Edible Landscaping Ideas

We've talked before about edible landscaping, and with Spring fast-aproaching we thought we'd throw out a few more ideas to turn your yard into a veritable Garden of Eatin'.

This nice little article from Gardener's Supply offers some excellent ideas and tips for adding edible perennials like asparagus, blueberries, and raspberries to your yard. Strawberries, both the native cultivar and the straight-up eating kind, make a tasty ground cover for you and your wildlife friends. Organic Gardening offers a nice little list of other fruits that could be incorporated quite easily into your yard - apples to kiwis to grapes - for an edible landscape.

Perhaps the key thing to remember when choosing plants, trees, or shrubs to increase the "edibility" of your landscape is local. Look around at the Farmer's Market to see what's on offer to get ideas, and don't forget native varieties - Serviceberry and American Plum - offer tasty treats, too.

Organic Fruit Growing Made Easy

A recent Slow Food gathering in Wisconsin focused on antique apple breeds and how to bring the variety back to America's tables and, perhaps most importantly, our pie plates. This gathering of apple enthusiasts was,

" the Forgotten Fruits Summit organized by the Renewing America’s Food Traditions alliance became the first full gathering of America’s most accomplished back-country fruit explorers, veteran orchard-keepers, horticultural historians, pomological propagators, natural-born nurserymen and hard cider-makers concerned with the destiny of Malus X domestica, the single fruit most imbedded in the American identity.  Their task was to determine the best means of restoring apple diversity to our farms, roadhouses, backyards and kitchens, and to revive “apple culture” in all its dimensions on this continent."

For a summary of the event, check out this SlowFood  USA blog post. And then come check out the class on Organic Fruit Growing where instructor Mike Levine will help you find ways to fill your own pie plate with tasty treats for years to come.

Organic Fruit Growing Made Easy

Monday, March 30th

6:30pm - 8:30pm

Washtenaw Community College

(An elective in the Organic Certification Course.)