I am becoming more and more of an advocate of buying locally and knowing where and how my food is grown. Each year I try to grow a variety of vegetables and fruits and have found that I can place many of them in my perennial borders, along walkways, in containers, and in the cutting garden. Of course I have a regular vegetable garden too but that’s the focus of some other article.
Just about every perennial bed I have contains a dwarf fruit tree. I look for trees that have special characteristics in addition to the fruit they bear such as a cherry with weeping branches, an apple that has a contorted main trunk, a crabapple that has a tall main trunk and a small globe shaped crown. All of these have spring blooms that enhance the landscape and none will provide too much shade for my perennials. On your next visit to a nursery, take a look at the dwarf fruit trees and see if one would fit in one of your beds.
The perennial border easily adds edibles.
Bright lights Swiss chard has dramatic leaves and colorful stalks. It grows to about 18” in height and is fairly narrow so it would fit nicely between many perennials.
Low growing edibles can be used in the front of the garden as a border. Possibilities include strawberries, head-forming lettuce, kale, or many varieties of herbs.
Eggplant grows fairly compactly and has gorgeous fruits that form orbs, cylinders, or ovals.
Don’t forget about edible violas and nasturtiums which are wonderful additions to salads
Containers are a great place to grow edibles.
Fill a strawberry pot with a variety of culinary herbs and place it where it’s easy to harvest a few snips for your favorite recipes.
Plant a large container with a variety of lettuce. I prefer to use seedlings from the nursery so the pot is instantly attractive. Harvest the lettuce before the weather gets really hot, switch to something that likes heat, and then replant with lettuce for a fall crop.
Use edibles to accent your pots of annuals. Curly parsley is pretty with geraniums, garlic provides a spikey element, bronze fennel adds soft texture and color, rosemary yields a nice scent, and violas and ornamental kale are season extenders in the fall.
Including edibles in the garden allows you to grow a little of your own food and lets you have little tastes as you work in the garden. Give it a try.
