Overview:
By Karen Edgington
Each week, Signal Akron will help you in your gardening adventures with an excerpt from "The Root of It," a monthly newsletter from the Summit County Master Gardeners, Ohio State University Extension.
What’s that cabbage doing in the flower bed? It’s part of a vegetable growing strategy called edible landscaping, which intersperses vegetable plants in flower or shrub borders. It’s a great use of garden real estate, and a lifesaver when dedicated vegetable beds are not an option.
Reduced pest pressure is an edible landscaping benefit — isolating vegetable plantings can confuse pests and make the “goodies” harder for them to find. What a convenience to harvest vegetables from ornamental beds close to the back door and just steps from the kitchen!
Then there is the beauty and interest vegetables contribute to flower and shrub beds. A head of cabbage or a ribbon of lettuce make the perfect foil for bright flowers, and colorful vegetables give green shrubbery a boost. When you’re planning your ornamental beds this spring, why not incorporate some vegetable plants?
Some crops, such as bush beans or peas, are short-term and leave a void when harvested. That does not preclude their use in ornamental beds. Ferny carrot foliage, beautiful heads of cabbage and frilly, colorful lettuces earn their garden spot. Plan to follow their harvest by filling in with flowers or vegetables that offer a fall harvest or bloom. Alternately, plant edibles between plants that will expand as space becomes available.
Multiple options for season-long displays
Some vegetable plants present a season-long display. Consider these:
- Kale is a great addition to the flower bed. Many cultivars sport blue and red hues and the leaves offer texture to the max. Shorter cultivars make great edging plants, while taller cultivars can be tucked into the middle or back of beds. Kale can take some shade, needing only 4-6 hours of sun per day. Always harvest the oldest leaves first to renew plants.
- Swiss chard is another great ornamental bed plant, especially the cultivars with colorful foliage and stems, such as Bright Lights. As with kale, chard tolerates some shade, and older, outer leaves should be harvested first.
- Eggplant rivals most ornamental plants in beauty. From the purple cast of leaves and stems to the purple flowers and fruit, this plant is a stunner. The traditional eggplant shape and color make garden visitors pause, and unique new cultivars with white or striped fruit in assorted sizes are hard to resist.
- Pole and runner beans – particularly scarlet runner beans – add a vertical accent to ornamental beds. The red flowers and purple veins of Scarlet Runners are particularly beautiful. Hummingbirds and butterflies love them too. Make sure you plant these beans next to a strong support. They happily intermix with clematis and rose vines.
- Parsley’s cut and curly foliage blends beautifully in ornamental beds. Plant it singly or in rows as an edging or accent. Harvesting oldest leaves first keeps the plant producing and looking its best. Parsley tolerates a lot of shade.
- Pepper plants are a good fit for ornamental beds. Their leaves are glossy, and the fruits and flowers decorative. Hot peppers, in particular, pack a visual punch. Like eggplants, peppers require a full-sun spot in the bed.
‘Endless’ options for edible landscaping
Edible landscaping options are endless. Purple cauliflower, red basils, dill, broccolini, beets — these colorful veggies and herbs pack a nutritious punch and a visual treat. Don’t stop with annual vegetables. Tuck in edible perennials, shrubs and trees — blueberries, asparagus, dwarf fruit trees, etc. — for long-term harvest.
To ensure success, pay attention to sunlight and spacing requirements. Powdery mildew and other diseases are as dangerous in the mixed border as the vegetable bed. Applying water below the leaf canopy is always a good practice. Fertilize and mulch as you would in your vegetable garden. Watch the use of pesticides—what you find acceptable in the ornamental garden may not be appropriate for food crops.
Whether you plant swaths of kale with the flowers this year or pop in an eggplant here and there, give edible landscaping a try. Mixing it up in the garden is a good thing!
