Plant Vegetables to Create Edible Landscapes.

Gardening with Attractive Crops which Look Good and Taste Good.

Nov 6, 2009

Many vegetables are attractive as well as nutritious. When used imaginatively it is easy to create stunning edible landscapes which are a pleasure to see and eat.

Edible landscapes are not a new idea. Medieval gardens were a mixture of fragrant herbs and flowers which mingled with fruit and vegetables. Saint Ignatius a 15 th century Spanish eclesiastic said, "It is not enough to cultivate vegetables with care. You have a duty to arrange them according to their colours, patterns, shapes and height and to frame them with flowers to appear like a well laid table". So why not grow a few attractive crops which look good and taste good in the ornamental garden to replace some of the purely decorative plants?

Designing with edible plants involves the same principles as designing with ornamentals.

A Few Attractive Members of the Brassica Family.

Borecole (Curly kale) is a winter hardy crop with tasty leaves teeming with vitamins A and C which should be picked young. The F1 cultivar 'Redbor' has drooping purple-red, tightly crinkled leaves which take on a festive look when dusted with a sugary coating of frost. From late summer to spring it provides structure in perennial borders. Kale 'Nero Di Toscana' also known as Black Russian has tight, long, dark green heavily blistered leaves.

Broccoli 'Romanesco' simply demands attention. Its highly attractive lime-green head is made up of masses of small conical-shaped florets to form a turreted curd resembling something from a coral reef. More tender than cauliflower it matures in early autumn.

Brussel sprouts growing in the flower border may not appeal, but don't dismiss the idea until you try one of the novelty purple-red kinds such as 'Red Bull' or Falstaff'. If nothing else they will give you another topic of conversation, especially when their colour intensifies as the weather gets colder.

Kohlrabi , often considered to be a strange member of the brassica family, produces edible swollen stems just above ground level. Shoots sprout from these bulbous shaped swellings which carry leaves on the top half. It can be sown successively from spring for a continuous supply and is available in green and red skinned forms. Under-sow with poached egg plant ,(Limnanthus douglasii) to provide a low floral ground cover for this mild turnip-flavoured vegetable which should be eaten when no larger than tennis ball size.

Stunningly Attractive Chard is a Winner in the Edible Landscape

Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' with its broad flat edible stems forms a kaleidoscope of red, orange, yellow, pink and white. In fact it is so bright you may want to tone down its flamboyant excesses. Bronze fennel dotted in amongst it does this very effectively. Sow chard under glass in late spring, plant out in early summer and harvest sparingly from mid-summer to maintain its decorative display.

Exploit the Different Colours and Textures of the Multitude of Attractive Lettuce Varieties.

Recent years have seen an explosion in new lettuce varieties. Plain or frizzy leaves, red, green or variegated leaves, cut and come again types, or harvest in one go kinds, are all part of the attractive and varied range which are brilliant for the gardener looking to create edible landscapes. Block plantings of butterhead, cos, iceberg or loose leaf cultivars can create tapestries of texture and colour from all shades of green to deep red. Left to run to seed Lettuce 'Lollo Rosso' produces 1m high flower spikes, which provide stunning exclamation marks in the edible bedding scheme.

Provide Real Presence with a Few Architectural Plants

Some vegetables possess fine architectural qualities making their presence in the edible landscape a must. The Globe Artichoke, ( Cyanara scolymus) is an attractive thistle like plant which makes a fine addition to an ornamental planting with its stature and height. Sweet corn ( Zea mays) also adds height and texture with its stems, leaves, silks and tassels which all display a lovely sheen.

Give your Edible Landscape a Lift with Climbing Beans

All types of runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) and climbing French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) bear attractive flowers. Grow them up tripods or wig-wams to provide vertical elements in the display. The variety 'Barlotto Lingua di Fuoco' is an easy to grow Italian speciality commonly known as the fire tongue bean on account of its attractively mottled pods which are bright green and splahed with red.

So go Creative and Abandon Those Pre-conceived Ideas

If you let go of your traditional thoughts on how vegetables should be organized and segregated and instead go creative you will be pleasantly surprised at the attractive yet edible pictures you create.

The copyright of the article Plant Vegetables to Create Edible Landscapes. in Vegetable Gardens is owned by David Haigh. Permission to republish Plant Vegetables to Create Edible Landscapes. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.