
• Decreased exposure to harmful chemicals in food
• Change of lifestyle with healthier food options
• Unexpected beauty
• The simple pleasure and fun of “doing it”
How foodscaping can change the world:
• Empowers individuals to learn/appreciate to grow food
• Increases local sustainable food production
• Reduces the food miles crisis
• Increases biodiversity in common landscapes
• Adds purpose to professional landscape installations
Come along with me as we enter into the wonderful world of Foodscaping. I hope you’ll be inspired to dig in with me!
Brie
Part One:
THE MODEL
Learn the basics of transforming your landscape into a foodscape with plant selection and tips for design, maintenance and care.
One
ANATOMY OF A FOODSCAPE
A FOODSCAPE makes the most of the open square footage that exists in common landscapes around homes, buildings and parking lots. Residential landscapes, for example, offer many areas that are suitable for growing food. The space close around your home is known as the “foundation landscape.” Frequently planted with easy-to-grow shrubs, a foundation landscape can go from ordinary to something that provides beauty, inspiration and delicious produce. As you move farther out from the foundation landscape, you will find other edible growing opportunities. Let’s look at what’s possible and desirable for these spaces: it’s all about the zones!
It is important to consider what you want to grow and the best place to grow it since not all landscapes are created equal. Certain parts of the yard are better suited to growing, say, tomatoes, than other parts. As the garden maxim goes: “Right plant, right place.” I look at foodscapes as having three growing zones, each based on its proximity to a house, ease of access and/or water sources. Let’s face it – growing food will require some level of irrigation, and most people don’t have a hose hookup out by the street. Additionally, you’re more likely to harvest and use crops that are closer to your kitchen, i.e., growing in the areas that you pass by frequently. Near the house is the best place to grow things like herbs and salad greens so you can quickly run out and clip a handful for dinner.
The 3 Foodscape Growing Zones
The foodscape zones proceed from the street to the house. In other words, they go from areas that receive the least amount of attention and care to areas that receive the most amount of attention and care. For the reasons I explain below, each zone will have a different ratio of edible plants to ornamentals:
• Foodscape Zone 3 (farthest from the house): 80% ornamentals to 20% edibles
• Foodscape Zone 2 (mid-yard): 60/40 ornamentals to edibles
• Foodscape Zone 1 (foundation landscape): 50/50 ornamentals to edibles
ZONE 3
Zone 3, farthest away from the house, is usually near the street and other property borders. It often has the least access to water and it can be the driest, unless that area of the yard is unusually soggy. Zone 3 garden beds near the street have more exposure to roadside pollutants from vehicle exhaust, roadside salt and chemicals.
You’ll be providing care for the plants in Zone 3 less frequently – maybe once a week or less. In general, the landscape of Zone 3 is designed with ornamental plants, including trees, shrubs and perennials, leaving less room for seasonal edibles. However, this is a great place to site fruit trees such as persimmon and drought-tolerant fruiting shrubs like blackberries. When creating a foodscape in this area, 80% of the foodscape should be dedicated to ornamental plants, while 20% should be dedicated to edibles. Keep in mind that Zone 3 areas are front and center in the public eye, which is another reason
