This morning, I picked bush cherries for breakfast.
Almost every day, I also harvest dandelion, violet, and wild mustard leaves—to add to salads or soups or casseroles.
I’m a terrible gardener, so letting the wild things grow on their own, as part of my property’s landscaping, is the perfect solution for me. It also provides at least 5 fun and healthy benefits…
5 Fun and Healthy Benefits of Edible Landscaping
1. Wild things are naturally higher in nutrients.
Did you know that dandelion leaves have 40 times the bio-nutrients of iceberg lettuce?
Also, dandelion greens have eight times more antioxidants, two times more calcium, three times more Vitamin A, and five times more vitamin K and vitamin E than spinach, notes Jo Robinson, author of Eating on the Wild Side.
That’s a hefty difference, with real possibility for boosting your personal health.
2. Speaking of dandelions, there are also the bees to consider.
Did you know that dandelion flowers are among the first flowers of spring that feed the bees after a lean and hungry winter existence?
They are.
Letting your dandelions flower is like offering a sweet tea to guests who will give you sweet honey in return.
I’ve also been so absolutely delighted by how my edible landscaping has made my property into a birdsong paradise. (Yes, I’ve got more birds to go with my bees. You could, too. 🙂 )
3. When you harvest, you get nearer to the soil and the trees.
And both of these release chemicals that are anti-cancer. Tree chemicals can also boost your mood and lower your blood pressure.
You can read more about soil and tree chemicals and their amazing properties and effects in The Nature Fix.
But don’t wait and read a book before you harvest your own good-eats from edible landscaping. You’ll feel the difference yourself, the moment you begin to harvest. There’s an awe to be found, immediately.
4. You can exercise more of your muscle groups and improve balance.
It’s true that doing regular yard work with non-edible landscaping can also accomplish this, but I have found that picking berries is a better workout than, say, mowing.
The temptation of just-one-more-out-of-reach-berry gets me stretching, balancing on one foot, and altogether working on agility and strength in ways I never do when mowing (okay, true confession: I don’t mow any longer either, since I turned my land over to the wild things, but I used to).
5. Harvesting is good for your brain.
Again, you can harvest from a regular garden, not just from edible landscaping. But many of us never otherwise grow regular gardens, especially if we don’t have a green thumb or space on our property or the right combination of sun, soil-type, and rain.
Edible landscaping is a built-in garden opportunity, year after year. My bush cherries provide beautiful, green cover as well as delicious tart berries, and I never need to rethink or replant!
When I pick the berries, I exercise my hands in complex ways that typing on a computer (my regular hand exercise) never accomplishes. Could I be staving off dementia and working on my emotional well-being at the brain level when I do this? Indeed. There is evidence that suggests so.
What kind of edible landscaping could you add, to give yourself these fun and healthy benefits?
This Morning’s Harvest. Yum!
