Consider Edible Landscaping

Tomatoes, pepper, blueberries, cucumbers are just a few edible plants you can grow at home. This is the time to do it

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

 

You don’t have to own a farm to grow food.

If you have a bit of land or even a porch or patio, you can grow a few things that are edible — and that look good with your current landscaping.

“Technically you could plant a corn stalk in a large enough pot, but it’s not going to blend in with landscaping,” said Jim Sollecito, owner of Sollecito Landscaping Nursery in Syracuse and the state’s first lifetime senior certified landscape professional. “But a few green pepper plants wouldn’t look weird. Or red raspberries would look nice, if kept pruned and trained onto a fence.”

Just as with any other planting, growing plants for food requires learning about how large the plants will become and what other needs they may have such as a trellis or fence for training vines or canes.

It also helps to use attractive mulch around them to suppress weeds, help retain moisture and make it easier to mow around them.

Shrubs that bear fruit are an easy choice for Mike Nolan, owner of Green Acres Garden Center in Liverpool.

“There are a lot of different varieties of blueberries and some are evergreen and would look similar to a boxwood,” he said as an example. “Some are deciduous. Their leaves turn a pretty red in the fall. I have quite a few at home.”

Nolan warned that deer like to eat the bushes, so planting blueberries closer to the house may help ward them off. But allow space on all sides of the bushes so you can harvest all the fruit. That’s tough if the bushes are flat against the house.

Consider fruit trees instead of ornamentals. However, note if the trees are self-pollinating or require male and female trees to bear fruit. Follow the nursery’s directions for fertilizing, pruning and spraying for pests. It also helps to promptly pick up any dropped fruit so it does not attract pests and disease.

Nolan also likes planting strawberries, as their foliage is pretty and as perennials, you can expect to harvest fruit from them for about three seasons. Strawberries can grow in containers or hanging baskets. However, Nolan warned that chipmunks and birds can still help themselves unless you cover the containers with material such as chicken wire.

Plants such as tomatoes and cucumbers look good in landscaping, especially if you use fertilizer that includes calcium. Nolan also recommends horticultural oil to help prevent blight and powdery mildew, since these plants are very prone to these diseases.

Many herbs can become invasive so it’s wise to harvest them often. You can always dry it if you can’t use it fast enough as fresh. Or give it away.

“Thyme is a pretty ground cover,” Nolan said. “It’s easy to grow. Rosemary has a nice smell. Chances are, you’ll grow more than you’ll need. Basil is probably everyone’s favorite. It’s not as easy to grow. Keep the flowers off it and keep up with it.”

Otherwise, it can become too woody.

Before cultivating food plants, have the soil checked for lead, especially if near buildings. Root crops such as carrots, potatoes and turnips are especially prone to lead contamination if the soil has unhealthy lead levels. Don’t use salvaged wood for creating raised beds, fences or trellises around food plants. These may be contaminated with lead.

To find a lab to test soil for lead, visit https://apps.health.ny.gov/pubdoh/applinks/wc/elappublicweb. You can also excavate and bring in purchased garden soil that’s safe for growing food to use in the areas where you plan to grow fruit and vegetable plants.