Edible landscaping saves money, homeowners find

Flowers are giving way to vegetables – even in the front yard.

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And it’s saved money on groceries and time mowing the yard. Ms. Collins and her husband, Justin Rooney, estimate they’ve saved $250 on groceries since May, and they’re making fewer trips to the store.

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That’s a big plus considering the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables has jumped by 5 percent from a year ago, according to the US Department of Agriculture. And tomatoes, a hardy garden staple, are up 22 percent.

Growing fruits and vegetables does require effort. There’s watering, weeding, pruning, and dealing with pests.

But gardeners don’t have to give up color when they swap flowers with veggies. Red-jewel cabbage, yellow peppers, and rainbow chard all will have yards popping with color.

“We don’t need to limit ourselves on what our gardens contain,” said Linda Ugelow, who has a slew of fruits and vegetables filling her half-acre yard in Bedford, Mass.

There are apricots, mulberries, raspberries, peaches, and strawberries in her yard that go into pies, jams and juice. She even uses violet leaves and lambs quarters, two common weeds, in soups. “Should we ever need to depend on it, we have a lot of greens,” she said.

Seed companies and garden suppliers say sales are up this year.

Sales of vegetable seeds and plants are up 40 percent at W. Atlee Burpee & Co., one of the nation’s pioneer seed catalog companies, said George Ball, chairman, president, and chief executive officer.

A dime spent on seeds produces about $1 worth of vegetables, and that margin is growing because of rising food prices, he said.

Sales of gardening products have increased by 11 percent at Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., the lawn and garden company based in Marysville.

One reason is because of edible landscaping, a growing trend, according to the company’s research.

“Some of the hard to grow junipers that might not be as pretty and as productive as some of the edible plants, people are pulling those out and planting blueberries and blackberries and strawberries,” said Keith Baeder, senior vice president at Scotts.

“Blueberries and blackberries come back year after year,” he said. “So they’re really great low-maintenance opportunities to grow big, beautiful fruits in your garden.”