1. Incorporate edibles into your existing ornamental landscape

a. Tuck mini-dwarf fruit trees or edible berry bushes into sunny spots in your ornamental shrub beds.
b. Use strawberries or salad greens as an edible groundcover in your ornamental beds, or under fruit trees and berry bushes.

d. Plant salad greens, herbs, tomatoes, or other edibles in container gardens on your deck or patio.

2. Extend the season with cloches and cold frames

a. A section of welded-wire fencing can be arched over a planting bed and covered with floating row cover or clear plastic to create a "hoop house". This raises the air and soil temperature just a few degrees, and keeps cold winds from affecting your food plants. A few degrees can be enough to extend your growing season by several weeks in early spring and late fall!
b. A cold-frame is simply a small wood structure made with old windows or Plexiglass panels, usually in a "lean-to" style. It can be permanently installed and used like a mini-greenhouse to start seeds in early spring, or a mobile unit that can be placed over garden beds when needed to protect greens from frosts or freezes.
c. No matter which of these season extenders you use, remember to open them up a bit on sunny days or plants can overheat.

3. Companion planting, interplanting, and succession planting

a. Companion planting means grouping crops together that provide a benefit to one another. The traditional Native American "Three Sisters Garden" is a good example of companion planting- the corn provides a climbing structure for the beans, the beans fix nitrogen into the soil to help replenish what the corn plants remove, and the squash leaves provide shade to reduce weed seed germination and conserve water in the soil. Their spiny stems and leaves also discourage some pests from finding the corn and beans.

b. Interplanting is a good way to get a bountiful, diverse harvest out of a small growing space. It is usually done with two or more crops that need similar sun exposure but have different heights, harvest times, and/or harvest methods.

For example, this photo shows Garlic, Chard, and Lettuce interplanted. Garlic is planted in the fall, and is tall enough by spring to get plenty of sunshine even with Chard planted at its base. Lettuce can be sown in all the "gaps" underneath and between them in the spring, and also will help shade out any weed seedlings that try to invade. By the time the Garlic is dug up mid- summer, the Chard will be hardy enough to withstand some root disturbance, and the Lettuce will be completely harvested.

c. Succession planting allows you to harvest a favorite crop for many weeks instead of it all becoming ready at once. For instance, seed a new row of peas every week in March and early April. Your harvest will continue steady and sure, even after the early-planted vines stop producing, but won't overwhelm you with too many peas at once.

All photos on this page are the property of Emily Bishton