Foodscaping Ideas

Foodscaping ideas can include turning your green grass into a festival of growing foods that your family can eat for dinner!

Welcome to the exciting world of foodscaping! If you've ever looked at your lawn and thought there must be a better use for all that space, you're absolutely right. Foodscaping ideas are revolutionizing how we think about our yards, transforming them from mere decorative spaces into productive food gardens that are both beautiful and practical.

The concept is simple yet powerful: instead of maintaining a traditional grass lawn that requires constant mowing, watering, and chemical treatments, why not grow food? This movement encourages homeowners to plant food, not grass in their yards, creating sustainable, edible landscapes that benefit both their families and the environment.

Foodscaping Ideas - 5/12-5/18/2025

Foodscaping Ideas - Monday, May 12, 2025

I was outside for sunrise in the front yard. You can see our wood chipper, generator, and the well house.

It's Monday again. Today, it will be about 95°, the last of the "cool" weather before we have a week of 100° plus temperatures. I cannot believe it is already that time, just when things were taking off in the garden. Boo!

This week we are talking about growing food in your yard. Instead of landscaping, it is called foodscaping. Ha ha! Do you have any good foodscaping ideas? If you have an HOA that doesn't allow garden beds in your front yard, they probably allow trees. Plant some fruit trees. A peach tree or a pear tree would look nice and after a few years, you would get fruit. Our peach trees are finally putting on a lot of peaches this spring but it took five years before it paid off.

Seed Sale This Week

This is our Buttercup Squash. Doesn't it look good? It is called winter squash because the rind is thicker than summer squash so you can store it to eat during winter.

Our seed sale this week is on all of summer squash, winter squash (which you plant now, not in the winter), pumpkins, and zucchini seeds. Buy three or more packs and save 10%. Everything else is at the regular low price. Each week, we will feature different seed families on sale.

Several customers in the store have told me they can't plant winter squash in the winter because it is too cold. Duh. You plant winter squash in the spring and summer and store it. Unlike summer squash, it does not to be eaten right away. Store it in a cool dry place and it will last a while because it has a much thicker rind, like a pumpkin, than yellow squash.

I have some winter squash growing in my garden right now. You can see it in one of the hoop houses out front.

We have had a lot of roses blooming but this is the first yellow rose of spring in my little rose garden.

This afternoon, I went to a new doctor. After that, we picked up goat and chicken feed as well as hay. While we were gone, my car was picked up and taken away. Then our only customer of the day came. Matt handled all of it. We got back just before closing and now I am pulling orders.

I will make chicken this evening and Martha Stewart is on at 9pm. Gordon Ramsay comes on with two shows next Wednesday night, May 21. I am very excited about that.

The temperature at 5pm is 95°. Tomorrow through Wednesday night there is a heat advisory here according to my Alexa. Fun times!

I worked until 6pm pulling orders. Then I came in and made chicken and rice. It was so good. We watched House and at 9:30pm, David realized we were missing Martha so we turned it on and watched the second half. Oh well. I was so tired that I didn't even realize the time.

The full moon came up this evening. Wasn't it gorgeous?

Foodscaping Ideas

Foodscaping ideas include planting that gives you food everywhere in your yard as long as it is acceptable to the HOA if you have one. We had 1 for 18 years. Never again!

Today's article will guide you through everything you need to know about foodscaping, from basic concepts to advanced techniques. Whether you're new to gardening or you're an experienced green thumb, you'll find valuable information to help you transform your outdoor space into a productive paradise.

The beauty of foodscaping lies in its versatility. You can start small with a few herbs and vegetables in your front yard or go all-in with a complete yard transformation. The choice is yours, and the possibilities are endless.

Before we dive deeper, it's important to understand that foodscaping isn't just about growing food – it's about creating an aesthetically pleasing landscape that happens to be edible. This approach combines the best of traditional landscaping with productive gardening.

One of the most exciting aspects of foodscaping is its potential to build community. When you garden in the front yard (if your HOA allows it--ours did not so we left the city), you create opportunities for conversation with neighbors and passersby, fostering connections and potentially inspiring others to start their own food gardens.

The timing couldn't be better for embracing foodscaping. With rising grocery prices and increasing awareness about food security, growing your own food has never made more sense.

Let's explore how you can transform your yard into a beautiful, productive space that provides fresh, healthy food for your family while contributing to a more sustainable future.

Foodscaping Ideas - Tuesday, May 13, 2025

It's another foggy field morning here on the farm. It will soon burn off. Today the temp will soar to 107°--insane!

Good morning. Today is the first 100 plus degree day of the year. I dread the heat. For the next seven days, we should suffer with the heat. After that, it will cool off and temperatures will be in the 90s. Ha ha!

I have to catch up from yesterday and get a lot of orders out today.

David is planting some heat tolerant beans and okra today. It is the perfect time to plant okra. Okra loves the heat and will, no doubt, do very well, as it always does in this hot weather.

Change of plans. Nacho came out to do some yard work this morning so David will plant tomorrow morning.

I refilled the pond today and I watered all of my plants and trees in the backyard. Then I got over to the store about 30 minutes late because of the watering.

I have been filling orders all day long. It is now 3pm and I have more orders to pull.

So far today, we have had three different visitors to the store. One wanted trees. Another wanted to know why his herb seeds never came up--they were not our seeds. He did not want more seeds, just free advice. A third came by for some free seeds that David promised. Any actual customers out there?

The sky is bright blue and the air is hot. It is 99°. So far today, we have been spared of the 107° heat.

It is now 4:30pm and it is 103°. Boo!

It got up to 104° and the air was so heavy with heat. It was just awful.

Foodscaping Ideas

The first step in your foodscaping journey is to assess your space. Take a good look at your yard's sunlight patterns, soil quality, and existing features. This information will help you make informed decisions about what to plant and where.

Consider starting with a small area rather than trying to transform your entire yard at once. This approach allows you to learn and adjust as you go, building confidence and knowledge along the way.

One popular foodscaping strategy is to begin by replacing ornamental plants with edible alternatives. For example, swap out decorative shrubs for blueberry bushes or replace annual flowers with colorful Swiss chard.

Don't forget to check local regulations before starting your foodscape. Some neighborhoods have restrictions on front yard gardens, though many communities are becoming more accepting of this practice.

Planning is crucial for successful foodscaping. Consider creating a design that incorporates different heights, colors, and textures to maintain visual interest throughout the growing season.

Think about incorporating permanent features like fruit trees or berry bushes as anchor points in your design. These perennial food plants provide structure and require less maintenance than annual vegetables. Our peach and apricot trees are really putting out fruit this spring. Our blackberry bushes have their first ripe berries of the season. I found two yesterday and ate both!

Remember to include paths and access points in your design. You'll need to reach your plants for maintenance and harvesting, so make sure your layout is practical as well as beautiful.

Consider vertical growing opportunities too. Trellises, arbors, and wall-mounted planters can maximize your growing space while adding architectural interest to your foodscape.

Foodscaping Ideas - Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Foodscaping Ideas include adding lots of plants in your yard.

This morning, it got down to 67° and up we go again with the temperature.

We finally got the store hooked up to the new internet and customers will now once again get a paper receipt. In fact, just after it was hooked up at lunchtime, a customer came in and bought some pepper seeds. I was able to ring him up and give him a paper receipt after about three weeks with just texting receipts. He was our only customer today.

It is now 3pm and 97° outside so it is not as hot as was predicted yet.

At 5pm, I went in and did the dishes and some other fun chores. We had chicken and veggies for dinner. Then, I went out to water all of my plants and trees. They are not doing well in this heat. It is like we are all baking in an oven.

After that, our Walmart grocery delivery came and I was able to shock the pool. The back story is that I was out of shock and last week, I ordered a big pack from Amazon which should have been here in the middle of last week. Then they moved it to Saturday and that didn't happen. Then yesterday, then today...never got delivered so I included some in with the grocery order.

Here is Trump cozied up, head first, to my leg. He did not move from that position until I got up to go to bed. He is so cute.

Around 9pm, Trump and I got cozy in the den. I sat down and put my feet up. Trump jumped up and stretched out next to my legs and he was cozy like that until I got up and went to bed.

Foodscaping Ideas

Herbs are excellent starter plants for foodscaping. They're typically low-maintenance, attractive, and provide fresh flavors for your cooking. Many herbs also attract beneficial insects to your garden.

Vegetables can be surprisingly ornamental. Rainbow chard, purple cabbage, and multicolored peppers offer visual appeal while providing nutritious harvests.

Fruit trees create beautiful focal points and provide shade while producing food. Consider dwarf varieties if space is limited.

Berry bushes make excellent hedges and borders while providing delicious fruits. Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are popular choices.

Edible flowers add color and charm while being useful in the kitchen. Nasturtiums, pansies, and calendula are both beautiful and edible.

Consider incorporating pollinator-friendly plants to support local ecosystems and improve your garden's productivity.

Don't forget about ground covers! Many edible options like strawberries and creeping thyme can replace traditional grass in appropriate areas.

Include some season-extending elements like cold frames or hoop houses to maximize your growing season and food production.

Foodscaping Ideas - Thursday, May 15, 2025

My scarlet runner beans are getting bigger and the blooms are so pretty.

Good morning. The pool looks good this morning! The green is gone and my Amazon package of shock still has not been delivered. I requested a refund just a few moments ago. The sun is out and it will be another hot, hot day. I have boiled some eggs for the chickens since we have so many. I gave away four dozen yesterday since no one wants to buy eggs anymore and I have a good 22 dozen left. Can you believe that? Probably, no one will want any until fall when the chickens are molting. Then everyone will want them and I won't have any. That is what happened last fall.

The chickens love to eat eggs and it helps with their calcium needs. They will enjoy a good breakfast this morning.

I planted my other two planters that Matt set up for me in my plant area just now and I watered everything again to give it all a fighting chance to survive in this horrible heat.

The pool vacuum is going and I backwashed and rinsed the filter this morning. It was nasty again.

David is planting out front and Matt is taking video of it all. It is time for me to go to work.

It is currently 3:06pm and 100° Fahrenheit. We have had one customer who bought two packs of seeds. We are set!

Good news! It has now been a month since tax day. Our accountant just called and said he will come out this Saturday and finish off our taxes. I sure hope so. I am so disgusted by all of this. This won't happen again, I can assure you. We always pay our taxes on time.

We had one more customer before the end of the day. Then I made angus beef hot dogs, corn on the cob, sliced cucumbers, and air fried zucchini and crookneck squash. It was a quick and yummy meal. David and Matt worked until 8pm.

I was outside working on the pool. It was my first time in the pool this season and there were so many bugs and nastiness. I did not swim, I just cleaned. Gnats kept trying to get in my eyes. The vacuum was going and it kept trying to get me...

I finished for the night, filled the floaties with chlorine tabs, shocked it again, and went in to shower, getting all of that dirty water off of me.

Foodscaping Ideas

Layer your plantings to create visual interest and maximize space. Think in terms of ground covers, mid-height plants, and tall specimens. Consider using something like the Three Sisters planting for part of your edible design.

Use repetition in your design to create cohesion. Repeat plants, colors, or shapes throughout your foodscape to tie everything together.

Consider the seasons when planning your foodscape. Include plants that provide interest and food throughout the year.

Create focal points using larger plants or structures like artistic trellises or attractive container groupings.

Incorporate hardscaping elements like paths, raised beds, or seating areas to make your foodscape both functional and inviting.

Think about color combinations when selecting plants. Mix flowers and edibles to create appealing visual displays.

Plan for maintenance access. Make sure you can reach all areas of your foodscape for planting, weeding, and harvesting.

Consider privacy needs when designing your foodscape. Strategic placement of taller plants can create natural screens.

Foodscaping Ideas - Friday, May 16, 2025

Both of the plumbago plants near the Farm Store door are blooming. I just love this shade of blue--comes close to a periwinkle Crayola crayon, one of my favorites when I was little.

And then there were three. Business right now is so slow that we had to let our help go yesterday. Part of it is the economic turn down. With high prices at the grocery store, many don't have the extra money to try gardening. The other part is that it is now hot summer and once it gets hot, we don't get much business. Not much grows here in the summer.

I made French toast with bananas for breakfast. The dishes are washing. I went outside and backwashed the pool and the vacuum is going again. It looks better but dirt has settled on the sides again. There is less, but it is still not clean. It takes so much work to get it ready.

It is now 1:16pm. The mailman and FedEx have been here, but no customers or other visitors. It is hot and humid and we are having to water plants again today as they are wilting in the oven-like temperatures. Thank God there is a nice breeze or it would be fairly unbearable.

I am still pulling orders. Matt is outside doing chores.

I made the most incredible spaghetti casserole for dinner this evening. It was amazing! Even David complimented it and that, folks, is very rare!

Foodscaping Ideas

Establish a regular maintenance schedule to keep your foodscape looking its best. This includes watering, weeding, pruning, and harvesting.

Implement efficient irrigation systems to reduce water waste and save time. Drip irrigation or soaker hoses work well for many foodscapes.

Practice organic gardening methods to protect beneficial insects and maintain soil health.

Monitor for pests and diseases regularly. Early detection makes problems easier to manage. Don't forget to fertilize about once a month, once the plants have begun to put on more than the first set of leaves.

Keep up with harvesting to encourage continued production and maintain the aesthetic appeal of your foodscape.

Plan for seasonal cleanup and preparation for the next growing season.

Consider composting to create your own soil amendments and reduce waste.

Document your successes and challenges to improve your foodscape year after year in a garden planner or in a notebook.

Foodscaping Ideas - Saturday, May 17, 2025

This Easter Egger did not go in last night when the chickens were called. She must have been hiding behind one of the small chicken coops. She enjoyed the kitchen scraps this morning.

Good morning. I got to take care of all of the animals by myself this morning. They are all fine but one little hen was not pleased. She was inadvertently left outside all night long. She let me know about it, too. I rewarded her by giving her the scraps all to herself for about five minutes until I put out the food, filled the waterers and let the rest of the flock out. She enjoyed that!

The chicken yard in the above photo looks like a barren desert. That is because 44 chickens have eaten all of the plants and grass in there.

The goats are fine. Everyone got lots of fresh water to get through another miserably humid day. The babies are now all eating feed and hay so our feed bill is going up!

After that, I watered all of my plant towers, plants and trees in the backyard. Then I cleaned the pool filter and turned the vacuum on again. The pool is looking so much better. I was going to go in it last night but I had to cook and clean up the kitchen and Matt stayed so we watched another John Grisham movie, The Chamber. It was pretty good.

Norton in his shelter enjoying the shade.

We had one set of customers to buy some bags of luffa sponges that we grew here. The mailman brought four packages that could not be delivered. Our accountant was supposed to come at 2pm today to finish off our 2024 income taxes but now he has put it off until 5:30pm. At that time, I should be getting dinner ready, not sitting around a table waiting to see how much more I have to pay the government. Hmmmm. I wonder if he will actually come out today. He is going out of town on Monday.

It is now 1:44pm and the gate closes at 2pm. Someone was supposed to come and pick up some special boxes but that he has not shown up for that. Now we will have to put them away as it might rain tonight. We can only hope it does rain. Everything is so dry in this heat. We have a 51% chance at 6pm.

I left work at 2:33pm and changed sheets, did three loads of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, loaded the dishwasher, and baked a cake which is now cooling. I also washed eggs and loaded egg cartons and took them over to the commercial kitchen.

David says the accountant is still coming. I cleaned up the table in the Farm Store so we can all sit there, if he shows up. I was going to go in the pool but something always comes up. It is looking good.

Matt put on two new faucets in our bathrooms. We have just one more bathroom faucet that needs to be replaced but the store only had three. (Matt changed one out weeks ago.) I told him to check the store up in Devine now to see if another has come in.

Trixie, George, and Gracie eating with Ethel leaving the shelter.

The accountant showed up to finish up our taxes at 6:10pm and he left at 8:25pm. The whole time he was here, I was sealing seed envelopes, loading seed bins, and putting away backstock. The good news is that we owe very little for 2024 because of the economic turn down. I am afraid that this year it will be even worse. I am grateful we don't have to pay that much more than we already paid all year long.

After that, Matt grilled thin steaks and shish kabob veggies. We watched yet another John Grisham movie, The Client. I was going to watch Svengoolie tonight but we missed that.

We got a small amount of rain on and off starting around 8:45pm.

Foodscaping Ideas

Experiment with companion planting to maximize space and improve plant health.

Try succession planting to ensure continuous harvests throughout the growing season.

Incorporate season extension techniques like row covers or cold frames.

Consider adding small livestock like chickens or bees to your foodscape if regulations permit.

Explore permaculture principles to create a more sustainable and self-maintaining system.

Implement water conservation strategies like rainwater harvesting and mulching.

Create microclimates to expand the range of plants you can grow.

Develop preservation methods to enjoy your harvest year-round.

Foodscaping Ideas - Sunday, May 18,2025

Sunrise from the commercial kitchen patio.

I woke up at 3:25am with mild neuropathy. The podiatrist said it is caused by nerves that are affected by my sugar intake. David wanted a cake so I made one and I ate it last night. I regretted that at 3:25am although it was very mild.

I got up early and fed the animals. David made breakfast tacos which was very nice. The little bit of rain that we got did not even register in the rain gauge. It just made everything muddy.

The zinnias are popping out now and looking so pretty.

We went to church and went to Dairy Queen with two couples. It was a fun visit.

I now have laundry going and a huge stack of orders to pull. The air outside feels hot and heavy, just nasty. David is taking a nap with the puppies.

It is now 7pm and I cleaned the pool late this afternoon. It looked fairly good so I took my first swim of the season. It felt great. I love the water--always have. My favorite days as a little girl were the ones where we would go to the beach or someone's pool.

My mother would scream at me not to go in above my ankles and I would wander out to my chin. She would totally freak out because she can't swim. Neither could I back then. She learned this behavior from her mother who couldn't swim. The really fun times were when her parents went to the lake with us and both of them were yelling at me! Good times!

My father, on the other hand, could swim but instead of teaching me, he would take me out to the deep and throw me in. I always had to struggle to make it back to where I could stand again.He would just laugh. I swallowed a lot of lake water back in my childhood.

One day, at family church camp, one of the dads from my church was teaching his little girl to swim. She was six. I stood next to them and whatever he told Lizzy to do, I would do. That, folks, is how I finally learned to swim at Camp Taconic in Red Hook, New York when I was ten.

I made sure all three of my kids could swim when they were young because water is so much fun, not something to be feared. None of my siblings can swim which is a shame.

I have to go out and put everyone away for the night. While I was in the pool, it sprinkled a few times but that was it. Gotta go and make dinner, too. I am a bit late...

Foodscaping Ideas

Share your excess produce with neighbors to build community connections.

Consider organizing neighborhood garden tours to inspire others.

Document and share your foodscaping journey on social media to inspire others.

Join or create local gardening groups to share knowledge and resources.

Engage with local schools or community organizations to educate others about foodscaping.

Participate in seed swaps and plant exchanges to diversify your garden affordably.

Consider starting a neighborhood composting program to benefit multiple gardens.

Remember that your foodscape can serve as a model for sustainable living and community building, inspiring others to grow food instead of grass and creating a more resilient local food system.

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