More people than ever are getting interested in growing food. And native plants play an important role in the edible garden by attracting a wide range of pollinators and other beneficial insects, as well as adding beauty.
Beneficial insects include not only the honeybees and the fluffier bumblebees that you can see, but also smaller native bees, tiny predatory wasps that feed on plant-eating bugs, and the multitude of other arthropods that donate crucial ecological services. A healthy garden has lots of insects.
Native plants fit into an edible garden in many ways:smaller ones in annual beds, in perennial beds, and in containers, as well as larger ones in their own beds or hedgerows near the edible garden.
Annual vegetables are best grown with annual natives, since the beds are planted anew each season. Warm-season vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and beans are grown as annuals, as are cool-season and year-round vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, beets, lettuce, and onions.
Many wildflowers enjoy the fertile soil and regular water that annual vegetables need. With water, some spring wildflowers continue blooming into fall. I encourage orange California poppies at the edges and corners of annual beds, where they can get enough sun. But I also enjoy a few bursts of color scattered among lower-growing crops, such as the pink clarkias that thrive among garlic and onions. Blue globe gilia grows happily everywhere, even in mulched paths. I get prolific reseeding in my no-till garden, and it's easy to recognize the seedlings as they emerge, then transplant them if needed while they're still small.
Other natives to consider for annual beds are blue arroyo lupines (keep slugs away with iron-phosphate-based granules such as Sluggo), daisylike tidy tips, delicate yellow meadowfoam, blue-purple phacelias, bird's-eye gilia, or baby blue eyes.
In addition, set aside some space for edible native annuals such as miner's lettuce, a crunchy salad green that starts appearing in mid February and lasts for a few months, especially with some shade and ample water. I leave enough to produce seed for next year's crop.
Wildflowers can also grow with perennial edibles such as artichoke, asparagus, berries, tall perennial kales, and herbs. But because the root zone won't be disturbed seasonally, you can add perennial water-tolerant natives such as hummingbird sage, yarrow, yerba buena, beach strawberry, seep and scarlet monkeyflowers, golden-eyed grass, or checkerbloom near the edibles. Drought-tolerant natives, such as soap plant, work well in herb beds. Allow enough room for both the edibles and the natives to spread.
Shrubby edibles and new fruit trees appreciate a native grass as a nurse plant. The deep roots of the grass will both help break up the soil and provide a path for the young tree's roots and also mine minerals from the soil.
Finally, containers can be placed anywhere in the garden. I save space by placing drought-tolerant natives such as smaller buckwheats or California fuchsia in large containers – at least 5 gallons – next to invasive bramble berries. Dudleyas also attract pollinators and grow well in smaller containers.
© 2009 Tanya Kucak