July 1, 2010 11:24:12 AM PDT
So, after seeing the size of the DerVaes's lot in their latest interview in Feelin' Feminine, I got to thinking: our yard is not much smaller than theirs, but most of the space is in the front yard. Here's our place:
You can see that I'm slowing converting the mailbox bed to strawberries. (Pretty in Red and Seascape strawberries, and silver thyme -- I gotta get some drip line out to those runners). I like our general landscape concept -- it's mostly low-water usage, which is great for for where we live, but it's not edible aside from the berries and herbs, and there's no way we need that much lavender. (:
I'd like to put in some more edibles, and preferably a couple bitty fruit trees if I can manage it. (The fern pine is not going anywhere -- it is our Happy Tree and we love it.) Thing is, I'm just sort of failing at edible landscape design here. Can anyone offer any ideas for how to make this both pretty and tasty?
This is the east side of our house, so it gets lots of morning sun, but not as much afternoon sun, especially in the winter. That dry streambed is made out of rocks we pulled out of our ground. Our soil *is* diggable, but it's very good exercise to do so. (;
The hedge you see near the garage wraps around the side of the house, so I could put a climbing vine or three there. I'd been toying with the idea of raspberries, but wasn't sure if they'd get enough light (that part is semi-shady, especially during winter), and wasn't sure how they'd look in the wintertime. Though I hear that California raspberries fruit all year, so looks should be less of a problem, I think.
I'm also looking at adding some native plants. Most of what I have is drought-tolerant, but not native, which isn't very wildlife-friendly.
Anyone got any ideas for ways to improve and add edibles and/or natives, that'll still look pretty?