Edible Gardens

Edible Gardening

Make your edible garden the most colorful part of your natural landscape. Edible gardening is re-emerging as a popular and growing trend this year as a result of the "going green" movement and a more cautious consumer who wants to get more for their money.

What exactly is edible gardening?

Edible gardening is the intermixing of vegetables, herbs, and fruits into your "traditional" landscape or perennial bed. The following are some ways that you can achieve an edible landscape at home: blended gardening, square foot gardening, and patio gardening. So, this year as you're planning your vegetable garden for the first time or the twentieth time, consider trying some of these growing trends in do-it-yourself vegetable gardening.

If you are trying your hand at growing your own tomatoes and peppers this year, don't forget some key elements that are critical to your success.

• Pick a site that gets plenty of sunshine– at least 6 hours each day to ensure that your food crops mature properly.
• Good soil and proper drainage are vital. Add organic matter such as Bumper Crop to amend the soil.
• Gardens closer to a water source work better, or try using a soaker hose. plants | When selecting which veggies to grow, learn how much space, water, and fertilizer each plant needs.
• Have fun!

Blended Gardens

Blended gardens allow you to create a fun and multi- functional backyard full of color, texture, and fresh vegetables. You can use smaller fruiting plants (such as blueberries and raspberries) as substitutes for shrubbery. Perennial herbs, including thyme, rosemary or tarragon are great for small spaces and make a wonderfully fragrant ground cover. So, have fun blending together veggies like lettuce and kale, and herbs next to your petunias and salvia this year!

The basic concept of a square foot garden is to create a grid divided into sections. For example: a 4' x 4' (16 sq ft) area would then be divided into approximately one square foot units and marked out accordingly with edging, railroad ties, or anything that remains visible as the garden develops. Then in each individual square a different vegetable or herb is planted in that section. The number of plants in each square depends on the size of the plant. This allows for a wide array of crops to be grown and easily maintained.

Patio Gardening

Patio gardening is a great way to get your fresh vegetables and herbs when you have limited time or space to garden. Plant your veggies in containers or window boxes out on the back porch. If you like to cook with fresh herbs, consider growing them in decorative pots–they are easy to grow and budget friendly. A great way to get the kids involved is to create a theme garden, for instance a pizza garden using different tomatoes and basil or a salsa garden that has hot peppers and cilantro. Another way is to have the biggest tomato competition. It's not only fun, but it's also very rewarding!

Veggie potentials

1. Burpless Cucumber-
   Prolific bearer; long, juicy fruit. Sets fruit earlier than some other varieties.
2. Aristocrat Zucchini-
   High yields of dark green fruit, up to 8" long.
3. Spaghetti Squash-
   A yummy winter squash treat! Fruit grows to 8-10" and holds up for several months in storage.
4. Watermelon-
   Plant them early enough to be enjoyed mid-summer!
5. Black Beauty Eggplant-
   The standard purple you find in the grocery store. So much better from your own yard!
6. Bush Pickle-
   Great for making your own homemade pickles! Small 4-6" fruit.

Tomatoes:

1. Whopper-
   Great slicer, juicy large fruit, with great [shelf life?? these last on your counter from the day you picked them better than other varieties]. Great disease resistance
2. Big Boy-
   Large, Firm, Meaty Fruit. Great flavor, slicing tomato.
3. Better Boy-
   Meaty, flavorful red slicing tomato. Good disease resistance.
4. Early Girl-
   Similar fruit to a Big Boy or Better Boy, just harvested earlier.
5. Beefmaster-
   Great disease resistance, meaty flavorful HUGE fruit, Corrie's favorite for a turkey sandwich.
6. Sweet 100-
   Corrie's all-time favorite cherry tomato! Sweet as candy!! Maybe it has "100" in the name because you get about that many tomatoes at a time. Loads of fruit, and oh so juicy!
7. Red Grape-
   The best grape tomato around!
8. Roma Plum-
   Great for canning and homemade sauces. Delicious fruit and prolific variety.
9. Yellow Pear-
   Tiny yellow grape tomatoes. Very sweet.
10. Black Cherry-
    Small dark red cherry tomato with a rich, sweet flavor.
11. Patio-
    Perfect tomato for small garden spaces or pots on the patio. Fruit is similar to a cherry tomato but larger. Great disease resistance.

Heirloom Tomatoes:

1. Brandywine-
   Amish variety, pale pink skin & mild flavor. Good slicing tomato for sandwiches
2. Belgium Giant-
   Very large fruit with a meaty flavor. A bigger plant than most, to support those big tomatoes!
3. Supersonic-
   Large, red, meaty fruit- smaller than a Beefsteak but still great for slicing. A heavy producer. Resistant to verticillium wilt.
4. Mortgage Lifter-
   Cool story... the guy who created this hybrid during the Depression made so much money off this outstanding tomato variety that it literally lifted his mortgage, hence the name. A mild-flavored slicing tomato with more of a pink skin than bright red. Heavy producer.
5. Black Krim-
   Medium sized dark maroon-purple fruit.
6. Cherokee Purple-
   Full flavored slicing tomato, rosy colored skin. Medium-sized fruit.
7. Old German-
   Huge yellow-orange fruit, slicing tomato, great for sandwiches
8. Lemon Boy-
   Bright yellow, 7-ounce fruit. Delicious. Disease resistant.
9. Elberta Peach-
   A striped Plum Tomato

Peppers:

1. California Wonder & Better Bell-
   The two best green sweet/ Bell peppers.
2. Red Beauty-
   Red sweet Bell pepper.
3. Orange Bell
4. Golden Bell-
   Yellow sweet Bell pepper.
5. Rainbow-
   A great option if you love all the colors of sweet peppers in one dish. This plant bears orange, purple, red, yellow & green fruit!
6. Jalapeño-
7. Habanero-
8. Cubanelle-
9. Chef Jeff's HOTTEST pepper

Herbs:

1. Thyme
2. Chives
3. Sage
4. Fennel
5. Dill
6. Rosemary
7. Lavender
8. Cilantro

Basil-
We sell both Sweet and Siam/ Thai
Oregano-
Greek and Italian
Parsley-
Curly and Flat-leaf
Summer Savory
Stevia
Mint-
Spearmint, Peppermint, Orange Mint, & Lemon Balm
Lemon Grass