Food can be beautiful, and I don't just mean edible flowers. Gorgeous edible garden design can use herbs, vegetables, fruits and nuts, even wild berries, and you aren't limited to rows, unless, of course, you like rows. (This image is Monticello, early spring, proof that rows can work.) These functional plants can take many forms, from wild, woodland garden wonderlands to rhythmic, formal parterres, and anything in between.
The hard part, and the fun part, is balancing the FORM that makes edible garden design so pleasing with the FUNCTION that allows the design to be a productive edible garden.
From the most transient (spinach) to the most durable (walnuts), our goal is to assemble here the body of knowledge you need to boost your delight. We're starting by covering herb gardens and vegetable gardens now, and will have edible flowers and more perennial crops (fruit trees, nut trees, berry bushes, etc) soon.
We begin with the functional details, the science concepts that underlay garden design whether it's an overall site assessment, a look at garden soils, or the basics of crop rotation.
Technically, Garden Science should include the horicultural details of how to raise plants, but because plants are a HUGE category and because their selection and care encompasses both science and design, we've separated out Garden Plants to be their own section.
