5 minute read
Eat Your Yard
by Lisa Watters-Lain, Arizona’s Garden Gal
The front yard of your house makes that important first impression. Most of us lean heavily on the shrub border and a couple trees to bring the landscapes design all together. Interestingly, the front yard is often the sunniest spot in a landscape, and although vegetable gardens thrive in lots of sun we rarely install what is basically a working farm for all to see. With careful planning, edible plants can become part of a striking landscape.
“Hide them in plain sight” is the secret to a great-looking landscape that also adds to your harvest. Artichoke plants are the superstars of the front-yard edibles. These attention-grabbing plants make a bold statement with their softball-sized purple flowers shown off against dramatic downy blue foliage.
The designer in me likes the architectural structure of the whole plant, and as a perennial it comes back every year. If you like to eat artichokes, harvest the fruits before the color shows on the flower. Allow the artichokes to mature and bloom, and you provide family, friends and yourself an exuberant show!
Maximize the landscape impact by companion planting edible and non-edible plants in these showy combinations: great when surrounded by sage, Salvia officinalis. This tricolor variety has a mouth-watering culinary flavor with year-round appeal as a contrast plant against succulents.
Thyme & New Zealand flax can be planted for impact. A mound of blue green culinary thyme, Thymus vulgaris, softens the upright foliage of the stiffer New Zealand flax, Phormium. Thyme also works well when planted with yucca, agave and upright native grasses.
Basil & Golden Thyme combine for a landscaper’s “Wow!” Golden lemon thyme is low growing with bright yellow leaves that when planted with Red Rubin or Siam basil the effect yells, “We know
style!” Both bring great flavors to the kitchen. Although they look good in container gardens, try planting them directly into a driveway border.
Tomatoes in the front yard? Yes! I like to use small-fruited tomatoes, especially the sweet 100, yellow pears and golden sweet varieties. The clusters are extremely ornamental and their foliage doesn’t deteriorate at the end of the season like others. Plant tomatoes at the edge of raised beds and let them tumble over — very pretty. Plant tomatoes in a large cobalt blue pot, growing through a solar yellow cage with pink wave petunias spilling over the edges and you have a container garden that exhibits great taste, which tastes great. The style will be so stunning you can show it off right at the front door.
Many culinary herbs are direct descendants of our native plants and make for hardy landscape edibles. Low-growing oregano, sage and creeping rosemary knit the landscape together for a cultivated garden style. Most herbs are perennial and spread each year, so encourage them to grow throughout the landscape.
Mint makes a superior container plant, but I prefer planting it by the driveway, especially at the low side where rain naturally runs. Mint flourishes under the extra moisture and with their dense roots help prevent erosion.
Photo by Blushing Cactus Photography
Chocolate mint can take over lush garden settings so if it gets too aggressive, run it over with the SUV. Go ahead, abuse that mint; it will still produce those wonderful chocolaty leaves perfect for summer party teas!
Watters 7-4-4 All Purpose Plant Food is the secret to great-tasting edibles. Bring out the best flavors in the gardens with an application of this all-natural food at six-week intervals starting in spring. Herbs and vegetables thrive under the care of this locally produced plant food.
Insects do not care for the taste of herbal landscapes. In fact, herbs are companion plants in the vegetable garden to repel bugs. If you happen to spot huge green caterpillars on the tomatoes in mid-summer there is an easy organic solution that any sensible homeowner can use: Watters Thuricide bug control that knocks down summer insects but is safe enough to use on all edible plants. It really works and much safer to use around pets and people.
Trees can be your greatest source of food. Not only do fruit trees bloom in the spring, provide shade in summer, and deliver great fall colors, they deliver an abundance of food in the landscape. Friends, along with the local food bank, will welcome the leftover harvest you simply cannot use. Or, dust off the canning supplies and use the entire bounty.
Some edibles develop better flavor with a bit of shade, so take advantage of the irrigation already plumbed to tree wells. Crops like lettuces, kale, peas, nasturtiums, radishes and cabbages thrive under shaded conditions and look great in contrast to a stark tree well.
Landscaping with edible plants is easy with a little help. Bring a photo, iPad or smartphone to Watters Garden Center at 1815 Iron Springs Road in Prescott and let one of the many horticulturalists help in the planning. They can also provide extra resources like the best planting techniques for the area, how to grow better tomatoes, grapes and more.
Until next time, I’ll be helping local gardeners plant more edible plants here at Watters Garden Center.
Lisa Watters-Lain can be found throughout the week at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Road in Prescott, or contacted through WattersGardenCenter.com or FB.com/WattersGardenCenter.
Watters Garden Center 1815 Iron Springs Road, Prescott, AZ 86305 928-445-4159 www.wattersgardencenter.com
Photo by Blushing Cactus Photography
Photo by Blushing Cactus Photography
“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”
– Lady Bird Johnson
-Winston Churchill
