Mixing edibles with ornamentals in your urban garden

One of the best ways I have learned to grow edibles (veggies, fruits and herbs) in my garden is to mix them with ornamentals like flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees. I didn't come up with this idea on my own; rather, I fell upon a wonderful book titled Designing and Maintaining your Edible Landscape by Robert Kourik.  In spite of its first publishing being a few decades back (1986), the book has become more popular in the recent years, as urban gardening surges.  Rosalind Creasy has written the forward to the book, a notable and prolific edible gardening author in her own right as well.  

Nasturtiums can also be eaten.

Among my favorite chapters in the book, is the chapter on beneficial insects and insectary plants (a term used in the book). It's a surefire method of gardening know-how since adept design should involve both functionality and beauty.  For instance, Kourik identifies nasturtiums as nurse plants because they offer places for beneficial insects like ladybird beetles to lay eggs; and in turn, the aphids which are already present on the leaves, will serve as a source of food for the young when they hatch.  Then the cycle will continue and the beetles will go about eradicating insect pests from your yard and beyond (probably more likely in your neighbors, unfortunately). 

Echinacea or coneflower is great choice for pollinators.

There are many more beneficial insects listed in the book besides the well known ladybird beetle (aka ladybug), which I won't mention here because this blog post is about edibles and ornamentals.  The main idea that is taught in the book is to plant nurse plants and plants with a high pollen count within the confines of the yard.  Nurse plants tend to go around the perimeter of the garden (to prevent aphids and such from infesting prized crops) and flowering plants for pollinators are intermingled between veggies and fruits to improve yields.  As a rule of thumb, wild flowers and herbs are the best choices for pollinators in the garden.  

A bee on an allium, a flowering bulb related to the onion.

Companion planting was another important concept that I learned from the book.  This is the idea of planting particular plants with one another for the benefits they provide to each other.  For example, marigolds are known to be insect repelling plants (the smell is averse) so it is recommended that you plant them around vegetables like tomatoes.  Herbs can be used in the same way, as they are pungent and ward off pests, even deer. 

Marigolds and lettuce are planted together in a window box.

There is also the type of companion planting whereby you can plant some vegetables together to maximize planting area based on the size of your crops and when they are harvested; such as many gardeners do when they plant radishes, carrots or onions (radishes on top, carrots on bottom).  That's another blog topic for another time...

Creating a garden with edibles and ornamentals combined is not only fun, but it provides an asethically pleasing "punch" to the senses.  The neighbors will definitely notice your curb appeal, and you can sneak in a few of your veggies into the front yard without the Homeowner's Association getting after you (Sadly, some cities have ordinances against food being planted in the front yard).  In other words, gone are the days of planting crops and fruit trees only in rows.  You can get creative and work with the design principles of scale, color, or texture; or you plant freestyle and just throw flowering seed bombs around your food crops and trim out any interfering ones later.   

The ease of having a garden of this type is one of its perks.  For example, only one trip out to the yard will be necessary to prepare for a nice evening meal at home.  All one has to do is gather some cut flowers (Dahlias are super) for the table, pick off some tomatoes and lettuce for the salad, and snip some select herbs for the main entree; eliminating trips to the various markets and also allowing for the yard to still look like a mesh mash of loveliness (no gaping holes when intermingling veggies and flowers).

Can you find the edibles?

Some favorites of mine:

Collect some seeds from the sunflower and flowers for the table.

Among my favorite vegetables to plant with in containers with ornamentals is chard. Chard is easy to grow from seed and the large leaves come in an assortment of colors, making it an excellent choice for adding height to potted arrangements.

Herbs are another standard for me when combining edibles with ornamentals.  Many herbs have delicate leaves and pretty flowers available in many shades.  Some trail and others tower, but I like to stick with the more compact varieties such as basil, oregano, sage, chives and cilantro.

Strawberries are another favorite choice of mine when mixing edibles with flowers.  Strawberries trail in a delightful way and the sweet berry smell is a bonus.   

To conclude...

If you didn't know about this type of gardening, I hope that I inspired you just a little to try it out.  You can learn much more about edible landscaping by reading the book I made mention of, which I highly recommend.  Enjoy the dirt and sunshine my fellow (urban) gardeners; and remember, the more interesting you make your designs, the more others will say "Now, there's someone with a green thumb."