Alpine Strawberry
Garden Design - May/June 2012
The huge amount of interest in growing vegetables and fruit and the increased demand for allotments is well documented.
But what do you do if you do not have the space, time or inclination towards creating a formal vegetable garden? You may feel that perfectly ordered rows of leeks and carrots cannot be found a place in your garden. All you need to do is incorporate edible plants into your general planting design.
The range of edible crops that you can choose from is enormous so the easiest way to make your decision is to grow what you will most enjoy eating. There are five main groups to choose from:
Vegetables.
Fruit.
Herbs.
Edible flowers.
Nuts.
A lot of vegetables are very ornamental in their own right and will look quite at home amongst whatever style of ornamental planting you already have. Some suggestions might be mixed salad leaves – particularly the cut and come again varieties, trailing cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets Runner beans grown up obelisks look great and give height to a border. Consider Chinese leaves such as Pak choi or varieties of chard with its exotic leaves and vibrantly coloured stems or ornamental gourds or squash grown over a pergola or arch.
Apart from fruit trees which you could grow as an espalier or cordon against a wall, you might consider edging your beds with alpine strawberries or step over apples. Training a grape vine over an arbour will give you summer shade and fruit for eating or wine making. Figs have delicious fruit and exotic looking leaves and grow particularly well in south Devon as do blueberries which love acidic soil.
Herbs are probably the most numerous and easiest to incorporate into a garden planting scheme. Rosemary, sage, thyme are good to start with. If you have a little more space try growing sweet cicely (myrrhis odorata) which is a beautiful fern like plant with pretty white flowers. It was traditionally used instead of sugar when cooking fruit.
There are also a surprising number of edible flowers which look lovely when added to drinks or salads – violas, marigolds, aquilegias, campanula, valerian, borage, sweet williams and nasturtiums are all worth growing.
And finally nuts (Oh hazelnuts!). A nuttery might sound a little too grand, but a simple hazel or filbert (either red or green) underplanted with spring bulbs and flowers can be extremely beautiful and productive.
And not a leek or straight line in sight. Happy eating.
First Published May/June 2012 By The Dart
Colette Charsley 01803 722449
