Edible Desert Gardens
Evferything from fruit to nuts
© Robert Dailey
Mar 16, 2006
There are many plants that are beautiful, produce edible fruit (or are edible themselves) and grow well in desert gardens.
Edible plants in the desert garden
At one time in America, many, if not most, people grew edible plants in their front and back yards.
These plants were mixed in with flowering perennials, annuals, shrubs and trees to create beautiful palettes.
With the advent of the industrial revolution, divisive class distinctions, and Victorian landscaping practices, the custom of growing food along with other plants fell by the wayside, giving way to finely-clipped lawns, sculptured hedges, ubiquitous sprinklers and little else.
Rosalind Creasy, whose book, The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, published by The Sierra Club, is creating a somewhat successful, one-woman campaign to reintroduce edible plants into the landscape. (Her front yard in Los Altos, Ca. is gorgeous, edible, and being copied by her neighbors and landscapers.)
At the recent Xeriscape Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Rosalind gave us a list of edible plants that do well in desert gardens and which are quite attractive.
Here's a partial list:
- Hardy Rosemary (actually, I have a 6-year-old, three-foot-tall and just as wide hardy rosemary in my herb garden).
- Pomegranate (one of the fruits highest in antioxidants.) Ice down ripe fruit, massage them, and stick a straw in it for a delightful taste experience.
- Prickly pear. Not only are the fruits great to eat, but they provide a great barrier plant.
- Pinion pines. Before the bark beetles destroyed 30 of my pinions, I had 32 of them on my property. The nuts are great and were used (and still are) by Native Americans and others as a food source.
- Figs. Figs are, according to Rosalind Creacy, God's gift to mankind. Black fig does especially well in desert climates.
- Almond trees
- Apricots
- Olives (although the Russian olive is a water guzzler and is considered an invasive species in many states)
- Tomatillos (varieties such as Beefsteak are multi-ovaried, and the fruit does not do well in desert climes unless watered excessively)
- Corn (maize)
- Amaranths
- Chiles (although you want varieties that bear fruits inside of the plant leaves, sheltering them from the sun).
- Sesame. In the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, the phrase "open sesame" was used to access the Ali Baba's lair in the desert. Sesame has been well-known to desert dwellers for millennia.
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Edible Desert Gardens in
Desert Gardens is owned by
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Comments
Mar 17, 2006 8:51 PM
Sally Morton :
I love the idea of edibles being mixed in with the landscaping. Flowers and manicured lawns are beautiful, there is no doubt. But edible plants have their own special beauty. One of my favorite plants is sunflowers. I had an empty field in the back yard once upon a time and decided I would sow it very thickly with sunflower seeds. It was awesome. My neighbors loved it. And it was great food for the birds.
My favorite memory of my grandmother was her gardens--she grew huge elephant ears that a child could hide under. Mammoth sunflowers that stretched up into the sky. And mixed into it all were delicious plants you could eat and all sorts of flowers! To a child, her yard was like a wonderland.
My sister has always planted vegetables in decorative containers and mixed them in the landscaping. In season, you can reach out from your chair on her deck and pick cherry tomatoes.
I hope Rosalind starts a trend! It's a return to gracious living if you ask me.
Mar 18, 2006 6:56 AM
Robert Dailey :
Thanks for sharing the story about your yard of sunflowers and your grandmother's edible and flowering garden. What a sight that must have been.
The idea of massive, water-wasting lawns and sculptured shrubs giving way to beautiful AND useful gardens is a lovely idea.
By the way, Rosaling Creacy has several books on edible gardens available from The Sierra Club bookstore.
Bob
Mar 20, 2006 7:32 PM
Janice Benoit :
Bob:
I'd love to have some of the plants that you mentioned, but living in Chicago poses obvious problems for many of them. We have a 4 season porch -- can any of them be grown in containers indoors?
Mar 20, 2006 9:12 PM
Robert Dailey :
Sure. And some of them can also be grown outside. Many people believe that it's always hot in the desert, but here in Santa Fe, most of northern New Mexico, northern Arizona and Southern Colorado, we are in high desert (on what is known as the Colorado plateau). Santa Fe, for instance, is above 7,000 feet in altitude, and our winters can get very cold.
Figs can certainly be grown indoors (ficus is a non-bearing fig tree). My tai chi master grows tomatillos and peppers inside during the winter, using only a skylight for light.
Rosemary (and many other herbs) can be grown inside as well.
I haven't tried amaranth and maize might be a little problematic as could sesame.
Let me know if you have any success.
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