Herb and Vegetable Garden Landscapes

A herb or vegetable garden can make a very attractive addition to any landscape. Herb and vegetable gardens, be they stand alone or, incorporated into the overall landscape, can be just as attractive as many of the common annual and perennials found in most gardens.

Herb and vegetable gardens, be they stand alone or, incorporated into the overall landscape, can be just as attractive as many of the common annual and perennials found in most gardens. An added bonus, is the fact that you can eat most of them as well. This is called an 'edible landscape'.

Stand alone herb and vegetable gardens, are just that. An area is set aside purely for the cultivation of these plants. Stand alone herb and vegetable gardens can be made into any shape and or size. The important thing is to keep in mind how it fits in with the rest of the landscape. Generally speaking, if this is to be a show-piece, then nice lines and an overall neatness is to be desired. Certainly this can be achieved by bordering the garden with largish rocks, however, this can be a problem if the garden is laid in the middle of a lawn. The encroachment of the lawn (especially if it is couch, twitch or kikuyu), will grow under the rocks and you will have a constant battle to keep the lawn out of the vegetable garden. A better solution would be to border the garden with landscape logs, such as railway sleepers, or heavy treated planks. This way, at least you can trim or spray the edges periodically to address the encroachment problem. Yet another way would be to make the lawn of chammomile. Non-invasive and although a lot of work to get established, once it's up and running, it's just glorious. Smells wonderful and has a calming effect on most people.

One exciting method of incorporating herbs and vegetables into your landscape, is to plant them randomly, slotting them into any available space. The only drawback with this method is that in order to have a bunch of vegies for a meal, you must go and find them. None the less, if you were to plant them in small groups, of say 6 to 8 plants, at least then you don't have to hunt for a meal. Vegetables such as corn must be planted in large groups though, as corn relies on the wind for pollination of the cobs, having one plant here and there will see a failure of the crop. Plants of the pumkin family, unless dwarf varieties, should be planted sparingly as they have a tendency to take over. Choko vines can give a very 'jungly' type effect and also have a tendency to smother everything in site. So, unless you really, really, love chokos, I would only plant one.

Many herb varieties make excellent ground covers, keeping the moisture in and the weeds out, with the double bonus of being edible with the lovely aroma. Herbs and a great many vegetables canalso be successfully grown in flower boxes and decorative pots, thereby giving the opportunity for a constantly changing outlook, merely by moving the pots and boxes around.

By the way, you don't have to eat the produce. You can just utilise them as an interesting feature, keep tending and replacing them as needs must - however, I find this would be a criminal waste of an important food resource. Fresh herbs and vegetables - doesn't get much better than that!