Edible landscape / wet soils
What is Edible Landscaping?

Edible landscaping is the use of food-producing plants in a landscape setting. Ornamental plants combined with edible plants such as fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, vegetable, herbs, and edible flowers make for a great garden design.

Combining Edibles and Ornamentals

Adding edibles to your design provides a greater mixture of textures, forms, and colors than a typical ornamental landscape.  Start small and simple means you can easily maintain what you have started.  Edibles do require a little extra watering, pruning and fertilizing.

Ideas for Edible Landscapes

  • Put pots of herbs on the patio.

  • Include cherry tomatoes in a window box or hanging basket.

  • Plant a fruit tree in the corner of your yard.

  • Tuck lettuce, radishes, or other short-lived greens into a flowerbed.

  • Put basil together with coleus in a planter.

  • Grow chives around the mailbox.

  • Plant a blueberry hedge instead of privet.

Possibilities are endless be creative and have fun with edibles and you will be fruitfully rewarded.

Planting in Wet Soil Areas

Wet sites are either where water stands for long periods, or where drainage is slow, on average less than 1” per hour.  Wet sites can also receive considerable runoff from higher elevations.  Too much water fills the air spaces that results in low oxygen levels. This impedes nutrient absorption and the plants suffer. One method of improvement is the addition of gypsite.  It will open up the pores of the soil and the water will drain away.  You should then test the soil and make amendments to the soil as necessary. Improve clay soils by adding organic matter. An alternative to gypsite is planting trees that can tolerate wet soil. Some of the most common moisture loving trees are Willows, Eastern Red Cedar, Bald Cypress, and River Birch. The placement of these trees can actually help dry out the surrounding area.  It is important when selecting trees that you first figure out your soil type and rate of drainage. Here are some other nice tree selections for wet sites: Red Maple, Shadblow Serviceberry, Fringetree, Deciduous Hollies, Sweetbay Magnolia, Chamaecyparis, Southern Magnolia, and Arborvitae.