By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer
Karen Contreras, owner of the San Diego firm Urban Plantations has plenty of experience growing food. When she moved to Oregon in her twenties, she ran the familly farm. "About 95% of our food came from it," she says. "About the only things I had to buy were wheat and rice." When Contreras left the farm and moved to Southern California, she continued to grow her own produce. "Once you get used to eating from the garden, it's hard to go back," she says. Production was her only concern in those days. But now that helping urban homeowners start edible gardens has become her business, Contreras has a new concern -- especially since many of these gardens are going in front yards -- and that is making sure the produce gardens she installs are as ornamental as possible as well . Here are some of her tips.
Consider using sunflowers as a temporary fence as Contreras did in the garden shown below. Besides giving the space definition, the flowers attract beneficial insects and you get a crop from the seeds or can leave them for the birds. Contreras has also used rows of corn similarly.
In Contreras' own garden, she's planted green beans directly beneath sunflower stalks. Once she's harvested the sunflower heads, she'll leave the stalks in place to support the bean vines.
I also liked the surprise of seeing hay used as mulch in an urban front yard. Contreras likes hay for its scent, crunch, and rural connections. But she also likes the way big, sprawly green plants such as zucchini, pumpkins, potatoes, and tomatoes look against its gold color. And so did I.
