The main concession my husband had to make in order to get me to agree to buy this house last fall was to let me rip out the grass in the backyard and put in a vegetable garden. He only agreed because he thought I wouldn’t actually do it. (Really? We’ve been married over 30 years and I’ve been gardening most of that time and he thought I wouldn’t tear the grass out?)
(Well, actually, I didn’t tear the grass out. We had several missionaries over to give us a hand with that.)
This house was designed to showcase the fabulous mountain views from the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms. As such, all the windows in these rooms also look directly at the back yard. And even I have to admit, the view of a regular vegetable garden is less than exciting. And everybody with two brain cells to rub together can see in an instant exactly what it is. Even those hiking along the trail above our house about a ¼ mile away would be able to tell we had a vegetable garden.
So when Becky suggested that we consider other options for the garden design, I was open. As part of the soil science degree she’s working on, she enrolled in an edible landscaping class. Her textbooks included numerous photographs of beautiful landscapes that had a few token vegetables growing, ranging up to lush designs that consisted of many more vegetables and fruits. In the time that she was enrolled in that class and during all the time I’ve spent working on our backyard garden, I’ve had a lot of time to ponder the reasons why others may wish to consider stealth gardening in their own backyard as well.
First off, I will note that we have a regular, fenced garden area that the previous owners put in to prevent deer from eating their crops. It’s only 24x40 feet and it’s on a hill, so some space is lost due to the retaining walls I put in to make growing easier. The veggies are all growing in proper rows. Everything about it screams “vegetable garden” and “food”. We’ve got potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, melons, raspberries, broccoli, cabbage, and cucumbers growing in there. If someone were to come here looking for food, that’s where they’d go.
However, it’s always good to have a backup plan, just in case the garden gets raided. And that’s where the stealth gardening in the backyard comes in. This is also a great option for those who live in HOAs or municipalities that forbid vegetable gardens in the front yard. Because, honestly, if done right, most people will have no idea you are actually growing vegetables.
You have to keep in mind that most people don’t even know what vegetables look like when they are growing. Well, they might identify a red tomato, and they might pick out corn and maybe some squash. Beyond that? I think it’s pretty easy to camouflage vegetables when they are mixed in with trees, shrubs, and flowers. And that might be critical in keeping more food for yourself, as well as in not appearing to be prepared in any way.
Take, for example, this photo of my backyard, or at least, a part of it. It’s on the large side. (The other half is still a work in progress.) It is mostly flowers. We definitely were not planning on so many flowers, but Home Depot had some incredible clearance deals on the pansies, dianthus, alyssum (flats of 60 plants for $1.50), and pink petunias ($2.50). Exercising restraint was challenging; I was so very proud of myself for only getting 30 flats. Of course, paying regular retail for so many flowers would be prohibitive for many of us; I know it would for me. In that case, many of the flowers would have to be grown from seed. But still, it can be done. And the flowers are a fabulous camouflage for vegetables. When you look at the photo of my backyard, what do you see? Flowers, right? The veggies are a whole lot harder to find. And yet, there are quite a lot of them out there.
Potatoes. I planted these in straight lines to resemble hedges. Others I planted in a circle around a small forsythia bush. Now they look like a large shrub with lavender blossoms. Only someone very familiar with growing potatoes would recognize them.
Lettuce. I generally prefer green leaf lettuce, but per my daughter’s suggestion I used red leaf lettuce. Again, only people who know that lettuce also comes in red leaf varieties would recognize it as lettuce.
Onions. Egyptian, or walking, onions are also known as multiplier onions. And they are distinct from other varieties in that they are perennial and continue spreading or multiplying each season. Like other onions, seed heads form at the tip of the onion stalk, but unlike other varieties, when the tip becomes too heavy, the stalk bends over. The seeds, which sometimes have already started growing, root into the soil and then start or continue growing from there. You can dig up the bulb for regular onions or use the newly rooted seed heads as green onions.
Peas. Sweet pea flowers don’t look much different from vegetable pea flowers
Beans. Beans need
trellising for optimal growth. Scarlet runner
beans sport attractive, showy red blossoms.(These are not pictured--they're in a different part of the yard.)
Peppers. Peppers of all kinds have attractive green foliage that easily fades into the background while showier flowers take center stage. While peppers are easily recognized, they won’t generally be noticed from a distance.
Tomatoes. Tomatoes, especially red tomatoes, are pretty hard to disguise, but if you grow the purple, black, or green varieties and set them back from easy view, or screen them with flowers or shrubs, you should be able to keep these fruits for yourself.
Squash. Zucchini, butternut,
and pumpkins are pretty hard to disguise.
Their large leaves and showy yellow-orange blossoms give them away every
time. These might be better grown far
away from prying eyes. (But I didn't this year.)
As you plan your stealth garden (for next year, of course—it’s important to plan ahead!), consider including culinary and medicinal herbs as well. Rosemary, chamomile, dill, and parsley are all quite medicinal and equally attractive in the garden.
And don’t forget the flowers! Many flowers are edible! Pansies, nasturtiums, violets, calendula, and dianthus are all quite edible. Pansies and dianthus are fantastic additions to salads, and calendula is a welcome addition to soup.
Finally, instead of using just the normal varieties, try thinking outside the box when planning your stealth garden. There are seed companies that specialize in unique varieties. (Baker Creek is one of them.) When looking through their catalog a month or so ago, I came across pink celery. No one is ever going to think that pink celery is the equivalent of green celery. Unique color or leaf patterns or growth habits will throw most people off. They’ll just see those plants as part of the flower garden and go on their way.
10 august 2023
