Edible Garden
I'm trying for an edible garden, it just seems like a better use of space. Of course, as with anything else, my garden must ultimately be edible or somehow contribute to my enjoyment of food. There are many reasons for wanting an edible garden. The main one being- if there's a food reward at the end, I'll take better care of the plants. I can't help it, that's the way I'm wired! Also I believe the more we interact with the planet with the soil and with the plants and all the bugs and worms and snails and birds the more connected I feel to my habitat and the more likely I am to make planet friendly choices. The third (maybe slightly paranoid) reason is that I want to have a fresh food source during a calamity. So that if all services are cut off for days, I could still go out into my garden and find stuff to eat.
With all these factors in mind plus some others like abuse tolerant, drought tolerant, tasty, rare, interesting and easy to grow.
I just planted rhubarb in the garden, next to the compost heap, (apparently they like lots of rich soil). It grows to a massive 4ft x4ft plant. I ordered mine from Berkeley Hort http://www.berkeleyhort.com , they say it takes 2-3 years to establish but the plants can last 20 years. So you can expect rhubarb pie for your birthday in a couple of years.
Here’s the list of fruit and veg that have been designated as potential for the garden.
Artichokes- prickly green, interesting to look at- delicious edible flowers
Asparagus- frondy green fern- good for background height and greenery- yummy stalks
Horseradish- low growing green good for borders- the fresh stuff is out of this world
Sunchokes- happy beautiful sunflowers- Need I say more? Tasty and can be eaten by diabetics
Rhubarb- large colorful red plant, grows up to 4ft high by 4ft wide- pie anyone? Plus rhubarb juice is so delightfully refreshing with sparkling water
Wasabi- the one exception to the "easy to grow" category finicky- yet transcendental
Taro- large green plant, the roots just keep getting bigger- great carb source but must be cooked (can be slightly poisonous raw)
Ginger-another tropical flower with great presence- just what we need for oriental flare
Passion fruit- trailing vine of gorgeous trumpet flowers- divine ambrosia I could eat it every day
Persimmons- good foliage and shade during the year, fabulous color in the fall and early winter- succulent fruit as good as pudding, can be dried. Fuyu or Hachiya? That is the question
Pomegranates-foliage and fall color- garnets and rubies plus thirst quenchingly fabulous
Meyer lemon- green foliage, yellow lemons during winter months- lemon curd, marmalade
Potatoes-low growing foliage- handy emergency food, plus I need to do something with my hideously sprouting potatoes.
Sweet potato-another pretty trailing vine with white flowers- the sweet potato has been shown to be the ideal food; Lots of fiber, vitamins, satisfying and good for you and the surroundings.
The usual kitchen garden culprits are:
Green beans, pumpkin, zucchini and yellow squash, herbs, scallions, garlic, eggplant, carrots, peppers of all kinds, and beets- mostly for greens; Additionally salad ingredients of all kinds as well as rainbow chard, kale, and other healthy greens.
Plants I wish I could grow except for the weather
Vanilla orchids-pretty sweet smelling flowers-delicious seedpods
Cocoa plants-tasty fruit (kind of like guinep or soursop)-seeds can be roasted for chocolate, what's not to like?
Coffee- nothing like brewing up a cup of your very own handpicked, perfectly ripe coffee beans (some friends in Hawaii are growing their own and it sounds perfect)
Hey maybe mom and dad could grow them and I’ll go over and help with the harvesting.