Meet Mike Reust.


Mike says that when he was growing up in California in the 1970s, he was the only person he knew who had a subscription to Organic Gardening magazine.  The recent drive to grow and eat locally, sometimes as locally as one's own backyard, hadn't yet reached the rest of us.  There's still plenty of resistance to this idea - Mike says that even here in Oak Park not everyone who knows what he does is on board.  The more common it becomes, the more it will become part of the philosophical landscape as well as the physical landscape.  Small, local companies will be part of this movement.

Currently, Mike and his wife Ann live here in Oak Park where he owns and operates Urban Sprout Garden Design, LLC, a company focusing on "designing, installing and maintaining edible gardens" as an alternative to traditional lawn-based landscaping.  I can truly get behind that, so when Mike offered to let me come by his own house to see what he's done to his own landscaping, I was eager to see and shoot some photos.

Mike's edible landscaping commanded my attention as soon as I arrived at his house.  Lush, perfect, green lawns were not always the norm, even here in the United States.  If you're going to grow your own food, why not use all or some of your front yard?  We used to do it by necessity.  Now many of us are going back to that, either by necessity or choice.

Mike's done a great job not only setting aside plenty of space for growing edibles, but he's done it in an aesthetically pleasing way that also protects his plants from the local furry herbivores.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  I think they're nibbling on my kale, in fact. 

The parkway side has grass, but the side adjacent to the house has a beautiful mix of flowers, native plants, and edibles surrounded by an easily-navigated mulched path and safely ensconced in protective chicken wire held in place with rebar.

I know what you're thinking.  How exactly is chicken wire with rebar aesthetically pleasing?  Trust me, he makes it work, and it helps that the layout has a natural flow.

Mike tells me that the outer edge around the main area in the front has in the past included pumpkins, which garnered more attention than anything else.  This is not terribly surprising, given how large and obvious pumpkins are.  This year he will plant watermelons there and expects they too will attract a lot of attention.  Most of us probably believe we don't have room for things as large as pumpkins and watermelons, but this has me reconsidering that assumption.

Mike is clearly making creative use of all his available space. This method continues around the side of the house where Mike grows flowers, garlic, raspberries, and other edibles.  This method continues in the back yard as well.

Since it was still technically spring when we spoke, Mike had the usual spring greens growing. Broccoli, swiss chard, lettuce, etc.  All of the landscaping gives both the front and the back yards a relaxing, inviting vibe.  This method proves that you can mix flowers, trees, and edibles in a way that is both functional and beautiful.  Mike has done a great job in both planning the spaces as a whole and in the details.  He uses the traditionally beautiful to the more unusually so in his landscaping as well.  It provides plenty of visual interest along with the practical and edible.

So don't fear edible landscaping.  If you'd like some professional planning for or even installation of an edible garden, I encourage you to contact Mike at Urban Sprout Garden Design.  I know I'm thinking about it.

(This article was originallly posted on greeninoakpark.com in June.)