Imagine that right outside your front door is an oasis of beautiful landscape edibles available for harvesting to your heart's content.

If you're cooking and you run out of a specific herb, a trip to the grocery store will not be necessary, but simply to your very own landscape or container to harvest fresh herbs.

Edible landscaping is a great way to become more self-sufficient and grow the freshest food possible. It is the artful take on the kitchen garden with edible plants camouflaged into the existing ornamental landscape.

First, you must analyze your landscape, addressing best locations by addressing soil pH and organic matter before planting. It's helpful to get a couple of soil test forms and boxes from your local Extension Office to take a sample of each bed.

It's a good practice to clean up any debris such as concrete pieces or rusty nails from sidewalks or construction which will alter the pH of the soil negatively. It will throw off your soil test results if you leave it there.

It takes a while to get your soil tests back so while waiting for those to return you can be visualizing areas where old tired or diseased plants can be replaced for something more functional, perennial and edible.

Your soil tests will help you take a preventative approach by addressing the root of underlying or potential problems before planting new plants.

Once you have located some new planting beds and the soil results tell you how to amend the soil to cater to your new plants, then you can start implementing your plan.

Think about what you and members of your household like to eat.

Do you like culinary herbs, fruits, or vegetables or all of the above? Some suggestions are to swap out boring invasive barberry bushes with blueberries. Blueberries are easy to care for organically as long as you have the correct soil pH and sun requirements. They produce a wonderful red fall color, and nutritious berries that help lower cholesterol.

Strawberries have interesting foliage and flower before fruiting.

Apples, peaches, plums, nectarines, pears, cherries, apricots and more are fruit trees that do well in Virginia and offer great flowers in the spring with fruit in the fall.

Perennial herbs that do well are thyme, oregano, garlic chives, mint varieties, lavender, tricolor sage, rosemary and more.

Vegetable varieties with ornamental interest are: globe artichokes, bright lights Swiss chard, colorful peppers, red okra, kale varieties, purple cabbage, and red noodle pole beans.

Sunflowers have edible seeds; little gem marigolds, violas, pansies and nasturtiums have edible foliage and flowers.

Consider the design elements when choosing your edibles such as color, contrast, texture, repetition, and focal point, as well as the best edibles that suit your taste.

Seasonal color, budget and winter interest are also important areas to consider. Looking at your existing landscaping, you want to visualize each plant option that best blends in the edibles, accomplishing the goal of enhancing both for function and aesthetics.

After presenting these suggestions on how to get started on your edible landscape, look closely at your landscape and visualize new edible possibilities.

Whether you try all of the edible plants or just a couple, it is only the beginning of a landscape that can help save money on your grocery bill by producing fresh sustenance located outside of your front door.

There isn't a better experience than picking your very own fresh fruit, culinary herbs, and veggies from your property that happens to be conveniently disguised into your landscape.

By following the basic design elements and pairing appropriate edible plants with ornamentals you can achieve a more sustainable and literally tasteful edible landscape.

Please visit the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners at the Home and Garden show Saturday, April 25th to see their Edible Landscaping display and take home a free culinary herb.