Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally

Robert Kourik; Foreword by Rosalind Creasy

Color Plates

Color plates for Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally are found only online. You may download the entire entire color section or download individual pages below.

Download the entire color section (2.3 MB)

Download Color Plate 1 (270 KB).

Color Plate 1 includes:

• Figure 1.1 Ornamental kale is as tasty as the better-known green variety, and it adds a colorful height to a winter landscape. (Photograph by Rosalind Craeasy.)
• Figure 1.2 ‘Romanesco’ broccoli, sometimes called ‘Green Point,’ should be planted in late summer in moderate winter areas, or in the early spring in cold witner areas. Be sure to give this spectacular plant a prominent place in your edible landscape.

Download Color Plate 2 (265 KB).

Color Plate 2 includes:

• Figure 1.3 Oriental persimmons are highlighted against a backdrop of early morning fog. Persimmon trees keep their colorful fruit long into winter, when bright colors are needed in an edible landscape.
• Figure 1.4 For a blaze of spring blossom, the ‘Garden Beauty’ nectarine is hard to beat. The profuse bloom gives a preview of the copious crop soon to follow. While the newer miniature varieties have superior flavor, I often plant the ‘Garden Beauty’ for its unequaled floral display.

Download Color Plate 3 (304 KB).

Color Plate 3 includes:

• Figure 1.5 This colorful patio planting combines red and green chard, red-leaved lettuce, and a miniature ‘Garden Prince’ almond with ornamentals. It exhibits two important rules of edible landscaping: put the salad vegetables as close to the kitchen as possible, and start very small.
• Figure 1.10 The Kellys’ landscape, viewed from their dining room. The rounded area at the end of each terrace is planted with seasonal flowers to add color and to soften the look of the wooden beds.

Download Color Plate 4 (348 KB).

Color Plate 4 includes:

• Figure 1.11 The Kellys’ kitchen door leads directly to the edible landscape and to the compost bins. To the left of the path is a narrow terrace of informally espaliered fruit trees. The colorful red plant in the foreground is red-leaved amaranth, or summer spinach (Amaranthus sp.).
• Figure 1.12 Each of the three 100-square-foot vegetable terraces is planted intensively to get the most produce from a small area. The dense plantings are aided by fertile topsoil, compost, and by reflected light from the flagstones.

Download Color Plate 5 (392 KB).

Color Plate 5 includes:

• Figure 1.13 The informal wild border cases the transition from the geometric vegetable beds to the wilder areas surrounding the landscape, The herbaceous border includes medicinal herbs, edible flowers, and cut flowers, and provide pollen and nectar for beneficial insects.
• Figure 1.14 Flagstones are set in packed gravel, without a plastic undersheet, for good percolation of winter rain. The stones’ pleasing texture makes a safe all-weather surface.
• Figure 1.15 The edibles in this landscape bear earlier each spring and bear longer into winter than in nearby gardens, because the vegetable terraces are on a south-facing slope, and massive amounts of stone were used in walls and paths. The flagstones reflect extra light into the dense plantings, and the stones give off heat at night. The fieldstone wall was constructed without mortar to save money, to encourage drainage, and to give herbs and flowering plants a place to grow.

Download Color Plate 6 (320 KB).

Color Plate 6 includes:

• Figure 4.2 This edible landscape features redwood rounds and flagstones with Dutch white clover growing between them. The clover softens the hard look of wood and stone.
• Figure 4.6 The Kellys’ edible landscape is compact and close to the kitchen. Size and proximity were carefully considered before construction, to make the design as labor-saving as possible.
• Figure 4.9 One of the may “fruit salad” trees at the Floreses’ apartments. A number of almond branches have been grafted to this peach tree. In the spring, the tree has a delightful mixture of pale pink and pure white flowers, all blooming at the same time.

Download Color Plate 7 (376 KB).

Color Plate 7 includes:

• Figure 7.5 These raised beds were built with the sheet composting method. Sheet composting improves the soil without tilling, and is effective for ornamentals as well as for edibles.
• Figure 15.4 To soften the effect of an expanse of mulch, I plant colorful ground covers (both annuals and perennials) along the edge. The rambling ground cover (in this example, nasturtium with its edible flowers, leaves, and seed pods) also breaks the hard line created by the edge of the mulch.

Download Color Plate 8 (244 KB).

Color Plate 8 includes:

• Figure 16.12 This close-up of anis (Pimpinella anisum) shows the typical umbel flower buds that once in bloom provide large amounts of nectar to beneficial insects.
• Figure 18.11 A mullein flower stalk blooms over many months and adds a wonderful accent to any flower border. Picked in early morning, mullein flowers (Verbascum sp.) are quite tasty. Keep them fresh in a vegetable crisper and add them to a lunch or dinner salad for a colorful highlight.
• Figure 18.12 The blossoms of pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) are my favorite edible flowers. The petals are soft and succulent, and their flavor is a harbinger of the delightful tropical fruit.