Column Release: July 20, 2012
WSU Ferry County Extension
350 E. Delaware Ave. #9
Republic, WA 99166
(509) 775-5225 X1116 office, (509) 775-5218 fax
[email protected], http://ferry.wsu.edu
Growing Your Own Food in Ferry County - Create an Edible Landscape
by WSU Ferry County Extension Master Gardener, Twinflower Wilkie
A well-tended, productive vegetable patch is a thing of beauty. A
border of blooming ornamentals is also a sight to behold. Indulge
your love of beauty while increasing your yield of delicious
homegrown food. A few simple tips will get you started. Let your
imagination guide you from there!
Assess the lay of the land. Look for sunny areas, slopes, areas which
hold moisture, and rocky spots. There is an edible plant or plants for
any of these conditions. Look for views you want to preserve and
areas you want to screen for privacy, noise or wind reduction. A
sunflower hedge is a showy, if temporary, screening. A row of red
leaf plum provides fall fruit and pretty color. An edible vine, such as hardy kiwi, will hide a fence. Don’t
forget to feed your pollinators. Bumblebees and hummingbirds love the yellow pea-type flowers of the
Siberian pea shrub lining our fence. Sumac feeds beneficials, too, and neither of these shrubs will tangle
with your power lines.
Never plant a tree that will get taller than the height of the wire under a power or phone line. “Topping” a
tree to keep it short is ugly, and terrible for the tree’s health.
Choose low maintenance plants for perimeter areas and save your attention for higher use spaces.
Assess your needs. Start small. Add to your garden only if you are able to keep up with what you have. (I
never follow this advice.)
Begin at your doorstep. Give yourself easy accesses to the things you enjoy most, use most, and that need
the most care. An herb garden can live in a container or small plot close to the kitchen door. It’s handy
and will scent the air as you brush past.
If you’ve assessed your land well, you’ll see spaces that are less suited to planting. Use these spaces for
patios, decks, and paths to give you access to outdoor living. You could situate a wide terrace with a
bench to enjoy the view, or place a flat boulder by a path for seating, make a water feature perhaps, or if
it’s handy, but out of view, put your compost bin in that awkward spot.
Lawn care consumes time and water which could be used for food. A terrace with a grape arbor could
reduce lawn size and give you some shade in which to relax. If you have a square lawn, plantings in the
corners will eliminate some awkward mowing.
Placing paths where they will do the most good can be as simple as looking at where paths are already
worn and putting in some pavers or stepping stones. To enhance paths, border them with fragrant
lavender, or for snacking, try Josta berries, a pretty, non-messy, thorn less cross between gooseberries and
currants. But be careful; some fruit bearers, such as mulberries, make a messy path by constantly
dropping fruit.
Assess the needs of your plants. Are your existing trees in a lawn? If so, replace thin grass under trees
with a circle of ground cover. We use ever-bearing strawberries as a vibrant, delicious cover under trees
and shrubs. Under our weeping willow I grow mint. (Don’t plant anything else with mint that can’t stand
up to the competition.) I have thyme and oregano as ground cover, too. They come in ornamental
varieties, but the common varieties work for us. Ground cover around trees simplifies mowing, too.
Slopes are a challenge, but their drainage is good, and cold air rolls downhill, so that slope may be the
frost free zone you need for your tender fruit trees. Build up the soil, and make a berm downhill from
your tree to hold water.
The secret of a lush landscape is “right plant, right place.” If the plant doesn’t thrive, move it to the
conditions it wants or get rid of it. Use tried and true plants like strawberries and rhubarb. We just keep
dividing ours and spreading them out.
Native plants are usually trouble free, too. Oregon grape is a pretty evergreen. Its berries, added to jams
and jellies add flavor and pectin. Don’t forget the sugar!
Plant breadseed poppies and edible flowers like nasturtiums, calendulas, and johnny jump ups in your
vegetable beds. Let herbs go to flower. They will give nectar to beneficial insects.
Plant pretty peppers in planters near your kitchen. If a frost threatens, you can cover or bring them inside.
Choose plants for beauty, form and food. Hazelnut is a slow growing short, multi-trunked tree or bush. It
also comes in a contorted form. It can be an anchor for a mixed border or it can stand alone. Fruiting
quince has beautiful spring blossoms. It makes fantastic jelly. There are many other edible ornamentals.
Search online or through reputable catalogs. Raintree Nursery is reliable and their catalog and website are
informative.
Plant and water in zones. Plan plant groupings by their watering and other cultural needs. For instance,
herbs range from shade and water loving mints, to lavenders which require full sun and good drainage.
Two separate herb gardens might fill your needs, or just tuck herbs in wherever their needs will be met.
Plant in tiers. Trees are the top tier. Apples, apricots and pears come in varieties hardy to all of Ferry
County. Look for fireblight resistant apple and pear varieties. There are also many less common but
wonderful food sources, such as mulberries. Outside the drip line of the trees, plant perennials and shrubs,
such as the Josta berry, or Nanking cherries; they taste like pie cherries and have pretty spring blossoms.
The lowest tier is the ground cover. In our yard, apricots and mulberries, Nanking cherries and
strawberries are combined to provide food for birds and people. We don’t chase off the birds, there’s
enough for all.
Remember the children! Cultivate the next generation of gardeners. Let them help you plant a sunflower
maze, a pole bean house, or a butterfly garden.