Edible landscapes are a good way to have the best of both worlds. Edible landscaping is using food producing plants in a decorative setting.There are many attractive trees, shrubs and plants that can be grown for more than just their good looks. An edible landscape can be made up of all food producing plants or a mixture of decorative plants and food producing plants.

Before you start to plant, plan first.

There are some important factors to consider before you choose the plants you want to grow. Most food producing plants require a minimum of 6-8 hours of daily sun. Salad crops can tolerate some shade.

Soil is very important. The soil should be a good quality soil, rich in nutrients and well drained.

When choosing trees and shrubs, read the labels and see what the mature size will be. If you have a small space, choose a smaller sized plant that suits the area. If space is limited, consider growing plants in pots.

Herbs make great container plants as do many vegetable plants. Containers do not have to be on the ground they can also hang. Hanging pots can have tumbler tomatoes, gourmet cucumbers and some of the smaller sized herbs. Also, think vertical. There are plants such as pole beans, peas, and cucumbers that will grow on a trellis or along a fence or arbour. Fruit trees are ideal for edible landscapes. They have attractive flowers in the spring, that later produce colourful fruit. If you are planting apple trees, remember that you need two different varieties of apples for pollination. The neighbours apple tree will work if it is in close proximity. Cherry trees such as Romeo, Juliet and Cupid are self pollinating and so you only need one tree.

There is a good choice of shrubs that produce fruit. Gooseberries which produce clusters of small green/pink berries. An early bloomer and producer is the Hascap berry plant, which produces elongated shaped blueberries. It is very hardy for our area as is the native Saskatoon berry. Also available, blueberries. If you want to grow blueberries but don't have the room,  you can try planting 'Brazelberries' in containers. Brazel berries are attractive, smaller sized plants, perfect for growing in containers. There are three blueberry varieties available, Peach Sorbet, Jelly Bean and Blueberry Glaze and one raspberry variety, Raspberry Shortcake. The only drawback to growing Brazelberries is that they are not hardy for zone 3, so they must be placed in a protected area such as a heated garage, over the winter months.

Other berry plants for an edible landscape are raspberries which can be planted in the back or strawberries. Strawberries can be used as a ground cover, or as an edging plant. If you plant the everbearing varieties such as 'Tristar' you can enjoy fruit throughout the summer/early fall.

There is a wide range of vegetables that can be grown. Rhubarb has beautiful colourful stems and large leaves. Many of the different varieties of greens/lettuce have nice leaf shapes as well as different colours. Kale, has curly leaves that grow on a main stem. Swiss chard comes in bright colours as does beets. Different varieties of cabbages have pretty leaves. When incorporating vegetables into the landscape, plant them in groups, or clusters, or mix them with other vegetables or plants. Attractive looking vegetables for containers include, eggplant which has large fuzzy leaves, attractive flowers and shiny fruit. Peppers, have shiny green leaves, white flowers and shiny colourful fruit. Smaller sized tomato plants is another and the ripened tomatoes can be red, yellow, green striped, and purple.

There are also edible flowers. Flowers have been used for years to make teas. Nasturtiums and violas make colourful additions to salads. Sunflowers produce tasty seeds. Always be careful. Never eat a flower or other plant unless you are 100% sure that it is edible. 

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Garden and Home decor centres in Prince  George:

• Highway 16 west at Kimball Road
• Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road.