Ornamental/edible plants | Edible Landscaping Made Easy With Avis Licht

Pumpkins are for Eating and for Art

Ornamental/edible plants 1 Response »

Oct 232011

After watching this video, your pumpkin carving will take on a whole new life.

But first you have to get a pumpkin. Here’s few varieties:

A whole pile of pumpkins, gourds and squash

Can you count these? A lot!

Here’s a picture of my squash climbing up the back porch steps:

Heading up the steps and into the kitchen for some serious carving

Pumpkins are in the Gourd family, which includes summer squash, ornamental gourds and many kinds of pumpkins. They need sun and plenty of room to grow. Give them good fertile soil. They need regular water to grow well, but try to keep the foliage dry to prevent leaf disease. Pumpkins are ready to harvest 90 – 120 days after sowing, when the shell has hardened.

One of the best for jumbo Halloween pumpkins is ‘Atlantic Giant”. Orange Smoothie is smooth skinned , making it easy to decorate with paint.

If you haven’t grown your own, go out and find one that has a great shape and looks healthy and firm. That will help it last longer. Get the right tools for carving. The right tool always makes the work easier.

Watch the video and have fun with your carving.

Sprouting Seeds for Eating (not planting)

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Oct 202011

Sunflower

One of the best foods for us, is one we rarely think about eating: sprouts made from seeds.

Sprouts are one of the most complete and nutritional foods that exist. They are rich with proteins, minerals, vitamins and enzymes. They are a living food that is nutritious as well as delicious.

Seeds from many of your vegetables make excellent sprouts for eating.

The sunflower makes many seeds and since you only need a few for planting next year, you can use the rest for sprouting some for salads. Sunflower seeds are also great to eat straight from the kernel.

If you want to make sprouts on a regular basis, you need to get them in bulk from a reputable source, that doesn’t spray them with herbicides or pesticides. A great source for seeds for sprouting is Wheat Grass Kits.

Many of you have heard of alfalfa sprouts and bean sprouts, but how about broccoli sprouts? Yep, they’re great too. They have 50 times more of the cancer fighting substance than broccoli. Sprouts are easy to grow and worth the effort. Check it out!

Broccoli can give you much more than you realize

How to Plant Fall Bulbs for Spring Flowering in your Edible Landscape

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Oct 062011

Bulbs are easy to plant and care for and require little water. All of the bulbs below are also deer resistant. You can plant them with impunity, knowing that they’ll be there for you in the Spring.

Lillies

Fall is the time to plant many bulbs in your garden. They will grow over the winter and flower in the Spring. Here are a few easy tips for getting those beauties in the ground. Some of the easiest to grow and care for are Narcissus and Daffodils, Crocus and Dutch Iris.

Plant bulbs in well-draining soil. Generally, the best soil is a sandy loam. Do not plant bulbs shallow! Follow the instructions for planting depths and sunlight requirements. Flower bulbs prefer neutral pH soil. Please do not ever add horse manure, mushroom compost or other “hot” manure or compost to your flower bulb beds.

Loosen up the soil and add well aged compost (click to enlarge)

Loosen your soil and add amendments. I move some rocks to the side, but leave the rest for drainage. Then lay out your bulbs on the surface so you can see where they will go. I like to have mine in a natural setting, not lined up like little soldiers. I mixed Crocus and Narcissus in the same bed, the short and the tall together.

Firm the bulbs into the soil so that they make good contact with the dirt. The larger bulbs, like the Narcissus, need to be planted with a trowel so that you can get them to the proper depth of 5 – 7 inches. In colder climates, plant deeper, in warmer climates you can plant them a little shallower.

When planting, put the roots down. This is a crocus

Crocus bulb, plant with the root end down

Plant bulbs like this Narcissus in the Fall

Narcissus, root down, growing point up when you plant

Laying out the bulbs in the planting bed

Crocus and Narcissus mixed flowering bed

Crocus naturalized in a meadow

Heirloom Seed Companies for the Edible Landscape

Gifts for Gardeners, Native Plants, Ornamental/edible plants, Plant information 2 Responses »

Sep 162011

SEEDS, SEEDS AND MORE SEEDS

Seeds I use (click to enlarge)

I recommend that you get seeds that are easy to germinate, will have excellent taste, and that are organically grown. Heirloom seeds have been used and grown by generations of gardeners and deemed worthy. They are also open pollinated and not hybridized. This means if you let your plants go to seed, you can harvest that seed for next season’s crop.

You can find many varieties of fruits and vegetables in seed catalogs. Start by picking your favorite foods and ones that taste best home grown. Tomatoes are a perfect example. It’s hard to ship a ripe tomato, and unripe ones never taste good. You can find many unusual tomatoes in the catalogs that you would never see in a store.

I also recommend starting out with seeds that are easy to germinate. A rule of thumb is the larger the seed the easier it is to grow. A bean seed is large and you can put it deep enough in the soil that it will not dry out quickly. A small seed, like carrot seed, has to be kept on the surface of the soil and kept consistently moist. It’s a little harder to get good germination from these seeds. Some seeds are better sown in pots and transplanted and others need to be sown directly in the ground. To find out about your seed be sure to read the directions on the packet, or look it up online.

Just keep trying and experimenting. Starting plants from seeds can be challenging, but also incredibly rewarding. The following are some great seed catalogs that carry heirloom and open pollinated seed. When you click on the catalogs below you will find that they have a lot of information about what to grow and where to grow and when to grow your chosen seeds.

California Poppy seed from my garden

In the picture on the left you can seed the pods of California Poppies from my garden. They’re easy to pick and wonderful to sow in the Fall. To buy them is fairly expensive. To save your own is free and way more fun.

Edible Landscaping with Deer Resistant Herbs

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Sep 102011

The Fall season in Northern California is the worst time for deer in the gardens. The grasses and other forage in the wildlands have dried up and intrepid deer come wandering into our gardens, looking for something good to eat. If you don’t have a 6 foot fence surrounding your garden, you’ll want to know some herbs that you can count on to be deer resistant.

Lavender (click to enlarge)

Lavender is one of my favorite herbs. It is fragrant, easy to grow, doesn’t need much water and deer really don’t eat it. It does need sun and good drainage. It is a perennial plant, that in mild climates, meaning no heavy snow cover, can live for 5 – 7 years. After that, it starts looking worn out and old, and needs to be replaced.

I was surprised to taste how good a glass of ice cold water from a pitcher that had a sprig of mint and a sprig of lavender in it was. As long as you don’t over do it with the lavender, it is really a wonderful flavor.

Rosemary at the bottom of steps (click to enlarge)

Rosemary is another absolutely fantastic herb for the edible landscape. It is a multi purpose plant. It is also easy to grow, liking full sun and little to moderate water and doesn’t need much care. It’s evergreen and cold hardy to 20 deg. although some varieties are more tender. You can use it in many styles of cooking. I’ve never seen a deer eat a Rosemary plant, which can’t be said for many plants.

Rosemary varieties can be found as upright shrubs to 6 ft tall, and as low as 1 ft. cascading over walls. The flowers attract birds, butterflies and bees and produce excellent honey. I call this plant the work horse of all herbs.

Free blooming pink yarrow (click to enlarge)

Yarrow, called Achillea millefolium, is a beautiful and carefree herb. It grows in all zones in full sun, with little or no water.It has finely toothed leaves and a flower that can be used for fresh or dried bouquets.

You can find varieties of Yarrow with white, pink, red or yellow flowers. There are creeping varieties and ones that grow to 3 ft tall.

Thyme is a well known herb which comes from the Mediterranean. It is a low growing, plant in the mint family. There are some wonderful flavors of different thymes, including lemon, lime, caraway scented and orange scented. I use it as a ground cover between stepping stones. It has a beautiful flower as well as being fragrant when you step on it. As with the other herbs I’ve talked about, this one also doesn’t need rich soil or much water. For maintenance it is best to shear or cut back plants after they flower.

Thyme between stepping stones (click to enlarge)

These are a few of my favorite herbs for the edible landscape. But I promise there are more to come just as wonderful.

The Fall Edible Garden

Ornamental/edible plants 1 Response »

Sep 072011

A bumper crop of apples in the Fall

In California, the Fall is synonymous with apples. For Edible Landscaping we have many varieties that will grow, from the coast up to the Sierra Foothills. My own trees have four varieties of apples on one tree. With two trees, that gives me a grand total of eight varieties, in one small area. They ripen at slightly different times, to extend the season. Check your nurseries for types that work in your climate. If you go to Smart Gardener you can type in your zip code and they’ll tell you what your growing season is.

Sun Gold cherry tomatoes

Of all the vegetable crops, tomatoes are one of the few that almost everyone wants to grow at home, because they ALWAYS (almost) taste better than store bought. If you live in a cool climate, as in the California northern coast, or a short season climate, as in higher elevations, then you want to grow Cherry tomatoes, which ripen earlier, faster and longer than larger tomatoes. Check out the varieties of heirloom tomatoes that give wonderful taste, great yields and all kinds of colors. Organic gardening is more than a buzz word, it’s way to enjoy life.

One of my favorite Edible Landscape plants is the delicious Strawberry. Strawberries can be early, middle and late producing. Some varieties give two crops, such as the one pictured below. Some are everbearing and some are Wild Strawberries. You will get a lot of information from this site, Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, and you can order plants from them as well.

It's Fall and the Strawberries keep on coming

Delicious Delights from the Garden

Ornamental/edible plants 1 Response »

Sep 062011

Blackberry, strawberry and apples for the crisp

Going out into the garden to pick fruit is a really sweet thing to do. You can be sure the fruit is fresh, organic, and ripe. I needed something really quick to bring to a family gathering. So I stepped out into the garden and picked a bowl of strawberries, a bowl of blackberries and some wonderfully tart apples.

Apples, blackberries and strawberries from the edible garden

Beautiful fruit right from the garden (click to enlarge)

All I had to do was rinse them off, slice the apples and put them in the pan. If you want you can squeeze a little lemon juice over the apples. I didn’t have any, and no harm was done. I confess to sprinkling a tiny bit of sugar over the top of the fruit.

The next step is the crumble for the top. You can use a variety of ingredients. I use 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup flour, both whole wheat and white, 1/4 cup sugar mixed in with 1/4 cup butter and a pinch of salt. A little cinnamon and nutmeg goes well with this. Mix these ingredients over the top and voila, you’re ready to go. Thirty minutes in 350 deg oven and you will have the best crisp you’ve ever tasted.

Fresh and organic makes a huge difference in the taste of fruit.

This was still steaming from the oven when I took the picture.

People ask me if you can really eat flowers. The answer is a definite yes. Take a look at this salad.

Nasturtiums and borage flowers in the salad

Flowers in a salad make the salad look beautiful and in this case give it a tangy flavor. The Sun Gold cherry tomatoes and Persian cucumbers are also incredibly flavorful. See what I have to say about edible flowers in another post.

Don’t be shy, give it a try. You might really like it.

More Great Herbs in the Edible Landscape

Ornamental/edible plants 1 Response »

Aug 262011

Nasturtiums cascading over wall (click to enlarge)

There are some beautiful, easy to grow and fun to use herbs for the edible landscape. In the photo above, you see the Nasturtium (Traepolum sp.) hanging over a concrete retaining wall. This is one of the multi- purpose edibles that everyone should know about. It is pretty, it grows easily and different part of the plant can be used. Leaves of nasturtiums are tangy and great in salads. The flowers have a spicy flavor and you can use them to decorate many dishes and also eat them. In mild climates they last through the winter, and in cold climates you should treat them as an annual.

Close up of Nasturtiums

Mixed herbs in the landcape

In the photo above, you will find thyme, sage, basil, both green and purple, parsley and tarragon. You should place these herbs close to the house where you can come out of the kitchen while you’re cooking and harvest them right as you need them. Fresh herbs are SO much better than dried herbs.

They make a nice edging along the deck and are easy to reach.

Purple and Green Basil

This is a close up of purple Basil. It has a dramatic color in the leaf, but tastes the same as traditional Basil. Green Basil can be seen in the background starting to flower. Like Nasturtiums, Basil does not overwinter in cold climates. If you plant enough, you can make a great Pesto sauce and freeze it for a wonderful winter Pasta dinner.

Follow this simple recipe: so easy and so good!

1/3 cup basil leaves, chopped

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons Parmesan, grated

3 tablespoons walnuts, chopped

1 clove garlic, sliced

Salt

Put the basil in the blender with the olive oil, cheese, walnuts, and garlic. Blend until smooth: then season with salt.

This pesto can also be used to garnish pizza, soups or vegetable dishes.

More great herbs to follow, check back soon.

Even More Great Herbs in the Edible Landscape

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Aug 262011

Parsley (click on picture to enlarge)

Parsley (Petroselinum sativa), seen in the picture above is a very under rated herb. Most people just use a few leaves for decoration on the plate, then throw it away. But in fact, it is tasty and incredibly nutritious. There are two types of parsley. Flat leaf, as shown above, is the tastiest type for cooking. You can substitute some parsley for basil in making pesto sauce. Curly varieties make the most attractive garnish and are appealing as a low border in a flower bed.

It is a a biennial, meaning it last 2 years and grows in all zones. It is usually treated as an annual and planted every year. It is a great plant for containers and for small gardens.

Parsley is low in calories, high in fiber and high in Vitamin A,C and K. It is high in minerals, Iron and Calcium. For more information on parsley read about it here:

Lavender

Lavender is one of the best ornamental herbs. It doesn’t need much care. It grows in poor soil, doesn’t need much water and pretty much takes care of itself. It does need sun and good drainage.

Our local Ice cream store makes an unbelievable Vanilla lavender ice cream. It’s not too strong, and tastes divine. Most people know lavender for its use in perfumes and sachets. But when I visited my sister in law last week she had put a spring of mint and a stalk of lavender in a pitcher of water. Ice cold it was one of the most refreshing drinks ever. I can still be surprised how many new ways people find to use herbs.

Edible Flowers – The Perfect Solution

Ornamental/edible plants 1 Response »

Aug 032011

You can decorate and eat these flowers

Nasturtiums and borage flowers are easy to grow, flower over a long period and are wonderful to use in preparing food. You can decorate the plates or put them in salads.

Honey bees love borage, but won't bother you

What could be more perfect for an edible landscape, than flowers that you can eat! Borage is also a wonderful plant for honey bees. It blooms early in the season and is excellent for the health of the hive.

Another flower that I love is the delicate viola. In addition to using as decoration it can be crystallized with sugar. This site, called Baking 911 gives excellent directions on how to make candied flowers. They also tell you which ones to use and which ones to avoid.

These violas have been blooming for 5 months

Roses have always been used in the classic landscape design, but we can use them too in our edible landscape. Middle eastern recipes often call for Rose water. Putting a few drops in a fruit salad is simply divine. Not only can you use petals in your food presentation, but Rose hips are filled with Vitamin C and make an excellent tea. You can see that there are probably many more traditional plants than you would have imagined that your new garden can happily include, without feeling guilty.

Sweet Honeysuckle

With the old fashioned Honeysuckle, we have a flower that provides incredible fragrance to the garden in addition to it’s flower. I remember growing up and taking the honeysuckle flower apart and sucking the nectar from it. Try it, it’s not only for the hummingbirds.

Some of my Favorite Edible Plants

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Aug 022011

This apple tree has 4 varieties of apples

There are many wonderful plants to use in your edible landscape. Of course, when I say edible, we’re thinking of what we humans like to eat, but it is also important to put in a variety of plants for other wildlife like the birds, bees, butterflies and insects that pollinate and keep the garden healthy by keeping unwanted insects in check.

A fruit tree is a perfect landscaping choice. It has flowers and fruit, provides shade in the summer and allows sunlight in during the winter. For a small garden you can find dwarf and semi dwarf varieties that stay small.

Fruit on climbing vines are also great. Grapes are an excellent choice for both food and shade when planted on an arbor. Kiwi’s are more unusual and grow in a wider range of climates than you might imagine. Find out your local growing conditions by going to this great website :http://www.smartgardener.com/. When you type in your zip code they will give you your first and last frost dates and times to plant many varieties of edibles.

This kiwi grows on a strong fence.

Beautiful Kale

This is a kale leaf. I think it’s beautiful. I guess all beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The more you like a plant, the better it looks. You can grow all kinds of annual vegetables like kale, lettuce, peppers and eggplant amongst the flowers.

Eggplant seems to incite strong feelings in people. Some love it and some hate it. It is in the Solanum family which includes potatoes, tomatoes and ornamental nightshade plants that are poisonous.

Of course, the best landscaping choices are the plants you love to eat the most and are suited to your climate and location.

The flower of the eggplant is also beautiful

Even on cloudy days the sunflower shines on you

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