FoodScaping

[karrie]

A notion struck me out walking, after discussing environmentally kind landscaping practices in the lawn care thread. The idea of foodscaping. Now, if we're devoting such time and energy to beds and bushes and trees, shouldn't we be getting more out of them than mere show? Now don't get me wrong, I still want a lawn, but I think I just may tackle the issue of flower beds and shrubbery in a whole new direction. I think I'll be foodscaping my yard. I love the look of rhubarb. And if I'm going to plant shrubs, why not saskatoon bushes? Raspberry canes? Even rose bushes give off hips which make for useful winter teas.

Plum and pear and apple trees produce wonderfully here. Squashes make for lovely ground cover. Even potatoes make for beautiful greenery. And if I recall correctly, tomatoes love being planted in beds full of nasturtiums. Pretty and useful.

What sorts of ways would you foodscape your yard?

Are there any perennials I'm missing beside rhubarb, berry bushes, and fruit trees?

 

[Nuggler]

We plant climbing beans along the back fence. As a plus we get their flowers and the greenery.

Herbs of course; in with the little rock garden behind the deck.

You mentioned rhubarb. That comes up every year in with some flowers beside the house.

Might try carrots along the fence on the North side of the property. Several shrubs there, but they might work well in between. Course then I'd have to weed it instead of just laying down mulch in between the shrubs............nah..........not this year anyway.

S'about it.

:hippy2:back to the land Nugg.

Gonna buy a goat
An a shoat
Try and weasel outa that.
Gonna get a rabbit
If I can grabbit
Or a steer, that's queer
Some chard, that's hard
With veins, pink and scary'
For Karrie
Maybe a pig that can dig
My poetry
A horse of course
And a pony for my hony
Get bony
Gotta get the shovel
An start backfillen
Been singin too much
Dylan
Yah...........(chang chang)
abba dee abba doo
that's all folks.

:read2:

 

[karrie]

lol... thanks for the ideas and the poetry Nugg.

chard is one I forgot to mention. I love chard, and it adds such neat colors if you get the ones with pink veins, or peachy veins. lovely lovely stuff, great for salads, great steamed, awesome in soups.

radishes would probably make great little borders for flower beds too.

 

[karrie]

Okay, so, we've run with this notion of food scaping. First into the yard this year was a pear tree. Then a new bed for veggies. Peas, turnips, onions, dill, mixed lettuce, and radishes.

Then, an empty flower bed in the front received potatoes, zuccini, beans, and swiss chard.

Pots have been planted with more swiss chard, nasturtiums, and assorted herbs.

A new flower bed was put in on a south facing fence and filled with potatoes and tomoatoes.

A nasty flower bed the cat had been frequenting was dug out and filled with fresh soil and seeded to three varieties of carrot, with rhubarb at each end.

A Collett apple tree was planted, as well as a 'chum' (cherry plum hybrid) bush.

This is mostly all in the back yard.

Next year when the front lawn is dug out and redone (it needs to be re-graded), we hope to plant honeyberry bushes for hedges, another apple tree, and possibly a plum, in the front.

I'll let you all know how we do for yield this summer. Being novice gardeners, we'll see I guess. lol.

 

[#juan]

In the area of Nanaimo where we live, we have to protect just about everything from the deer. Anything not poisonous has to have chicken wire around it to keep the damn deer off. My wife has an incredible green thumb and she is frustrated to tears over these antlered goats. When I see the latest damage by these animals, I think of venison.....steaks.....roasts.......sigh...

 

[karrie]

In Nanaimo we have to protect just about everything from the deer. Anything not poisonous has to have chicken wire around it to keep the damn deer off. My wife has an incredible green thumb and she is frustrated to tears over these antlered goats. When I see the latest damage by these animals, I think of venison.....steaks.....roasts.......sigh...

supposedly, just supposedly, human hair can help keep them (and rabbits) away. I loathe the idea of sprinkling hair all over my yard though.

 

[Tonington]

Maybe you need a big dog Juan

 

[karrie]

my neighbors were able to deter the deer fairly well with a paintball gun.

Oh, and dogs, just seemed to piss the deer off around our place. It was the easiest way to get charged... take your dog for a walk. :lol:

 

[#juan]

Maybe you need a big dog Juan

Thanks Tonington....:smile:... but we do a fair amount of traveling and a dog is just too much of a responsibility.

 

[talloola]

I have, on one side of my backyard, a lovely mixture of shrubbery, perrenials, and such,
this year when I weeded out the whole thing, I then planted potatoes in all the spaces,
so they will grow instead of weeds, they are coming up nicely, and they are the late
variety for storing, so I will dig them up at the end of summer, and store them in a sack.

I also have carrots, green beans,squash,and corn coming up. I bought packages of a mixture of corn/squash/green beans, and planted them together, as suggested on
package, as corn will supply the pole, and squash will fill in the bottom, and the beans
will have the corn to climb up, kind of interesting, but had to put poles in anyway, as
corn isn't growing as well as it should. I have had trouble with corn for the last two years,
not sure what the problem is, as I grew it beautifully before.

I froze green beans last year from the garden, and we are still eating them. Carrots didn't
quite last the whole year.

I'm growing tomatoes in containers, cherry type, as the tomatoes seem to grow all
over the place and make a big mess, and we don't eat that many anyway, so the little
ones will do just fine.

 

[Tonington]

Thanks Tonington....:smile:... but we do a fair amount of traveling and a dog is just too much of a responsibility.

Ahh, I was just being a smartass.

Do thorny bushes keep them away?

 

[karrie]

Ahh, I was just being a smartass.

Do thorny bushes keep them away?

That actually can be a draw. And then on top of them wrecking your flowers and veggie patch, their fawns have crushed down areas in your rose bushes

 

[#juan]

Ahh, I was just being a smartass.

Do thorny bushes keep them away?

Deer love rose bushes. They will nibble them right down to the ground if you let them. 6 foot high chicken wire seems to work best....... it just looks like hell.....:smile:

 

[Tonington]

Can you grow Hawthorne in BC? Might take a while before it's ready though.

I guess go with what works, .30-06

 

[karrie]

Can you grow Hawthorne in BC?

Same trouble with them hiding their fawns in it.

 

[karrie]

So... I'm going to bring this thread back up to talk about how my gardens are turning out this year.

We put in an actual garden spot... a 12 by 24 foot square, for potatoes, carrots, and onions, as well as the 'flower'beds we'd had before for lettuce, peas, tomatoes, swisschard, etc. We've been getting a lot of food out of them...

Supper tonight was complimented by a bruschetta, fresh carrots, and leaf lettuce. So much leaf lettuce and swisschard has come up that we've been giving them away like crazy. We've got what amounts to a small amount of garden, perhaps an hour of weeding a week, if we want to get picky, and the yield has been incredible.

 

[#juan]

We had a couple potted tomato plants on the deck that gave us a few dozen tomatoes each. The best thing was the herbs. We had bumper crops of Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Parsley, Mint, Sage, all in pots on the deck.

 

[karrie]

I have purple basil in a pot on the deck, another basil in a big pot near the garden, thyme, dill, chives, parsley, and oregano (small amount) in a flower bed along the house. All aside from the oregano have performed pretty well. It makes for some delicious salads, etc.