The Foodscape Revolution. Brie Arthur
cool season.
Gardeners who live in areas with cool summer nights can grow a wider variety of edibles at the same time. Pictured here: tomato, eggplant, kale, dill, kale.
Just as the name would suggest, seasonal edibles each have their time to shine. Some grow best during cooler months (cool season), which could be winter or could be early spring or late fall, depending on where you live. Others grow best during the heat of summer (warm season). Unless you garden in an area that has cool nights all summer (certain parts of the Northwest, Northern Plains and Northeast), you’ll likely switch out your edible plantings at least once per year in a big seasonal swap. In cooler regions, you can grow many edibles at the same time, but you have to give a little extra help (which I’ll explain) to heat lovers such as tomatoes and peppers.
Because “right plant at the right time” is so important, I want to take some time to talk about growing food in the landscape in terms of seasons and temperature requirements, to give you all of the basic information you need to help you be a successful gardener.
Plants respond to temperatures and day length, both of which are influenced by the seasons. If, for example, you try to grow a plant like lettuce, which flowers during long days (typically in the summertime), you’ll have trouble with bolting (flowering) because you want to eat the leaves and not the flowers. So you have to grow lettuce during “short day” times (spring and fall). Tomatoes and peppers are “day neutral.” They’ll flower regardless of day length, which is good because you need flowers in order to get fruit; however, these plants simply will not grow when soil and air temperatures are too low, which is why it’s hard to get tomatoes (for example) to grow in areas with cool nights during the summer and why the plants will just sit in the garden and not grow if you plant them too early in the spring. Temperature is the limiting factor for tomatoes and many other plants.
Edible meadow during the summer (corn, sorghum, sunflowers, zinnias).
Location, Location, Location!
Plant basil as an edible border and you’ll always have plenty to eat fresh, freeze, make pesto, and give away.
Matching the plant to the place is the key to efficiently using your space and available sunlight to grow the maximum amount of food.
I’ve compiled a list of some of the places where you can pop edible plants into the landscape and the plants that will thrive in those locations.
Edible Edges
Hands-down, the easiest way to incorporate edibles into your foundation landscape is along the edges. This is where the sun is usually most plentiful and it’s an area that is easy to reach for planting, watering and harvesting. These are my go-to edging edibles.
Cool Season
• Garlic
• Greens (including arugula, lettuce, mustard)
• Onion
• Parsley
• Potato
Warm Season
• Basil
• Bush beans
• Peanuts
• Pepper
• Soybean
Groundcovers
Vining plants make perfect groundcovers, as do some self-sowing greens. I particularly like to plant squash and pumpkins as summer groundcovers. When they start to look tired, pull them up! There is no reason to be a vegetable-growing martyr. We’re talking about foodscaping, so we want everything to look nice. If a plant isn’t meeting your aesthetic needs, yank it out.
Cool Season
• Arugula
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Mustard
• Strawberries
Warm Season
• Cucumber
• Pumpkin (if you have a lot of space)
• Squash
• Sweet Potato
Arugula makes a great groundcover.
Pumpkin growing as a groundcover
Co-Op Plants
Panicle hydrangeas provide sturdy support for large tomato plants.
These are the edible plants that need some sort of support and grow best when they can climb, sprawl and twine up through another plant. Deciduous flowering shrubs such as spirea, viburnum, hydrangea and lilacs – common plants with good structural integrity – can handle the amount of biomass that an heirloom tomato creates. You wouldn’t even know a tomato is climbing through it.
Cool Season
• Peas
Warm Season
• Cucumber & Squash (might need some help to climb)
• Pole Bean
• Tomato
Beauty Queens
A successful foodscape is as beautiful as it is functional. These plants are garden standouts, but also blend well to create a mosaic of color in the landscape alongside ornamental counterparts.
If you like ornamental grass, you’ll love:
• Corn
• Oats
• Rice
• Sorghum
• Wheat
If you like flowering kale, you’ll love:
• Arugula
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Kale
• Lettuce
If you like coleus you’ll love:
• Basil (purple-leafed variety)
• Mustard Greens
• Swiss Chard
Instead of small shrubs and perennials plant:
• Basil
• Bush Beans
• Eggplant
• Pepper
• Soybean
• Tomatillo