By Beverly Adams, ANR Program Assistant, UGA Extension Forsyth County
If you’ve wanted to grow vegetables or fruit in your yard, but have run up against HOA restrictions, foodscaping might be the answer you are looking for. Foodscaping takes edible plants out of unsightly vegetable plots and blends them into the landscape design. Herbs become borders, vegetables mingle with flowers, and spring-blooming trees bear summer fruit.
Herbs are a good choice begin a foodscaping plan. Perennial cooking herbs return each year to add seasonal accents and fragrance to the yard, as well as adding flavor to food. Some examples are oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage, lemongrass, chives, garlic chives, winter savory, mints, chamomile, lavender, and lovage. Many herbs are suitable for container growing – and those in the mint family should be planted in containers to control their spread.
Annual herbs you could plant include dill, fennel, cilantro, basil, garlic, sweet marjoram, and tarragon. These herbs are compact; just tuck one or two plants in a space with a bit of room to grow.
Some vegetables offer a seasonal appearance of groundcover. To get this effect, plant cool-season greens like assorted leaf lettuces, spinach, mustard, Swiss chard, collards, sorrel, burnet, parsley and kale. These herbs and vegetables attract the senses with their colors, textures, and fragrances.
In loose soil, root vegetables like radishes, beets, and ferny-topped carrots make nice foliage displays while hiding their edible features below ground. Peas, pole beans, and cucumbers can be trained up a trellis to lift the eye with delicate flowers. Abundant foliage helps hide developing vegetables.
Fruiting shrubs like blueberries can be used as a hedge with spring flowers (and fruit) and brilliant fall color. Small fruiting trees like figs and American hazelnut grow well in Georgia. If your garden has an arbor, consider substituting muscadines for climbing roses or clematis. Muscadines are extremely hardy and have few pest problems.
Dwarf fruit trees stay small, fruit earlier than standard size trees, and can be maintained in large containers. Serviceberry is a small, multi-stemmed, native tree that is a great alternative to a crape myrtle. Birds love the blueberry-like fruit it produces. Mulberries, another native, are large, easy to grow trees that produce a delicious fruit similar to blackberries.
Most herbs, fruit, and vegetable plants need full sun and well-drained soil to thrive and produce. Adequate water is also crucial. Run drip hoses or tape to the plants and cover it with mulch to provide efficient irrigation as well as disease and weed control.