Edible Landscaping

I attended a workshop on Saturday called "Your Sustainable Backyard: Edible Landscaping" and it was held at the UC Davis campus. The keynote speaker was Rosalind Creasy, a forerunner in Edible Landscaping, who has been doing edible gardening and writing about it for over 30 years. 

She has written seventeen books including such gardening books as Edible Heirloom Garden, Edible French Garden, Edible Asian Garden, Edible Mexican Garden and Edible Flower Garden. She has also written cookbooks, Cooking From Your Garden and Recipes from the Garden. Her latest book, Edible Landscaping, will be coming out in November, and it is an update of her 1982 book, The Complete Guide to Edible Landscaping.

She gave a great presentation and talked about how to integrate edible flowers, herbs, trees and shrubs within a traditional ornamental and decorative garden. Basically, by using garden design principles you substitute edible plants such as lettuce, berries, fruit trees in place of non-productive plant material. This doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice your beautiful rose bushes and your entire cutting garden. No, not at all. You plant your herbs and veggies right alongside your rose and cutting flowers and you can do it in such a way that is visually pleasing to you. She shared with us what she has learned over the years that you can have a working, productive edible garden without sacrificing beauty and garden aesthetics. She also encouraged us to grow vegetables and herbs that we can't get at the market. 

I was so inspired by her lecture and, while I'm not quite ready to rip out the front lawn, I can't wait to incorporate some of her ideas into my own garden. Check out Rosalind Creasy's Web site for more information and see some of her beautiful photos.

In the afternoon Kevin Marini, from the Placer/Nevada County Master Gardener Program gave a good, informative lecture on Soils 101. He stressed how important it is to have a soil analysis done and that this should be the first thing you do before planning any vegetable garden. When he asked how many people had done a soil analysis in their garden I was surprised at how few hands went up.

The final lecture of the workshop was by Michael Parrella, PhD., chair of the Department of Entomology at UC Davis. He talked about Veggie Garden Pests & Pest Management. I learned that UC Davis has an Integrated Pest Management Program and it is one of the most comprehensive programs in the country, if not the world. If you have a pest in your garden, check their site out to find out what the pest might be and what to do about it.

The workshop was just what I needed to motivate me to start my Spring garden.