These May flowers will become July blueberries: Climax, a southern type variety.
I am a big fan of the print media. I love devouring a new issue of a favorite magazine - either skipping from article to article regardless of order or respectfully combing through the issue one page at a time. Either way, within a matter of hours the magazine is finished.
This past week, I read a column in Organic Gardening by Maria Rodale that I've been coming back to again and again. It was short, simple, and put a name to what I've been trying to do in my garden: Snackscaping.
I can't farm even on a small scale. I have .15 acres in the city. I can barely grow tomatoes because I have chosen to fill my sunniest spots with lilies, roses, and ornamental grasses. But I sure as hell can snackscape!
We've got figs, blueberries, alpine strawberries, sugar snaps, and lettuces that we all (and especially the children) eat just as a matter of course when out in the garden. One day when our fruit trees mature, we'll add apples and plums to the list. And later this spring, we'll plant cucumbers and peas. And yes, tomatoes. Sun Gold tomatoes. After reading Rodale's article, I hope to add raspberries and grapes to our list of garden snacks.
We belong to a CSA, so there's no pressure to harvest enough from the garden for meals (I am a lousy weeder/waterer in August when the weather is beastly) so snackscaping is perfect for me.
To read Maria Rodale's article on snackscaping please see the May 2009 issue of Organic Gardening (her blog - Maria's Farm Country Kitchen - is here). Also, to visit my favorite snackscaping supplier, click here to browse the Edible Landscaping catalogue (a fabulous Afton, VA supplier).
