Foodscaping: Practical and Innovative Ways to Create an Edible Landscape

by Charlie Nardozzi

Keep your lawn and eat it too - Foodscaping will show you how to grow food without giving up your view. Foodscaping is what it sounds like - a combination of landscaping and food. This gardening resource is chock-full of real-world examples, photos, and advice so that even an "average Joe" homeowner and gardener can grow food without sacrificing either their lawn or their home's appearance to do so. While "edible" and "ornamental" aren't always synonymous, they can be combined, with the right plants, placement, and advice from author and edible gardening expert Charlie Nardozzi. Charlie's ideas allow you to add food plants wherever you like. Incorporating food-bearing plants as hedgerows and barriers or in small spaces, containers, window boxes and many more ideas allow you to expand the types of plants you can use and even extend your growing season! For example, blueberry bushes provide not just fruit, but also wonderful fall color. Arbors and pergolas are perfect supports for edible plants and even simplify harvest. Squash and cabbage have attractive, interesting leaf textures, so they can be a part of the ornamental garden. Foodscaping also goes beyond mere plant selection. The basics of gardening, planting, pruning, dealing with pests, watering, feeding, and harvesting are all covered in detail, ensuring your success in creating a beautiful, edible landscape for your home.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Health, Food

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2015

Reviews

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for someone who wants a yard their neighbors will appreciate, but also wants to grow some edible plants. When I think of my (food) garden, I'm not so worried about what neighbors will think, but I see the logic in the concept. Good overview, including how-tos and a useful table of "Foodscape Plant Substitutes for Common Landscape Plants" so you can slowly put in edible plants that are similar in size/color/shape to non-edible plants you like. For example, the author recommends putting in a blueberry bush instead of a burning bush, they both have bright foliage in the fall but you can get blueberries from the blueberry bush.

The most useful chapter for me was "My Favorite Foodscape Plants". I always like sections where experienced gardeners talk about what works really well for them.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book for beginners but there isn't enough depth of information for anyone who has had vegetable and flower gardens for any period of time. Not zone specific, the list of recommended plants for the flower garden are limited and routine. The photos are lovely but they highlight the lack of information and in some cases practicality. An example is recommending summer squash in the landscape-they often look poorly when they get mildew and the borers attack, and when they die they would leave a huge hole in the landscape. Not a plant I would recommend. Likewise asparagus always falls over and would need some staking.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vegetable gardens don't have to be boring rectangles and landscaping doesn't have to be all inedible. This book shows some lovely examples, briefly explains how to get started, and then goes over many types of edible plants that can be added to your landscaping, from herbs to vegetables to fruit trees.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know if gardening books should count as goodreads but I’m adding them because I’m reading them. If my garden doesn’t improve, maybe I’ll at least hit my 2022 reading challenge. This was a pretty good book, btw. Nice photos and ideas ranging practical to fanciful, which is fun.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of eye-catching photographs, though a little less "how" than "why" for my preference.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to have a beautiful and productive section.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, easy to understand approach to creating a food forest in your backyard. Lots of detail on some really useful food plants to use.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty basic overview.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good basic book about edible landscaping. Focuses on the most commonly grown crops. Doesn't get too crazy with the exotic species or burden the reader with more detail than needed. Best for someone who has gardened before. Not a beginning gardening book, and not a landscape design book in the professional sense.

[AngelaC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic gardening book on including food plants in borders and landscaping.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great ideas for those looking to become more sustainable and self-sufficient. If you're someone like me who by no means has a green thumb but wants to learn some new ideas, it's a great read.

[Tina Panik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great profiles of plants! A well organized and useful guide.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good, practical information. While this includes some basic gardening knowledge, it assumes that you are primarily building on some know-how to include more food.

[Tia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the ideas and gardening layouts in this book!