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A Guide to Turning Your Yard Into a Beautiful Survival Buffet
Imagine stepping into your yard and being greeted by a living, breathing buffet of delicious, nutritious, and downright gorgeous plants. Sounds dreamy, right? But this isn’t just a fantasy—this is edible landscaping, and it's the ultimate hack for anyone who wants to combine beauty with food production.
Whether you’re homesteading, prepping for the worst, or just want your yard to do something, edible landscaping is a smart move. It's functional, sustainable, and gives your property a little flavor (literally).
Instead of spending time and money on landscaping that just looks good, why not grow plants that look good and taste good? From medicinal herbs to juicy fruits and leafy greens, your garden can be a lush source of nutrients and aesthetics.
No matter the size of your property—or your experience level—this guide is for anyone ready to dig in and get their hands a little dirty in the name of self-sufficiency and backyard beauty.
Tips, Tools, and Things to Know Before You Start
Before you start tearing up your lawn and planting carrot seeds in your flowerbeds, let’s cover a few basics:
Smart Tips for Edible Landscaping
- Start small – Don't try to redo your whole yard in one weekend. Pick one area and expand as you learn.
- Blend in edibles with ornamentals – A rosemary bush looks as pretty as any shrub. Rainbow chard is practically a centerpiece.
- Group plants by water and sunlight needs – Makes maintenance way easier.
- Use vertical space – Climbing beans, trellised cucumbers, hanging strawberries. Think up!
- Choose perennial plants when possible – Less planting, more harvesting.
- Mulch like you mean it – Mulch keeps weeds down and moisture in.
- Don't forget about companion plants! – Some plants help each other, but some plants harm each other, so make sure you check this guide before planting two things near each other.
Supplies You Might Need
- Raised beds or planters for better soil control.
- Hand tools like a trowel, pruners, and gloves.
- Soil amendments (compost, worm castings, etc.)
- Mulch for water retention and weed suppression.
- Irrigation system or a good old-fashioned watering can.
Recommended Books
- Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy – The OG of edible landscape design.
- Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway – For the permaculture-minded grower.
- The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe – Great for survival-focused gardeners.
Edible Plants for Your Landscape
Herbs & Flowers
Herbs are the secret weapon of the edible landscape. They’re tough, fragrant, often perennial, and they look great potted, bedded, or trailing over a border. Many are natural pest repellents, and a few even double as medicine. Best of all? You don’t need to be a gardening expert to get started. Herbs are ridiculously forgiving.
Put them in pots on your patio, let them run wild in the beds, or sneak them into the front yard where no one will guess that pretty greenery is your homemade tea stash. Here are a few good ones to start with.
- Basil – There are multiple types of basil and they all grow pretty easily if kept moist. However, watch out for pests that like to lay eggs under their big umbrella leaves.
- Borage – Star-shaped blue flowers that taste like cucumber. Toss them in a salad or freeze them into ice cubes to instantly impress your guests.
- Calendula – Bold orange or yellow petals that are totally edible and slightly peppery. Toss them in a salad or dry them for skin-soothing oils.
- Chamomile – These tiny daisy-like flowers make a soothing tea and add a sweet, delicate look to your edible landscape. They’re especially great in cottage-style or border gardens.
- Chives – You already know chives are easy and tasty, but their purple pom-pom flowers are edible too. They add a mild onion flavor and some serious flair to salads.
- Cilantro – Set your cilantro up for easy grazing by planting it in sandy soil outside where it can thrive.
- Daylilies – Not all varieties are edible, so double-check first, but the right ones are a beautiful and tasty addition to your landscape. Use the petals in stir-fry or salads.
- Ginger – We eat the root of ginger, but have you ever seen the plant that grows out of it? Gorgeous. Pot little ginger roots all along your deck or back patio for a touch of elegance.
- Lemon Balm – Soft, citrusy, and a favorite among pollinators. Lemon balm makes amazing tea and grows like a dream in shadier areas.
- Lemongrass – A tropical herb with tall, blade-like leaves that smell like lemon and scare off mosquitoes. Makes killer tea and flavor bases.
- Lovage – Think super-sized celery with an herbal kick. It’s tall, elegant, and every part of it is edible—stalk, leaf, and seed.
- Mint – We often use mint in tea and cocktails, but when foraging time comes around, mint can be used as a flavorful morale booster. Just be sure to keep this one in a container or it will take over your whole yard!
- Nasturtiums – These vibrant edible flowers are peppery in flavor and totally beautiful. They grow fast, spill over garden beds, and help keep pests away—form and function!
- Oregano – A strong, savory herb that spreads easily and blooms with tiny purple or white flowers. Hardy, tasty, and makes great ground cover.
- Rosemary – Rosemary practically takes care of itself in the right environment. Its strong flavor can make any bitter plant taste delicious.
- Sage – Silvery, soft leaves that smell amazing. It blooms with purple flowers, helps keep bugs away, and makes your stuffing next-level.
- Thyme – When thyme plants blossom, little purple flowers bloom, adding a lovely element to your edible landscape.
- Violas & Pansies – These sweet, colorful little flowers are edible and slightly sweet. Use them to decorate cakes, top off salads, or just add a splash of color.
Vegetables
Vegetables are where your edible landscape really starts to pay you back. If you’re planting for survival, you want calories and nutrients. And if you’re planting for fun? Nothing beats picking a salad fresh from the yard.
Veggies don’t have to be boring rows in a garden plot. Mix greens into your flowerbeds, trellis your beans along the fence, and put those peppers front and center—they’re hot. Here are some good veggies to consider.
- Artichokes – Artichoke plants are so unique and will likely become the pride and joy of your edible landscape. They provide a meaty texture like no other plant can offer.
- Avocados – You can grow your avocados with only a Mason jar and water. Once they start to sprout, plant them in the soil and see if you can get a tree going.
- Beets – I love the green and red coloration of beet leaves in my garden. They are so pretty that you almost don’t want to pick them. But when you do, the possibilities are endless.
- Bell Peppers – Did you know that the green, yellow, and red bell peppers all come from the same plant? The colors just represent their different phases of life.
- Cabbage – Easy. Yummy. Can grow them anywhere. They also make for a fun soccer ball when you get sick of cabbage.
- Carrots – The green leafy sprouts of carrots look so lovely in a garden or flowerbed. Why not throw a few seeds in the soil next to your other edible plants?
- Chives – As a child, chives were the first plant I ever learned to grow because they practically grow themselves. They grow plentiful and full crops with the occasional purple blossom flower.
- Green Beans – They grow so easily! Plant your green bean seeds in a wide pot along with two wood posts for them to climb.
- Hot Peppers – Pepper plants are resilient! Grow them in a pot or plant them directly in the soil. If the peppers start to wilt, pull them off and dry them in the sun for later.
- Kale – Kale will grow any time of year, even in the colder months. Their leaves are a beautiful frosty green color that gives your landscape a unique finish.
- Mushrooms – All you need are spawn plugs and you can grow Shiitake mushrooms on logs, trees, stumps, or another piece of clean wood. Your whole property will be an edible forest.
- Potatoes – In the ground, in a sack, in a pot, in a bucket–potatoes will grow wherever they have room! You’ll be surprised by how pretty their big green leaves can grow.
- Salad Greens – Salad greens are a wonderful space filler when you have a patch of boring soil to cover. The greens grow to be big, beautiful, and ready to eat.
Fruits
Fruit is the dessert of the edible landscape. Whether it’s a tree, a bush, or a low-growing creeper, fruiting plants are the showstoppers of your yard. The blossoms alone can compete with any flower garden, and the harvest? Delicious!
Go for variety: some fruit for early summer, some for fall. Think about birds, pollinators, and maybe even preserving. Jams, jellies, dried fruit snacks—these plants don’t just feed you, they future-proof your pantry. Here are some of my favorites.
- Blackberries – I’m not advising you to plant this pesky invasive species, but the berries are so good that maybe consider containing the plant with a wire cage and clipping the branches back often.
- Blueberries – Blueberries are native to North America so they thrive relatively easy. This plant is a woody shrub that looks beautiful standing alone or lining a walkway.
- Crabapples – Crabapples trees grow nice and tall to add some height and dimension to your landscape. The flowers are bright and the fruit make delicious ciders and perfect snacks.
- Figs – Fig trees are tough, drought-tolerant once they settle in, and they give you sweet, fiber-filled fruit that’s perfect for drying or snacking. Their big leaves also add some serious tropical vibes to your yard.
- Goji Berries – These shrubby little powerhouses grow easily and produce tons of bright red berries packed with antioxidants. They’re a bit like a tomato vine crossed with a superfood bush.
- Mandarin Oranges – Mandarin bushes grow to be really full with lots of fruit and leaves, so you’ll certainly need a pot that can handle it. A deep, heavy ceramic pot is ideal. Be patient as the fruit can take up to 12 months to grow.
- Persimmon Tree – Add a little shade to your landscape with tall Persimmon Trees. Persimmon fruits make great jams and compote that are easy to jar and store.
- Rhubarb – Rhubarb is a cold-hardy perennial with giant leafy stalks that pop with red. Just remember, you eat the stalks, not the leaves—they're toxic. Tart, tasty, and perfect for pies.
- Serviceberries (Juneberries) – Native and underappreciated, these shrubs bloom with white flowers in spring, give you sweet berries in early summer, and show off with red-orange leaves in the fall.
- Strawberries – Strawberries love hot weather, so if you’ve got that going for you, start growing your strawberry crop for an edible landscape. They are easy to harvest, jam, and store.
Tropical Plants
If you’re in a hot, humid climate or have a greenhouse setup, this section’s for you. Tropical plants bring exotic flair to your landscape with big bold leaves, vivid flowers, and unusual flavors.
Not every tropical plant will thrive in a typical U.S. yard, but many are surprisingly hardy or easy to pot and protect. And let’s be honest—who wouldn’t want to grow their own margarita ingredients?
- Bananas – Banana plants bring big, dramatic leaves to your landscape and thrive in warm, humid climates. While they take a bit of patience, the payoff is sweet—literally. Plus, the plant itself makes a killer windbreak or privacy screen.
- Colocasia – Colocasia is a plant rich in amino acids. It also offers medicinal benefits such as a cough suppressant and digestive aid. The big leaves do well in both shade and sun.
- Fireweed – Fireweed adds an eye-catching touch of purple to your landscape. For a peppery taste, eat the flowers and seeds. For a tender snack, eat the young leaves.
- Lead Tree – The large pods that grow from a Lead Tree contain little peanut-like nuts that are often used in chili paste. You can also eat them raw!
- Lemons – Lemons aren’t exactly tropical but they do best in humid weather. You can space them a few feet apart and then trim them and train them to grow into a perfect hedge.
- Plantain – No, not the bananas. These Plantain plants cultivate big leaves that grow to be 6 inches long by 4 inches wide and a great source it Vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium.
- Prickly Pear Cactus – You can use Prickly Pear Cactus in your margaritas before the end of the world hits. Just pick off the barbs! The fruit is very nutritious and has a sweet taste.
- Torch Ginger – This gorgeous bright pink flower contains 4.5 grams of carbohydrate per 100 grams. Torch Ginger is an absolutely stunning addition to any landscape or garden.
- Water Lily – If you have a pond on the property, you can grow beautiful water lilies whose seeds are high in carbohydrates and amino acids.
- Wild Asparagus – Wild Asparagus is thinner than the asparagus you’d find in a store. It grows easily and is a great source of Vitamin C, B6, and potassium.
- Wild Betel Leaves – In Asian cooking, Wild Betel Leaves are often chopped up and added to a stir-fry or used like foil to wrap and cook other ingredients.
Self-Sustaining Edible Plants
This is where the real lazy gardeners shine. Self-sustaining plants are resilient, often perennial, and need minimal care. They reseed themselves, grow wild, and keep showing up season after season like dependable old friends.
Perfect for prepping, foraging, or just padding your landscape with no-fuss function. Many of these plants are overlooked, growing right under our noses as weeds, but they pack serious punch in flavor and nutrition.
- Cattail – I bet you never knew that this pond plant is edible. The brown flower can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob and the rootstalk can be eaten raw.
- Dandelion – Those bright yellow flowers you see growing in your yard are typically considered annoying weeds, but they offer more than annoyance. You can make dandelion tea as a digestive aid and use it to improve appetite.
- Purslane – You’ve probably seen Purslane plants before and didn’t even realize that their fat little leaves and cute yellow flowers are delicious to eat raw and provide a decent source of calories.
- Sheep Sorrel – Are you a fan of tart lemon flavor? These tall, red Sheep Sorrel plants add a lot of flavor to whatever raw bouquet you’re putting together.
- Wood Sorrel – Wood Sorrel can be used to cure mouth sores, alleviate thirst, and provide a nice source of vitamin C that when boiled taste a bit like potatoes.
Final Thoughts: Building Your Backyard Eden
Edible landscaping isn’t just about survival—it’s about empowerment. You’re building something beautiful, nourishing, and totally yours. Whether you want a full-on prepper paradise or just want to stop buying basil at the store, this is the move.
Here’s what to remember:
- Mix aesthetics with function.
- Plan for all seasons and all food groups.
- Keep experimenting.
- And never underestimate a good-looking cabbage.
You don’t have to wait for a disaster to make the most of your space. Build your edible landscape now and you’ll have food, flowers, and freedom—no matter what comes next.
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