When I started growing edible foods more seriously as an adult on my old allotment in London, I quickly noticed that most food plants are just as beautiful as any other ornamental plant. I quickly began adding crops into my garden designs around the UK including fruit trees and shrubs, herbs and even perennial vegetables such as artichokes.
Early on I learnt that the secret to incorporating edible crops into beautiful gardens was to lean into perennial edibles because they tend to grow more vigorously, can become larger and often return reliably every year.
Another great thing about perennial edibles is that they are just as tolerant as any other perennial. They can be allowed to flower for us and wildlife to enjoy, or they can be cut back to concentrate on more foliage production, if you’d like more leaves to eat. Personally I find it makes for a really interactive and interesting garden.
To plan an edible garden, the main things to consider are your conditions, the final size and hardiness of the perennial crops and the amount of sunlight. Going forward, due to global warming, we also have to consider the amount of rainfall (or lack of) and potential drought in summer.
Otherwise, a perennial garden can be planned in a very similar way to any ornamental garden with mixed plantings. You can even drop in some annual crops too – I do!
If you are feeling particularly adventurous, perennial edible crops lend themselves perfectly to the contemporary ideas of plant community design, which draws on ecological principles. This fits into regenerative permanent plantings that are great for drought resilience and making wildlife supporting habitats.
I’ve explored all of these topics and my favourite plants to use in my book, Grower Gatherer. The book details how to grow beautiful edible plant communities with some example planting plans for you to recreate.
