Edible Landscaping is a Natural Thing
Gardening, foodscaping and edible landscaping is not only a recession-proof hobby and industry, it’s one that tends to thrive in harder times. If you’re in a subdivision that restricts gardening, we’ll cover that as well.
Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis Causes a Rise in Gardening
With the Covid-19 Pandemic crisis, many interest in home gardening has grown significantly.
While the lawn and ornamental plant industry struggled following the 2008 housing bubble meltdown, then as now, the food gardening segment grew and is still growing.
However, the most popular gardening is still flower gardening. If that’s you, you may enjoy our purple flowers article.
Garden Seed Sales Are at a Historical High
W. Atlee Burpee & Co., the largest seed and gardening supply store in the country, says it has seen a 25 to 30 percent spike in vegetable seed and plant sales in the spring of 2020, compared with last.
In 2009 — following the 2008 housing and financial market crash — George Ball, Chairman and CEO of the W. Atlee Burpee & Company said, “I’ve been in the business for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it—even remotely like it.”[1]https://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/04/01/recession.garden/
Well… now he has. In March, 2020 Burpee & Co sold more seed than any time in its 144-year history.[2]https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-gardens/home-gardening-blooms-around-the-world-during-coronavirus-lockdowns-idUSKBN2220D3
Even as the economy showed signs of recovery, interest in gardening did not decline. The first year of establishing a garden is your most expensive year. After that, if you plan right and harvest seeds from your crops your additional expenditures are greatly reduced.
In 2020, most seed companies were running out of seeds of all kinds, to the point where many closed their online shopping carts until further notice. Some closed due to a quarantine induced staffing shortage. Others closed due to high demand. However the majority ran out of most seeds
In 2021, while there are still many out of stocks (OOS) of items everywhere, the majority of seed companies (if not all) are back in business selling seeds.
If you’re a landscaper, consider adding a vegetable gardening service to your landscape gardening business. Landscapers who love vegetable gardening could also offers foodscaping, vegetable and herb gardening as a part of your services.
Many people would love to have their own vegetable and herb garden but simply don’t have the time.
Landscapers can grow their landscaping business by adding a vegetable gardening service.
You Can’t Eat the Grass.
But you can create an edible landscape design, called foodscaping.
So here’s the thing. As much as we may enjoy seeing a lovely lawn and feeling fresh grass beneath bare feet, a lawn is not sustainable. Lawns require work and produce nothing to sustain human life.
Sure, lawns are lovely, and definitely require less work than an edible garden. Lawns help keep weeds out and a yard looking neat (when mown). Lush green grass may feed our aesthetic sensibilities, but they don’t feed our families or nourish our bodies.
Worse… for lawns to look the best, often requires chemical fertilizers and weed control, none of which are good for the environment, pets, our bodies, or own yard and permaculture ecosystem.
Today, shrinking lawns and expanding gardens are a good thing. It may be time to put your yard to work for you instead of working so hard to keep it up.
But if you love your lawn, there’s still a way you can have the best of both worlds.
Swapping Grass for Greens
Growing your own food is not only a great way to save money, it’s also a healthy activity. Gardening therapy is a known thing because the activity of gardening has so many benefits, including access to the freshest food on the planet if you’re growing food.
If you enjoy gardening, but have limited yard space, then like many gardeners, you’re likely always on the lookout for ways to grow more in less space and time, such as through vertical gardening. One of the best ways to begin replacing lawn with an edible garden is a little at a time.
Even if you’re under Homeowners Association restrictions (HOA), there are ways of foodscaping with attractive plants and edible flowers that also have ornamental appeal. You can gradually widen your landscaped patches and add favorite edible plants, shrubs and fruit trees.
Another great way to “hedge” the HOA is to plant edible hedges. Edible hedgerows can provide attractive and functional barriers and borders, including espalier apple trees and other fruits. We’re now espaliering our fuyu persimmon trees.
One of the best ways to begin replacing lawn with an edible garden is a little at a time.
Blueberries add Seasonal Beauty and Food to Landscapes
We love growing blueberries in landscape and in a small orchard. They’re beautiful bushes that add colorful and varied leaves, blossoms and fruit. No HOA would object to growing blueberries in your yard, plus the leaves can be dehydrated for beneficial tea
You can find information and lots more on blueberry benefits in this article on How to grow blueberries.
Urban Farms and Backyard Growers Can Profit From Their Yards
You can make money by growing food in your backyard and we’ve written more about that in this article on an urban farm and make money farming from home. First, here we share a few tips to help you turn your “backyard garden into an urban farm.
Here’s more on best plants for beauty and food, especially beneficial if your only sunny growing space means you’ll have to create a