Envie de découvrir comment cultiver des aliments sans jardin ?
Et si vous pouviez intégrer des légumes à votre paysage pour créer un jardin comestible sans compromettre l’esthétique de votre espace extérieur ? C’est ce que l’on appelle le foodscaping, une pratique à laquelle s’est intéressée notre invitée de la semaine, Brie Arthur, experte en la matière.
Alors que les contraintes financières la poussaient à trouver des solutions pour réduire sa facture d’épicerie, Brie Arthur a découvert le foodscaping, une approche novatrice pour cultiver des aliments chez soi, même en présence de règlements stricts d’une association de propriétaires.
À travers son livre The Foodscape Revolution, Brie Arthur partage ses expériences, démontrant comment mélanger légumes et plantes ornementales peut non seulement être beau, mais aussi économique et gratifiant. Prêt à transformer votre perception du jardinage ?
Gardening Revolution: Embracing Foodscaping and Permaculture
The Expert: Brie Arthur
Have you ever thought about how to grow food without a garden? I’m not talking about tearing out those flowers and shrubs to convert the bed to a vegetable garden. I’m talking about incorporating vegetables in with those aesthetic plants to create an edible landscape. It’s called foodscaping, and my guest this week, Brie Arthur, is considered an expert on the subject.
A New Approach to Gardening
A decade or so ago, Brie found herself in the same position as many Americans these days – struggling to make ends meet. She realized she could save money on groceries by growing her own vegetables, but the strict HOA covenants of her neighborhood prohibited her from installing a traditional garden space.
Necessity is the mother of invention, so Brie decided to use some of the methods featured in one of her favorite books – Edible Landscaping, by Rosalind Creasy. Taking a gamble that she wouldn’t be hit with a fine by her HOA, Brie sprinkled a few vegetable seeds among the ornamental plants already in the landscape of her quarter acre lot. She soon found herself with enough vegetables to feed herself and four neighboring families.
Not only did the HOA not realize Brie was growing vegetables – within six months, she was awarded “Yard of the Year.” The lesson? She could grow food to reduce her grocery bill, and her landscape could be even more beautiful as a result.
Transforming Landscapes with Food
Over the years, Brie continued experimenting with her foodscape, and it’s taken her places that just might transform your perception of the gardening experience.
- There’s a large landscape bed which separates Brie’s home from the street. These types of spaces are typically planted with boxwood, potentilla, hydrangea, azalea or some other ubiquitous ornamental shrubs.
- For the past few years, this 850 square foot area in front of Brie’s home has been planted almost entirely with grains.
A few flowering shade trees have been planted there too, but until those mature, Brie uses grains and a mix of flowers to create a showstopping treat for the eye and her table.
The Power of Fresh Food
During that first year of growing vegetables on her property, Brie was impressed by the changing habits of the neighbors who had received some of her homegrown produce. Each of these families began making meals together and sitting down to eat together more often too. It proved for her, that growing food at home does so much more than feed our stomachs.
American interest in gardening has been on the rise throughout the past decade or so. As someone who believes gardening has the power to improve our lives and our environment, I love this trend and have tried to encourage it by sharing the efforts of gardeners, small farmers and industry experts on my PBS show, Growing a Greener World®.
Embracing Foodscaping
Gardening with ornamentals can be engaging and fun, but gardening to grow food is where the true power of transformation lies.
The term foodscaping, by Brie’s interpretation, simply means the incorporation of edibles into a traditional ornamental landscape. She’s written a book, The Foodscape Revolution, to encourage would-be gardeners to get in the game. Anyone can get started in their own landscape with just a 99¢ packet of seeds, and it won’t require any special tools or set of skills.
The Garden Space You Didn’t Know You Had
There are food deserts – areas where people don’t have access to fresh or local produce – all across our country, but the opportunity to solve these food shortages is actually right under our noses.
- If you own or rent a home, odds are pretty good that you have some open landscape bed space between ornamental plants.
- The average American house includes about 1,250 square feet of landscaping on average. That’s the equivalent of 48 average-sized raised beds – in other words, plenty of room to mix in a few veggies!
It’s Brie’s aim to get more people to utilize these urban and suburban spaces beyond the ornamental.
Benefits of Growing Your Own Food
When you grow a food crop yourself – any food crop – you develop a much greater appreciation for the effort of the farmers who produce that crop commercially.
Homegrown food can be safer than the stuff you buy in the supermarket. In fact, 2018 has been a record year for food recalls due to e coli.
Commercially-farmed vegetables are grown in massive quantities and, then, undergo a pretty involved packaging process. These foods are handled by lots of people and placed in packaging – typically plastic – which has also been handled by lots of people.
Since you and your family tend to be the only ones handling your small crops, there is a significantly lower chance of contamination from any food-borne illness.
Il est temps de repenser notre manière de cultiver nos aliments et de transformer nos espaces paysagers en véritables oasis comestibles. Grâce à des techniques comme le foodscaping, popularisées par Brie Arthur, il est possible de mélanger légumes et plantes ornementales pour créer un paysage à la fois beau et productif. En utilisant ces méthodes innovantes, non seulement nous pouvons réduire notre facture d’épicerie, mais nous pouvons aussi transformer nos jardins en véritables sources de fraîcheur et de qualité alimentaire. Il est important de considérer l’espace inutilisé dans nos aménagements paysagers traditionnels comme une opportunité de cultiver des aliments frais, locaux et savoureux. De plus, en cultivant nos propres aliments, nous développons une plus grande appréciation pour le travail des agriculteurs et nous avons un meilleur contrôle sur la qualité et la fraîcheur de ce que nous consommons. En fin de compte, le foodscaping ne consiste pas seulement à produire des aliments, mais à créer un mode de vie plus sain, plus durable et plus connecté à la nature.
FAQ – Foodscaping: transformer votre jardin en potager
1. Qu’est-ce que le foodscaping et comment ça fonctionne?
Le foodscaping consiste à intégrer des légumes dans un jardin décoratif pour créer un paysage comestible. Cela permet de cultiver des aliments tout en conservant l’aspect esthétique du jardin.
2. Comment Brie Arthur a-t-elle réussi à contourner les règles strictes de son association de propriétaires pour cultiver des légumes?
Brie Arthur a semé quelques graines de légumes parmi les plantes ornementales déjà présentes dans son jardin, sans que l’association ne s’en rende compte. En six mois, elle a réussi à nourrir sa famille et quatre voisins.
3. Comment le foodscaping peut-il transformer notre perception de l’expérience de jardinage?
En mélangeant des herbes, des tomates, des poivrons et des céréales parmi les plantes ornementales et arbustes, le foodscaping peut rendre un jardin plus attrayant et productif, comme en témoigne le prix « Yard of the Year » reçu par Brie.
4. Pourquoi est-il avantageux de cultiver sa propre nourriture à la maison?
La culture de ses propres aliments permet de mieux apprécier le travail des agriculteurs commerciaux, de garantir la fraîcheur et la qualité des aliments, et de réduire les risques de contamination alimentaire comparé aux produits du supermarché.
5. Comment peut-on utiliser l’espace de jardinage déjà disponible pour commencer à foodscaper sans outils spéciaux?
En identifiant les espaces ouverts entre les plantes ornementales dans son jardin, il est possible de commencer à cultiver des légumes sans retirer de gazon ni utiliser d’outils particuliers. Il suffit de choisir les légumes à cultiver et de les intégrer dans les plates-bandes existantes.
