Grow & Eat Your Own Yard
So often, gardening books get complicated, formulaic or intimidating with lots of data and complex charts. But in Cheryl Beesley’s new book, “Landscaping with Edible Plants in Texas,”she takes a natural approach, like she’s walking you through her garden giving tips.
“This book is written about growing edible plants specifically in Texas with maps to determine the region, water availability and types of plants and chill hours for fruit trees,” says Beesley.
The concept of combining ornamental with edible plants in landscaping is centuries old, but Beesley’s gardening design motto is think outside the row.
“Farmers grow plants in rows, but we don’t have to do that. This book brings plants, like Swiss Chard and Rosemary, into the ornamental landscape for their looks and value as edible plants,” Beesley says.
The soft-cover book is divided into three parts featuring plenty of colorful photos and helpful diagrams to captivate and educate novice and experienced gardeners. No stone is left unturned in the book, starting with the first step in design, site evaluation. The next step comes with the garden layout where she explains about design considerations, like style of existing architecture, scale and ideas for urban gardens. The chapter on soil preparation reveals there are 1,200 soil series in Texas, and it’s not uncommon for several of them to appear in the same yard. Part II focuses on the design elements and a unique problem with edible gardens, harvesting something Beesley compares to working a 3D puzzle.
“The pieces in your garden are constantly moving, so as you harvest, you need to keep in mind what you’re going to put back in that spot,” Beesley says.
This chapter also highlights the Parterre garden at Lake Austin Spa Resort, the children’s garden at the Olive Tree Learning Center, and Beesley’s own walled courtyard garden. The final part is about the huge variety of edibles from fruit trees, like Pecan, apple or pear, and shrubs and perennial to herbs, including fennel, lemon grass and mint, plus vegetables like spinach, carrot and squash among many others.
“Austin is like a sweet spot and so many edible plants, can be grown here that can’t be grown all over Texas,” Beesley says.
She recommends a Southern cooking approach, although not all plants in the book grow in this area, but sweet potato, corn and greens do well here.
Beesley is a longtime designer and gardener with a Master’s Degree in landscape architecture and has more than 20 years experience in landscape design. Her Austin firm, Adelante Landscape, produces sustainable gardens incorporating a variety of edible and perennial plants in a holistic and environmentally sensitive design process for all garden sizes and types.
A garden can be as simple as a few containers with herbs on a patio or an elaborate design that takes up most of a yard. However one chooses to garden, Beesley wants people to thrive with their endeavor, and her book is the first seed of knowledge on how to plant a successful, edible garden in Texas.