Foodscaping shows that even a small planter box in your kitchen can create a functional ecosystem without a yard. | PHOTO: HANNA BERNAZ/ADOBE STOCK
Growing Your Own Food
Unearthing why the foodscaping trend is growing on gardeners everywhere.
By Jennifer Reynolds
There’s a quiet revolution sprouting in yards, balconies and window boxes across Canada, and it’s changing how many gardeners think about what — and how — they plant. It’s foodscaping — designing a garden that feeds you as well as the landscape.
In 2021, roughly 6 in 10 Canadian households were growing fruits, herbs, vegetables or edible flowers for their own kitchens — up five percent from the previous decade. So, what’s behind the renaissance in sustainable gardening? Start with skyrocketing grocery bills. But this trend is not just about beating inflation. It’s also about crafting a living, breathing ecosystem that nourishes you while inviting birds, bees and butterflies into your space — and creating a sense of calm, which is increasingly rare in city life.
The beauty of foodscaping is that it fits whatever space you have. Suburban backyard? Great. Condo balcony? Perfect. Urban gardeners are turning to containers, hanging baskets, vertical planters and rooftop planter boxes, proving that good food doesn’t require a picket fence or a quarter acre. In 2023, nearly a third of Canadian food-growing households were harvesting from balconies alone, according to Statistics Canada.
And it’s not about trading a visually stunning garden for a purely functional one. Foodscaping can be done beautifully and can include food plants instead of traditional water-needy lawns and resource-hungry ornamental flowers.
Plant a self-pollinating dwarf fruit tree out front. Train peas and beans along a fence. Toss herb seeds in soil in every pot you have. With a bit of intent — and the willingness to experiment and learn — your garden will surprise and feed you, encouraging you to keep planting season after season.
Ready to give it a try? These ideas will help you start small, grow big and enjoy the journey.
Jennifer Reynolds is a gardening expert, writer, frequent TV guest and landscape designer who champions sustainable, accessible gardening that feeds people and pollinators alike.
Plan a food garden
Options for growing your own healthy food abound. From cherry tomatoes and salad greens to berries and fruit trees, everything in your garden has the potential to nourish you if you plan thoughtfully and take advantage of the harvest. The best part? You can absolutely begin planting right where you are.
(Above) Success begins with modest beds, allowing for a gradual, steady mastery of your garden’s rhythm. (Below) Enriching potting mix with compost builds a healthy foundation for soil microbes and root growth. | PHOTOS: (ABOVE) GITA KULINICA/ENVATO. (BELOW) DAVID PEREIRAS/ENVATO
Start small, plan smart
It’s tempting to dream up a sprawling Instagrammable garden, but keep in mind that the most successful food growers start modestly. A single raised bed, a narrow ground border, an assortment of pots, ideally large, on the patio — these options are more than enough to utilize and learn the rhythm of your gardening space. It’s like planning that first road trip. No need to travel across an entire continent. Instead, pick a route and a few key stops and allow for detours. For your foodscaping venture, sketch a simple map, noting where the sun hits longest. And keep in mind the accessibility of plants for watering and harvesting. Seasonal cues can help, too. When the lilacs bloom in spring, it’s a reminder to start hardening off seedlings. Transition them slowly from gentle indoor conditions to harsher outdoor elements by bringing them outside for longer periods each day over a week or so, until they’re acclimated. When maple tree keys (seed pods) begin fluttering to the ground, wrap up your late-summer sowing.
Choose and prepare your site
Most vegetables and herbs need at least six hours of direct sun each day — eight if you’re hoping for brag-worthy harvests. A south-facing location is ideal, but even eastern or western exposures can work for herbs, leafy greens and some root crops. Before planting, enrich your soil with compost — either from your own backyard bin or the kind you can buy in bags at garden centres and hardware stores — to build structure and boost microbial life. Compost adds organic matter, which improves soil texture, feeds microbes and helps plants access nutrients. Good soil requires the right ingredients. Sand improves drainage, clay holds nutrients, silt adds balance, and organic matter (that’s your compost) brings it all to life.
If you’re gardening in pots, bigger is usually better. Large containers hold on to moisture and provide roots the space they crave. Think of soil preparation as the foundation of gardening success. When the soil is prepped right, everything else becomes easier. Start with a good bagged potting mix. Blend into it some compost, then plant straight away. Once enriched, the soil is ready to welcome whatever you’re growing.
(Above) Young Roma tomatoes amid marigolds and calendulas — perfect for attracting pollinators. (Below) When watering plants, make sure you know how much they need — and how much is too much. | PHOTOS: (ABOVE) JOYCE GRACE/ADOBE STOCK. (BELOW) SYDA PRODUCTIONS/ADOBE STOCK
Pick plants that work for you
Grow what you actually love to eat. If your household likes basil, plant twice as much of the herb. If you seldom eat kale, skip it. Match your choices to your growing season. For example, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, which are long-season crops, may need a head start indoors. Fast growers (lettuce and radishes) can be sown in the ground directly in spring through late summer. The growing season depends on the zone where you live in Canada. Don’t be afraid to mix beautiful and utilitarian plants. Tuck in marigolds, calendula and zinnias alongside tomatoes and beans to attract pollinators, deter pests and make your garden a feast for the eyes as well as the belly. Remember, a thriving food garden is also a biodiverse one that invites pollinators and other beneficial insects into your space.
Plant, mulch and water wisely
Wait until the danger of frost is gone (a lesson many gardeners learn the hard way) before planting your warm-season crops. Cool-season staples (like onions, peas and potatoes) can be planted weeks earlier — as soon as the soil is workable. After planting, add a generous layer of mulch — about five to seven centimetres of straw, shredded leaves or bark. Mulch helps the soil stay moist, keeps weeds down and improves the soil as it breaks down over time. When watering, aim for deep and regular, but opt for less frequent soakings rather than quick sprinkles. Think of it as training your plants at the gym — a little “stress” in between watering encourages them to build deeper, stronger roots that will help them withstand summer heat.
(Above) Vertical planting saves on space, especially on a small balcony or deck. Pea shoots climbing on a trellis, makes room for more pots on the ground. (Below) Plant what you enjoy eating and look forward to consuming your crops. | PHOTOS: (ABOVE) MARINA/ADOBE STOCK. (BELOW) RH2010/ADOBE STOCK
Support growth and fertilize naturally
As plants grow, reaching upward, help them along with stakes, trellises, tomato cages or obelisks. Training a cucumber vine on a trellis or staking a tomato stem to avoid your harvest rotting on the ground is also an oddly satisfying task. Pinch back herbs like basil to encourage bushier growth by using your fingers to gently remove the tender leaves atop the stems. Prune tomato plant branches selectively to improve airflow. Feed the soil (and hence, your plants) with compost, worm castings or green manure like clover, which naturally pulls nitrogen from the air and into the soil. When a problem pops up — pests, mildew, mystery spots on plants — consider gentle, organic approaches first. Most issues resolve themselves when the garden is balanced, biodiverse and well fed.
Harvest and celebrate
Yes, good things do come to those who wait. Fruits and vegetables taste best when fully ripe. You’ll quickly learn the signs of perfect “pickability” — a glossy finish, that slight give, the scent of ripeness. Harvest often to encourage more production, especially for beans, zucchini, herbs and greens.
Most of all, remember to celebrate the process as much as the outcome. Your first handful of cherry tomatoes or that bowl of homegrown salad greens is the reward for every small act of care, observation and curiosity that you brought to your garden. Share it, savour it and let it inspire your next planting season. CAA
Growing Vegetables in Pots
Do you have a balcony, a rooftop ledge or a sunny windowsill? Then you already have the makings of a mini urban farm. Pick your planter. Even a weathered laundry tub, when planted with cherry tomatoes, herbs and nasturtiums, can become a charming tiny ecosystem. Or repurpose that huge scuffed clay pot to house basil, marigolds and tomatoes. They’ll repel pests and be abuzz with bees keeping company with the tomatoes ripening on the sunny side of your back deck.
That’s the magic of container gardening. Chase the sun and even utilize the shade (some plants thrive in partial-to-full shade) — and delight in the satisfaction of harvesting the fruits of your labour. And don’t overthink it. Just grab a pot, toss in some soil and tear open a seed packet or two. The joys of small-scale foodscaping in the city might just surprise you.
Container gardening is a great alternative for growing on a smaller scale. | PHOTO: JULIA/ADOBE STOCK
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Jennifer Reynolds is a gardening expert, writer, frequent TV guest and landscape designer who champions sustainable, accessible gardening that feeds people and pollinators alike.
There’s a quiet revolution sprouting in yards, balconies and window boxes across Canada, and it’s changing how many gardeners think about what — and how — they plant. It’s foodscaping — designing a garden that feeds you as well as the landscape.
In 2021, roughly 6 in 10 Canadian households were growing fruits, herbs, vegetables or edible flowers for their own kitchens — up five percent from the previous decade. So, what’s behind the renaissance in sustainable gardening? Start with skyrocketing grocery bills. But this trend is not just about beating inflation. It’s also about crafting a living, breathing ecosystem that nourishes you while inviting birds, bees and butterflies into your space — and creating a sense of calm, which is increasingly rare in city life.
The beauty of foodscaping is that it fits whatever space you have. Suburban backyard? Great. Condo balcony? Perfect. Urban gardeners are turning to containers, hanging baskets, vertical planters and rooftop planter boxes, proving that good food doesn’t require a picket fence or a quarter acre. In 2023, nearly a third of Canadian food-growing households were harvesting from balconies alone, according to Statistics Canada.
And it’s not about trading a visually stunning garden for a purely functional one. Foodscaping can be done beautifully and can include food plants instead of traditional water-needy lawns and resource-hungry ornamental flowers.
Plant a self-pollinating dwarf fruit tree out front. Train peas and beans along a fence. Toss herb seeds in soil in every pot you have. With a bit of intent — and the willingness to experiment and learn — your garden will surprise and feed you, encouraging you to keep planting season after season.
Ready to give it a try? These ideas will help you start small, grow big and enjoy the journey.
Plan a food garden
Options for growing your own healthy food abound. From cherry tomatoes and salad greens to berries and fruit trees, everything in your city garden has the potential to nourish you if you plan thoughtfully and take advantage of the harvest. The best part? You can absolutely begin planting right where you are.
Container gardening is a great alternative for growing on a smaller scale. | PHOTO: JULIA/ADOBE STOCK
Growing Vegetables in Pots
Do you have a balcony, a rooftop ledge or a sunny windowsill? Then you already have the makings of a mini urban farm. Pick your planter. Even a weathered laundry tub, when planted with cherry tomatoes, herbs and nasturtiums, can become a charming tiny ecosystem. Or repurpose that huge scuffed clay pot to house basil, marigolds and tomatoes. They’ll repel pests and be abuzz with bees keeping company with the tomatoes ripening on the sunny side of your back deck.
That’s the magic of container gardening. Chase the sun and even utilize the shade (some plants thrive in partial-to-full shade) — and delight in the satisfaction of harvesting the fruits of your labour. And don’t overthink it. Just grab a pot, toss in some soil and tear open a seed packet or two. The joys of small-scale foodscaping in the city might just surprise you.