Yard Plan (v 6 or something)

I am working on turning our yard into a haven of edible, medicinal & otherwise useful plants. I’m working on keeping it native (or at least non-invasive). I’ve now cross referenced a list of edible plants as well as medicinals with my list of native and invasive species. My plan is to plant everything I can outside in the yard with plants I want that aren’t locally appropriate in pots in the house. I’m striving for an English Garden style front yard with a short white picket fence to provide some visual delineation between our yard and our neighbors’ as well as to allow Alfred access to the front without having to chase him up the hill. Some plants will go into the ground, but the more rampant growers will be confined to raised beds. Wish me luck!

The giant green circle is a sugar maple that was here when we got here. It’s not currently that big, but they can grow up to 50 feet wide, so I’m being cautious. The green circle in the top left corner is a tree as well. No clue what kind. The purple circles are two Japanese Maples that were already here as well. Another note is the path. It will definitely be more organic than that, but those are the places it needs to go.

Something else I’m trying to do is plant “useful” plants that help each other. For the last several years, we have lost our squash plants to those damn boring bugs! I really try not to kill anything, but I go on the rampage with this little bastards. They don’t live sustainably, for one thing. They go in and kill the entire plant leaving us both without squash. I HATE THEM! But onions are supposed to protect against them. Go onions! Basil is supposed to help the flavor of tomatoes and parsley is good for asparagus. You get the idea. By the way, if anyone has any idea where to get “wild” asparagus, I hear it’s far superior to the grafted stuff.

We can’t actually plant quite as many marigolds as that, but you get the idea. Everything in the garden is either edible or helpful to plants around it or both. This weekend is planting time! Well, Saturday we’re shooting a wedding so I should say Sunday is planting time! I can’t wait to get things in the ground! 🙂 Of course, somethings are already out, so we will hopefully get to eat the fruits of our labor sooner rather than later.

I know I’ve already posted my list of herbs and such, but I’ve added edibles as well. Of course, my list isn’t 100% complete, but it’s a start. (M=medicinal, N=native, E=edible) There are also some notes about the uses of a few of them.