News from the Edible Demo Garden

January 2025: Natives in the Edible Garden

Natives are welcome in the Edible Demo Garden. As a joint project with the Native Plant Guild in October 2021, garden volunteers planted a variety of sun-loving, drought tolerant California natives in a corner of the garden area. Some have flourished and some have not, but that’s what happens in a demonstration garden. It’s all about learning what plants need and the conditions that suit them best. The primary goals of the project were to provide year-round beauty and attract pollinators. It turns out that there are even more reasons why native plants benefit an edible garden.

 

Native Plants Attract Pollinators and Invite Beneficial Insects

The blooming periods of native plants coincide with the times when pollinators are most active, and these can overlap with the flowering times of vegetable plants. Native plants that flower in early spring can bring in pollinators before vegetable blossoms emerge. This is particularly important for native bees who are even more efficient pollinators than honeybees. Fall blooming native plants help to create a steady supply of food and resources to keep the pollinators around and encourage them to overwinter in the garden.

Native plants also invite beneficial insects that are natural enemies of vegetable garden pests. Beneficials such as hoverflies, lady beetles, and lacewings go where they find the herbivorous insects they like to eat. It doesn’t matter to them whether their prey is on an edible plant or a native. The natives keep the beneficial insects nearby, so they are there to control pests when the vegetable crops are planted.

 

Native Plants Improve Soil Health

Native plants support soil biodiversity by providing habitat for beneficial microorganisms like fungi and bacteria. Some can act as nitrogen-fixers to improve soil fertility. Natives with deep root systems can improve soil structure by creating channels through which water and nutrients can penetrate. When the roots and leaves of the native plants die back, they add organic matter to the soil reducing the need for soil amendments.

 

Native Plants are Low Maintenance

Natives don’t need fertilizing and require little watering once they are established. While some need deadheading and cutting back, it’s best to minimize the kind of tidying up that’s done in the edible garden. The native plants can offer a refuge for beneficial populations, providing them with undisturbed nesting and overwintering sites. Ideally the native plants attract enough beneficial insects and other natural enemies to maintain a healthy balance so that pests are kept in check.

Occasionally a native plant can require more severe pruning. Recently a Coyote Brush, Baccharis pilularis, adjacent to the Edible Demo Garden, grew too large and began to produce an abundance of the fluffy white seeds typical of the female flowering plant. Although some classify Coyote Brush as a weed, it is a keystone plant which has significant value in a habitat garden. Armed with saws and pruning tools, the volunteers cut the overly ambitious native down to a manageable size.

 

Native Plants Add Beauty and Interest

Native plants bring unique beauty to the garden. The natives planted in the Edible Demo Garden were initially chosen to provide blooms throughout the year. Some flower early and bring color into the winter garden and others extend their blooming period into late fall. They add contrast to the flowering of the vegetables and fruit trees. Ceanothus ‘Concha’ now masks the compost bins with its copious cobalt blue flowers in early spring.  Coast Aster, Aster chilensis, provides bright, daisy-like blossoms throughout summer and fall. Bees and hummingbirds enjoy the showy red tubular blooms of California fuchsia, Epilobium, into late fall. The goal to bring native plants into the Edible Demo Garden to provide year-round beauty has been achieved.

 

For more information on growing native plants, click here.