A Year At North Hill.

"A New World Order"??

"You vill grow potatoes aesthetically! Und like it!!!

Caught your attention didn't it?

I had a book out of the library a few months ago, I think it was called The Edible Landscape. I was researching a paper on incorporating vegetable gardens into the landscape, and IIRC it had some interesting ideas. Next time I'm over there I'll look it up and get the author.

If any one of various possible doomsday scenarios being suggested comes to pass it's going to be a New World Disorder. Landscaping will not be a high priority. We're already depopulating the planet of plant and animal species at an apocalyptic rate, that situation alone is so bad it's hard to grasp and it is happening right now.

I designed a garden for my mom (Lake City/Seattle) that incorporated a lot of veggies. She's very frugal and also not above growing corn in her front yard if that's the best place to grow corn (horticulturally speaking).

Anyway, I tried to include only herbs, veggies, good cutting flowers, and flowers like marigolds which can assist the health of other flowers. Almost everything in the plan has some value or reason for being there (other than the purely aesthetic).

Cardoon/artichoke next to lavander next to purple oregano etc.

Rainbow chard mixed with "Bishop's children" dahlias and hot peppers (peppers probably won't ripen in this climate, but you gotta try...)

Rubarb, currants, fruiting vines like kiwi and grape, rugosa roses (grown for the hips).

My strategy was to use food plants just as I would use ornamental perennials in terms of plant spacing and color etc. The effect is a cottage garden, but I don't think most people would spot the veggies straight off.

You can get away with this pretty easily in the Pacific Northwest--same might not be true in other locales.

I share your concerns bboy. If you read some of the online articles about peak oil you begin to realize what a scary scenario this is.
I think it doesn't hurt to think about some small things that each of us can do that might have some positive impact. Local food production is one of these things. Its amazing to think about the original "Victory" gardens and their impotance to people's lives during times of scarcity and crisis.
I'm beginning to envision a world where eventually we will have no choice but to accept a more basic style of living.

That world never went away for most people. We in the West are living a country club existence--sometimes in actuality--while millions have nothing. There are surely far more poor people now than ever before. Even here in the US the time when there were lots of poor around is not one of the past only.

Smaller homes.
Homes that are energy sufficient (and a higher rating of the landscape function to support energy sufficiency).
Perhaps the disappearance of private homes, or at the very least some significant shifts in the practice of real estate development.
A cultural shift in our personal and community connections to the environment. That might begin by simply understanding that no suburban lot is an island. We need to begin to understand that our neighborhoods are the breeding and feeding ground for multitudes of birds and beasties, none of whom have any notion of ownership or concept that this yard is "mine".
Buy local, eat what is in season, grow your own.
Disagree strongly about the details  healthy debate produces better solutions  but agree about the goal--a world we can live in, a world we can leave to our children.

Last summer I spent several weeks traveling in Austria. We stayed with in-laws in a summer home in the countryside. I was unnerved in the mornings because there was virtually no bird song. I was told that "Oh, we used to have birds, but we have so many cats around here Â" I was dumbfounded. I have lived here and there and know that feral cats are a problem, but this simplistic assumption didn't fit with the eerie silence. Back home  where there is just as much of a feral cat problem, the bird concert begins around 4:00a.m. and is layered and textured with many rhythms and melodies all day long. Ironically, Europeans are far ahead of us in the strictness of their environmental laws, but they may have waited too long to start.

Where have the birds gone? And, how long will we insist on inadequate explanations for the growing silence?

As for landscape designers? There might be more for them to do, rather than less. The best of them are gifted problem solvers with expertise in how to help humans live more lightly upon the earth.

Wellspring

Wellspring, what a great expression..."live more lightly upon the earth". I love it. Thank you.

Makes me think, once again, of the children's song:

"Pulling weeds and pickin' stones
Man is made from dreams and bones
Feel the need to grow my own
'Cause the time is close at hand

Grain for grain, sun and rain
Find my way in nature's chain
Tune my body and my brain
To the music from the land"

Patty

"The complete book of Edible Landscaping" by Rosalind Creasy. copyright 1982, a Sierra Club book.

Our copy is quite dog-eared. ;)

I wish I could afford to take down enough trees to HAVE a veggie patch. I just buy locally grown stuff at the farmers market, instead. While one might think I could grow veggies in my front flower garden, I'd just be feeding the deer. There isn't an aestheticly pleasing way of deefencing my front garden. I try to plant things that the deer don't care for--and I spray the roses, lillies and hostas (gotta have 'em) on a rotating basis with Treeguard and I Must Garden. IMG is ok for consumption, but TG is not. I've found that if I stick with just one spray, the deer develop a taste for it...

melanie

That's a pretty lofty subject line, Gweirdo. :)

Mine is not a design comment, but I'm wondering if you have heard of the 100 Mile Diet. The idea is that one eats only food that is grown, processed and packaged within 100 miles of your home. It's more difficult than it may sound, especially for those living in densely populated urban areas or other places that are not conducive to farming.

Here is a quote about the diet, followed by the internet source:

"When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 milescall it "the SUV diet." On the first day of spring, 2005, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment. For one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Since then, James and Alisa have gotten up-close-and-personal with issues ranging from the family-farm crisis to the environmental value of organic pears shipped across the globe. They've reconsidered vegetarianism and sunk their hands into community gardening. They've eaten a lot of potatoes."

http://100milediet.org/category/about/

http://thetyee.ca/Life/2005/06/28/HundredMileDiet/

That was it, Chelone, the name Creasy rings a bell.

Interesting idea. As someone who has recently made substantial changes in his diet, I can attest to the initial difficulties in adapting. The fact that I am now eating far more fruits & vegetables is perhaps what got me thinking about how I could more effectively design a garden that provides more for my own needs and in the process might contribute in some small way toward the larger ideals of social and ecological responsibility.
I think wellspring crystalized the design philosophy I was searching for with that wonderful phrase "tread more lightly on the earth". The dilemma, of course, will be in defining the details of how best to achieve that. While googling that phrase, I came upon the following quote that I'll think about in the future as I pull on my bluejeans in the morning: " Our profound error is that we have always looked upon ourselves as 'masters of creation', in the sense of being above it. We are not superior to other life-forms; all living things are an expression of life. If we could see that truth, we would see that everything we do to other life-forms we also do to ourselves. A culture which understands this does not, without absolute necessity, destroy any living thing." - Levi Strauss

I remember as a young child in the sixties, my dad, a builder and the only Republican in Massachusetts, came home wearing a "Stop Acid Rain" button. That began my education about the environment. I have a sister who is now an environmental chemist and she can tell some pretty scary stories.

It saddens me when people are unaware of the potential problems in thinking they live in an isolated micro-enviroment...an island on a suburban lot as Wellspring said. I garden, veggies and everything, completely organically. (Alright, I feed my container-ed annuals with Miracle-Gro once in awhile) But nothing that's been chemically enhanced, shall we say, touches my soil. That is not to say that there aren't any environmentally safe options; it's just that I haven't researched them enough to know and what I do is working for me.

But I get aggravated when I see neighbors bringing in the Chem-Lawn trucks and spraying all nature of things around their yards. We are on wells where I live and share the water table. I wonder what's getting in there. I also wonder about people resurfacing their driveways all the time. That stuff is incredibly toxic! Unneccesary as well.

But people believe what they want to believe about what is safe and what is healthy and what is "right". It has been my experience that gentle education and example is the best way to change people's minds. It would help if our leaders were more interested in "living lightly" as well.

I guess what we can do is to spread some compost and put our veggies in the front yard.

Patty

I quit growing my own tomatoes when I figured out how much more expensive they were compared to the organic tomatoes at the farmers market. I admit it, I am not an efficient farmer.

>Where have the birds gone?Don't know about Austria but deforestation in humid tropics is reducing migratory songbird prescence in other northern areas. Many of the summer birds spend much of the year in tropical forests. No forests, no birds.

Anyone participate in community agriculture? You pay an amount of money up front and then you get locally grown produce throughout the season.

Long time members of MOFGA, we also participate in "plant a row for the hungry". Sometimes it's a pain to harvest and cart it down the food pantry... but it's generally the first stuff taken.

:)

I am sometimes amazed by the things I am totally ignorant about. I went on Amazon today to order the Creasy book. I found another book called "Gaia's Garden: A guide To Home-scale Permaculture" by Toby Hemenway. Turns out there is a whole field of gardening that I knew nothing about.
Gaia's Garden "describes a gardening system that combines the best features of wildlife habitat, edible landscapes, and conventional flower and vegetable gardens into a self-renewing landscape that lets nature do most of the work."
Anyone familiar with this book? I've got a lot of reading to do.

Chelone, the community agriculture sounds interesting. I haven't heard about it around here, but I will look into it. I live in an area of great orchards and family farms where I eagerly go for fresh produce not coming from my own garden.

I'm glad that you mentioned Plant A Row, too. We used to do that when we had a community garden and before kids when we could grow more. Now, I have a small garden that, except for zucchini, gets eaten entirely by my family. The zucchini gets pawned off on anyone who wants it. However, you have me thinking and next year I will definitely make room in my garden to "Plant A Row for the Hungry". Thanks.

Patty (p.s. Chelone: I'll be there tomorrow! I'll be there tomorrow!)

bboy, I don't know how to think about the unthinkable. What does one do with a statement like that, seriously? I don't mean to say that it shouldn't be said.

chelone, just yesterday I read an article about a local farmers' program now having a delivery point near to us. I got all the info and it looks great.

We have tons of books like that. (Where did all the "hippies" go? mid-coast Maine or Downeast... ararar).

Seriously, though, if your state has an Organic Farming/Agriculture association you will be able to find wonderful resources for the plan you're hatching. Maine has been a leader for many years now, a trip to the Common Ground Fair is a blast and fascinating!

Here are a few more; if you can't find them at Amazon, you might try Alibris, they specialize in out of print books:

"Gaia, an Atlas of Planet Management", general editor Dr. Norman Myers, c.1984, Anchor Press. Actually very general, but does a good job of presenting interconnectedness and how lil' ol' you and I fit into the big picture. Good bathroom book.

Or this little gem from the 1940s!:

"The 'Have More' Plan", by Ed. and Carolyn Robinson. Our copy is in paperback, a 16th. printing from April 1981, GardenWay publishing. I paid about $1 for it on a close out wagon in front of little bookstore. (This the original "back to the land" handbook, and it's full of very practical information, even some pretty funny references to DDT. :) )

gweirdo,
Here are a few thoughts for you. Your idea is as old as the hills and a good one. There is a Permaculture Forum here on GW with very few postings. Maybe you and your questions can jump start it. Those with large properties can easily divide sections into orchards, veggie gardens, etc. The small, suburban yard requires some planning to accomplish permaculture. Of course one can grow ornamentals and food sustaining crops together. This Depression baby teethed on the concept and I have done it throughout the years.

Think about enclosing your garden space with turkey wire strung on strong cedar poles. On the outside of the fence espalier dwarf fruit trees. Attractive, a fun project which should yield excellent fruit crops. You will, of course, read the Ruth Stout books. Her method of gardening encourages the growth of mycorrhizal fungus which is the secret to good plant growth in tight spaces. If you are not familiar with that term, do a search. All sorts of information available.

It is important to remember that some veggies such as tomatoes and peppers must be alternated each growing season. This aids in preventing disease problems. So, planning as to what crop will grow where in the garden each year is important. ie., plant tomatoes next year where you grew marigolds this year.

As with all things related to design/gardening, much of it is common sense. Study, experiment, learn. Part of design is healthy, well placed plants and each year you will adjust your plantings so they compliment each other. It is a growing/learning experience and each spring will find you making changes, trying new combinations.

How could I have forgotten this one?

"The Postage Stamp Garden Book" by Duane Newcomb c.1975, J.P. Tarcher, Inc. (Houghton Mifflin)

This is an excellent book for small spaces; so is the "Have More" plan. So is, "Blue Corn & Square Tomatoes" by Rebecca Rupp, c. 1987, Garden Way Publishing

I'll stop now... really.

Did a quick check of the Permaculture Forum this morning. A bit heavy on survivalist strategys from my initial browsing - I'll check back. Now the Potager Forum, on the other hand...some interesting possibilities there. I remember seeing pictures of Rosemary Veiry's potager that were quite inspiring, though a bit formal for my taste. Ok - back to work.

I am enjoying this thread.
It is great to see people discussing the global issues and solutions on a local level. I think having these discussions and ones with neighbors and friends is very helpful. Manytimes it is ignorance that has us chooosing unhealthy choices (chem-lawn)
I have one more suggestion: reseach local candidates and use your power...vote.

"Where have all the birds gone?"

Well,around here, they haven't. My woods and yard are as noisy as ever. It's all I can do to keep the feeders full (and it's not just the squirrels). I've got a pair of scarlet tanagers nesting close by--I've seen the male and heard both. (Not that I'll ever see them at the feeders!)

Regular visitors to my feeders include gold finches, house finches, titmice, chickadees, carolina wrens, common house sparrows, blue jays, nuthatches, cardinals (there's a pair raising their second clutch in my Buff Beauty rose), I could go on for a long while. I regularly see a blue heron fishing in the creek behind the house--there's a pair of Barred owls nesting somewhere close (we hear them)--and the hawks aree having a good time this season. All of this IN Chapel Hill, NC. (I live near the public library.) I love my birds...and do what I can to keep my yard "bird friendly." There's a snag that ought to come down for design reasons that I leave in place--the woodpeckers seem to like it. (I keep hoping one of the three varietites will nest there...no luck so far!)

My sister lives in the NE- (Boston area) and she says speculation is that West Nile has been responsible for the recent dramatic loss of birdlife in their area. (As opposed to the gradual loss from habitat loss in the wintering grounds.)

Catkim--I'm with you on the 'maters. Actually--I buy all my fruit and veg as locally as I can. What little sun I have is for flowers!

melanie

I am really happy to see this thread. I am lucky enough to live in a very rural area and have a major vegetable garden as well as very extensive ornamental beds. I grow nearly 100 % of all the vegetables I eat, and I eat directly from the garden as much as possible, 12 months of the year. (In winter there's carrots, rutabagas, turnips, beets, scorzonera, and hardy winter greens in a little low tunnel greenhouse.) I also specialize in selling premium mixed salad greens from mid-May until early November to 6 or 7 customers who all live or work in the tiny County Seat and I deliver once a week and they are happy to pay me a premium price.

I'm also lucky enough to be able to buy pastured poultry, and local lamb, pork and beef. I get free range eggs from a neighbor up the road.

I'm also a garden consultant, so I talk to people about gardens, and I've been involved in raising pastured poultry as well. All of you interested in our individual relationship to the sources of our food should read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. This is not a heavy read--in fact, it's quite entertaining, but Pollan makes clear a lot of relationships that I've never seen before in anything but farm (non-traditional)magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer.

Like Pollan, I believe that agriculture should be re-regionalized, so most of our food is grown locally. Better for consumers, better for the quality of plants and animals, better for the farmer, better for the environment. Pollan shows that organic is still industrialized production, and when you read his book you'll understand why calling a broiler free-range is nothing but a marketing ploy and what pastured poultry is and why it's the only real alternative. And wait till you read his discussion of corn.

I'd like to thank everyone for their comments, ideas, & suggestions. I have purchased & browsed through 3 of the books recommended - some fascinating ideas there, especially considering the simplicity of them. The Toby Hemenway book on permaculture is particularly pertainent to the topic at hand. A google search revealed the story of the Dervaes family in Pasadena, who are living the life of urban (or suburban) pioneers - trying to live sustainably on a fifth of an acre. Inspiring!

Your ideas are interesting, and merit consideration.

I find this intriguing however: I am also in Washington State, and have a "natural" woodland style garden - the kind almost EVERYONE seems to have. You know the type - conifers, about a dozen Rhododendrons, Kinnikinnick, and lots of Juniper. These gardens are nice -- but ubiquitous when you've lived here twenty years.

Given that, we want to move AWAY from that style to something more formal and Colonial - sheared yews and boxwood, a manicured lawn area, with more emphasis on form than color but ample amounts of both. It celebrates a simpler time, before the Industrial Revolution, when man was closer to the core principles that gave us our Constitution and therefore the freedom to even own property in the first place.

As far as the chicken-little aspect goes with regard to fuel, the free market will take care of everything - provided the Government does not step in on behalf of special interest groups (Oil on the Right, and "traditional" alternative energy on the Left) to squash innovation.

>Where have the birds gone?I read that before the white man came, America was one solid forest from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River.

Before we start pointing fingers at Tropical forest losses we should also re-examine the loss of temperate forests here at home too.

-Ron-

No one has mentioned water use- capturing the rain, using cisterns, rainbarrels,etc.

By what I've read, if you want to use gray water (washing machine, sinks) for the landscape, you'd best not ask for government permission- the regulations will kill the project!

Just want to point out that if you jump on the so-called "chicken littles", you are playing a part in squashing some of that creative innovation. If we all keep whistling in the dark while it gets hotter and dryer, year by year, and we assume no end to the carbon based fuels, then, hey, why innovate, why try to come up with alternative ways of living that might be better for us all, body and soul.

Here's to us chickens!

Wellspring

I think its important to do sustainable, organic and all the green practices you can understand and impliment, HOWEVER... Within that context, I live in a tough little neighborhood, Wound up here along lifes little twists and turns, with everyone else here, NO ONE gets here at first because its a place you would choose to be. But I have noticed that some of the people in the neighborhood really love my garden. Its not like any others nearby. It is like a little oasis, for my soul, and I guess thiers too. When I occasionally leave the gate open,(which I am doing more and more) I see them look in, and on Halloween, when I open it up with the twinkly lights etc, some people say things like "Oh, Ive allways wanted to be in side here". This brings me to my point. Along with food for the body, in appocliptic times, people will need the tranquility that comes from nature and green things, as well as sustenanse for the soul.
One time the bamboo matting on my perimeter fencing got tagged by some "Newbie"in one of the little gangs. The kids around my street blocks were so hurt, that eventually my boss even mentioned it to me. (I work at a middle school in my neighborhood) Kids kept coming to me and telling me that they were so sad, and upset, and what they wanted to do about it. Eventually I put out a note for the person telling them that my garden is not some ones turf, or having any affiliation with anything except peacefullness. (and being the artist that I am, if I wanted tagging on my fence Id have done GOOD Artistic tagging, my boss said, NO, you would have offered to teach them to be a better tagger :) This was when I realized it meant something to people to have a peacefull and beautifull thing to love, even in real hard times, and this is why I think gardens will still count at the end.

I think the idea behind permaculture and perhaps my goals, as I'm beginning to shape & define them, is to look at our gardens as places, which with a bit of thinking and design can meet many different needs and desires. One simple example: I want to plant a hedge for aesthetic and/or privacy concerns; why not choose plant material that provides for animal habitat or human consumption? The fact is, that there are many decisions we make in our gardens and in the way we lead our lives that, taken as a whole, can have significant impacts on the planet as well as our individual happiness.

This is just what I was thinking! In one garden room I have a row of black raspberries in tubs on a paver terrace (set on the ground, not cemented into it:). It makes a lovely third screen, taller than the box hedge and shelf of fuschias that are the first lower screens. They were all tip rooted from plants at my moms place. We try to share as much as we can. It makes the prettiest folage, with the blue canes, and then the delicious fruit. My garden is all NO KIll, but I dont have any bug problems becasue I try to have enough bird habitat that natures little cleaning machines are chirping madly every waking moment. I try to plant lots of things that will make seeds for all different types of little birds, then not dead head till very late in the spring (I do dead head lots of stuff, but not what I planted to be bird food) they like hardy asters, echenacia,. etc. then for other screens I have used red raspberries, blueberries, and of course bamboo, which I use for building stuff. I read about mixing strawberries and pole beans, and dense intense planting and thats working real well. The fact is, if its well groomed, it looks great, veggie fruit, or purely ornamental, all mixed. the thing I feel bad about tho, is that I have this huge parking strip, that I could plant rows of berries, and all sorts of nice food for my neighbors to enjoy, but they say not to eat plants planted right along a busy street because of toxins in the automobile exhaust. Any how, I think you are really on to something. oh ya, I got the Daughters kids hooked on using a dipper and bucket to empty the wading pool as they give the nearby potted stuff "a drink"

I've been ready to start the revolution for years. Grass should be policed (no more than a given percentage of a property). What a waste - how many could we feed if we grew veggies on what is now grass. In Chicago, the Mayor is pushing rooftop gardening (skyscrapers!), which are not only aesthetic oases, but drop the temps in the heat of summer by at least 15 degrees in these enormous buildings. Rainwater is collected. But I wonder how many could (also) be growing enough to feed the poor, who could also be tending them -- because they have no job. There are so many ways to solve so many of our environmental and cultural problems simultaneously with intelligent use of the planet's gifts. We're so blind.

Westy1941

I have been slowly loseing faith in gardenweb over the last few months, after getting in arguments about people rleasing farm animals into the wild and people feeding cats and letting them outdoors I've become pretty pesemistic about gardeners as a group of people, but this thread is so fantastic to find that I just swell up with hapiness at reading it.

Regarding birds, many people underestimate there importance, birds are invaluable to us because they are resposible for spreading the forests. They spread seeds from mullberries and cherries andapples and pears and all sorts of fruit trees providing a source of food for us to use if we really need to, and they also spread nonfruiting seeds as well, and those grow into trees and bushes too, soaking carbon dioxide up from the air and providing a fuel source should we need it. anyways back to the main topic.

Rhubarb makes agreat foundation planting, the heat off the house can lead to a very early harvest and it can be a great source of food to restore dwindleing winter stocks fast. Strawberries can be laid out in curving rows below bushes to form attractive plantings. Cherry trees are often fantastically ornamental in spring, and blueberries provide a bit of winter interest. Scarlet runner beans produce well as a green screen covering the south sides of houses in spring and fall. Grapes hardy Kiwi and Hops (I know, its more of a spice, but beer is important too dagummit) can also provide great shade in the summer, even shade for two storry houses roofs. in the hot summer months peas can be grown in shade in many locations. Man flowers are themselves edible; Nasturtiums are completely edible, leaves and all; roses not only produce edible hips but the petals are edible aswell, if you are careful you can harvest the petals first and the hips later; Violas and Pansies are edibe; Marigolds are edible aswell and offer a significant degree of protection from nematodes in the soil that attack tom's and pots. Garlic, Chives, Leeks, and Onions are also easy to grow and provide a degree of protection, and these can be easily fit into corners of a garden.

there are also medicinals to be grown, given the right kind of wood/grain medium mushrooms can be grown anywere, even in your root cellar. You can grow your own digitalis if you use it, untill not too long ago digitalis was issued from pharmacies in leaf form (fox glove) although some effort would need to be put into regulating the doseage.
Asparagus is another early season producer, goes well planted along fence rows. and there are a miriad of great trees to choose for an orchard, some plants will even atract deer and squirels, which are edible aswell.
Animals also fit into this story, guinea fowl and muscovy ducks provide eggs and pest controll. Sheep are an excilent way to keep a lawn trimmed (especially cosidering that the entire reason that lawns were developed was to mimic the look of sheep pastures.) if you have an acre or two of pasture land you can consider alpacas for wool rather than sheep, or if food is more interesting to you dexter miniature cattle produce more milk for there wieght than any other cow, a very high cream content aswell. I tend to dislike goats because billies will spoil the milk and they will strip the bark off of your trees.

There are just so many things to talk about, I wish I could cram them all in. oh, rooftop gardening is a great place to go too, No deer or rabits to eat your hard work, Wyat Erp (sp?) grew veggies on his roof top when he lived here in AK to keep them out of the mooses stomach. and it really does keep your house warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

I became interested in edible and medicinal plants as a teenager, and that's part of what led me to explore natural resources, agriculture and urban horticulture as a university student.

My garden has plants for beauty and, if needed, for function -- the daylilies are entirely edible, from flower buds to roots (I shocked a client by popping a daylily bud in my mouth after she told me she hated daylilies and wanted them ripped out of her garden); violets, roses, mints and the usual garden herbs such as chives, parsley, sage and thyme grow "wild" in the gravel and beds, providing food for me and for butterflies; the stands of yarrow could provide a poultice if I need one to stanch a bleeding wound. I can chew willow bark to ease a headache.

Milkweed and pokeweed shoots that thrive along the driveway with the tansy and strawberries can offer a fresh spring salad. A tumble of grapevines laden with this year's harvest scrambles over a chainlink fence, obscuring its ugliness entirely. There are female and male kiwi vines; akebia (two types for cross-fertilization); native mayapple; lots of hosta -- the shoots make a good lettuce substitute -- and fiddleheads from the ferns.

The garden pool has arrowhead, the tubers of which are edible. Sweetflag and houttaynia ("dokudame" to the Japanese and "chamaeleon plant in North America) offer flavoring. In a trough of native andromeda, I planted wintergreen for its mouth-freshening berries and the fragrance of its leaves. Blueberry bushes are gradually replacing the burning bush euonymus that came with the house. In back, there bamboo grows -- the culled canes are free garden stakes, and the shoots are edible if you steam them tender.

This year I added serviceberry - my favorite for its blueberry-like fruit.

That is a partial list. I'm always adding new stuff or finding "volunteers" in the garden such as chokeberry seedlings. The real prize is the wildlife that inhabit my tiny area, from monarch butterflies laying their eggs on the milkweed, to resident green frogs, butterflies, dragonflies and hoverflies, and birds aplenty.

Boy, would I love to do a roof garden! Sempervivums and sedums would be perfect for the rubber roof over the sunroom...

I am planning my fully edible landscape for our new house. The lot is 30'x170' deep, and I'm planning on devoting all of it to edibles, front and back alike. We were thinking about possibly getting a goat for milk (we live in New Orleans in the city, and I've seen people with pet pigs, and 1 with a "pet" goat) and I know of a few people who kept chickens. But after reading Brendan of Bonsai's post, I am enchanted with the idea of a miniature cow. I just picutred myself walking it down the neutral ground (median to others) cause I know they don't chemically treat the grass, for grazing and building a small hay/feed barn. Hubby grew up on a dairy farm and his eyes started sparkling a bit. Hmmmmm...fresh milk, butter and cheese!

It's interesting when a thread that you started long ago is revisited. I have continued to think about the issues of sustainability & incorporating more edible plants in my landscape as I move forward with my own future plans.
Much to learn though, as the next garden will likely be in the hills of central America. One thing I have certainly learned already, however, is the concept of manana. "Manana, manana, I love ya manana ..."