What is foodscaping? The Edible Landscaping

December 30, 2016

I feel my vegetable garden isn’t pretty enough. This is a complaint that we come across so very often. People grow all kinds of vegetables successfully in their kitchen gardens, but they also wish that their garden must look beautiful as well. In that case, you should look into the concept of foodscaping or edible landscaping.
vegetable garden

What is Foodscaping?

Foodscaping or edible landscaping is a fast emerging idea. It is a hybrid between farming & landscaping, where you grow edible plants instead of conventional ornamental plants for your various garden features, yet the focus remains on making the garden look aesthetically pleasing.
foodscapes

Instead of just planting shrubs, trees, vines, grasses and ground covers, foodscaping involves adding edible plants that add interest, color, texture and, of course, taste. — Anne Marie O'Phelan, 2013

Here are some edible landscaping ideas:

1. Use easily available local material:

Use locally available material for decoration purpose. eg. river rocks, sand, stones, wooden blocks, red soil. Read more about Top 10 tips for lanscape design.
container vegetable gardening

2. Sow leafy vegetable seeds:

Sow the seeds of quick growing leafy vegetables as ground covers or even instead of lawn eg., Fenugreek, Mustard, Red amaranth.
leafy vegetables foodscaping

3. Plant flowering vegetables:

Blooming groups of sugarcane, maize, pink flowered wild Okra, Red flowering spikes of Amaranths, yellow flowering mustard. Such plants can be planted in bunches for landscape design.
garden landscaping

4. Grow Cruciferous Plants:

Use the cruciferous head forming plants like colorful cabbage, cauliflowers; Brussels sprouts in open landscaping & ornamental pots, containers.
kale vegetable garden

5. Perennial foodscaping plants:

Curry leaves, Drumsticks, Lime, Ginger, Turmeric, Arum, Colocasia. Plant them in the backyard.
moringa plants

6. Fruiting plants for foodscaping:

Banana, Guava, Papaya, Custard Apple, Pineapple. Plant them along with ground covers. Learn to grow fruit trees organically at home.
fruit tree foodscaping

7. Annual vegetables for foodscaping:

Cucurbit climbers, Beans & peas, Solanaceous vegetables. Let the climbers freely climb on walls & pillars of home. Read more about growing cucurbits.
annual vegetables foodscaping

8. Flowering plants for foodscaping:

Shrub of Parijat (Nyctanthes), Jasmine Climbers, Marigold, Zinnia, Tuberose, Roses, Aboli, Cape jasmine, Nerium etc. Grow them in front yard & ornamental containers, planters.
flowering plants