Plant What Where | Compact Edibles
PLANT WHAT WHERE | Compact Edibles
Landscaping with edibles is a modern and practical way to make the most of your outdoor space. Whether you have a large garden, small courtyard, or a balcony, with a range of compact edibles you can create a productive kitchen garden. By cultivating your garden space, you can enjoy multiple benefits for your well-being. Not only will you create a beautiful and relaxing environment, but you will also grow fresh and nutritious ingredients for your cooking.
By using traditional techniques with a fresh look on some garden favourites, you can design a garden to literally fit your needs. Espalier and topiary techniques combined with the right plant choice is the secret to success. Espalier and trellising are methods of training trees to grow flat against a wall or fence, creating a beautiful and productive feature. This technique is ideal for small spaces, as it allows you to grow a variety of trees and shrubs that can provide edible crops. These can be complemented with potted herbs and vegetables.
Landscaping with edibles not only creates a rewarding beautiful garden but is environmentally friendly and economical. You can save money on groceries, reduce food waste, and enjoy fresh and organic produce from your own garden.
Plant Selections:
Prostate Rosemary
An excellent choice for mass planting to cover garden beds. Its weeping habit looks marvellous cascading over retaining walls.
Viola hederacea
A perennial groundcover with decorative mauve and white edible flowers. Grows in a sprawling manner making an excellent dense groundcover.
SMALL TO MEDIUM SHRUBS & HEDGING
Rosmarinus officinalis 'Chefs Choice'
An evergreen, low growing shrub with an abundance of purple-blue flowers in Summer. Extremely hardy garden plant; the highly aromatic green-silver foliage drapes over the pot edge and is pleasing to the eye.
Laurus nobilis 'Baby Bay' pbrA low maintenance fragrant shrub with dark green glossy foliage which can be utilised as a culinary herb. Once established, the foliage is tolerant of tough environmental conditions. Can be grown as a low bordering hedge, or free standing shrub. Grows well in pots and looks fantastic when trimmed as a ball.
These are a traditional feature in Australian gardens, as they offer fragrant flowers and juicy fruits. However, some citrus varieties can grow too large, making it hard to harvest the fruit and to treat gall wasp infestation, a pest that reduces fruit production and causes swellings on the branches. Spray your citrus trees with eco oil occasionally to protect them. Proven citrus trees for the garden are Meyer, Eureka or Lisbon lemon, Tahitian lime, Mediterranean sweet orange and calamondin cumquat. These can be grown in pots or in the ground and clipped to shape to fit your space, making it easy to harvest and treat.
Citrus x limon Lemon 'Eureka'
A strong growing Lemon bearing several crops of fruit with the heaviest during the summer months. Less vigorous than Lisbon, it has very few thorns. Fruit has highly acidic flesh and yields lots of juice. Available as a feature tree or Trellised ready to espalier against a fence or wall. If growing as a freestanding tree remember to prune regularly.
Courtyard Citrus
Our Courtyard Citrus range is perfect for small courtyards and balcony gardens where people want a fruiting shrub. Specifically grown for containers, the Courtyard Citrus will bear an abundance of fruit from mid-autumn to winter, and are easy to maintain
Ficus carica 'Figalicious' (Fig)
A compact, small to medium sized deciduous tree ‘Figalicious’ is a dwarf fig that produces an abundance of delicious dark red fleshed fruit with purple-green coloured skin in summer. Leaves are large, palmate in shape and medium to light green in colour.
Acca sellowiana (Feijoa)
Also commonly known as the Pineapple Guava, the Feijoa is a very hardy evergreen shrub with decorative flowers and delicious fruit in autumn and early winter. Flowers are a soft pink with a white underside and have large, protruding, vivid red stamens, while fruit is green skinned and has a sweet taste of pineapple, apple and mint.
Punica granatum 'Wonderful' (Pomegranate)
Pomegranates make a very ornamental feature tree, and perform well in pots. Ideal for the Aussie Mediterranean garden paired with citrus and figs.
Olea europaea
Olives are another versatile fruit that can be grown in pots or espaliers. These offer longevity, are slow growing, and their silver-grey foliage and gnarly trunk (with age) are attractive features in themselves. They come in different varieties, each with its own flavour and use. Garden Harvest olives are ideal for pickling.
MEDIUM TO LARGE SHRUBS & SCREENING
Laurus nobilis 'Miles Choice'
A large hardy, drought and salt tolerant tree. 'Miles Choice' is a more compact variety of the Bay Laurel. An effective hedging/screening plant that can be kept clipped from 1-4 metres, or left to grow into a medium sized tree. Its dark green leaves provide an ideal backdrop for other plants. An excellent plant for topiary.
Espalier Apples & Pears
These are classic fruits that come in different varieties, such as Gala, Pink Lady, Crimson Crisp, Nashi, Beurre Bosc, or Packham's Triumph. You can harvest fresh apples and pears from your own garden and enjoy them in pies, salads, or juices.
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