I find it especially useful to use blank wall spaces with espaliered trees such as figs, apples and pears or berries such as blackberry and raspberry. I'm including a photo of Giant Italian Dinosaur Kale from a client's garden in the Oakland Hills, who had specifically requested packing in as many edible plants as possible into the design, but also wanted it to look pretty all year round. I think we succeeded, and it is fun to work in the garden and continuously pop homegrown food into my mouth while gardening.

His wife is finally wanting to do something with their lawn rather than periodically scalp it, and the only way he lets her incorporate flowers (rather than simply clear-cutting the pot and putting in vegetable beds that he is too lazy to even prep and plant, much less tend--he would expect her to do all the work, his contribution being the "idea") is to also put in food. So I'm making plans for her that include scattered edibles to keep him happy and let her keep the actual veggie garden to a reasonable size.

As for me--I'm happy to keep the edibles in my veggie garden, as I'm planning to actually EAT them, not feed them to the wildlife. The only exceptions are 'shrooms that I'm about to start growing next month in the wooded areas and the pawpaws I'm going to be putting down in the river bottom on our land. I'll protect the pawpaws with wireless deer fences until they're big enough to stand up for themselves.

Probably 1/4 of the houses here have dedicated veggie gardens. About half of those actually ever produce anything! We have everything from "patch" gardeners to row gardeners to raised beds to ground-level potagers. But everyone has a minimum of an acre here, so if they want veggies, they don't have to scrounge for space.

But if you added up the food value produced by all the wannabee urban homesteaders versus the energy and materials expended, I think the local grocery store would be more efficient.

I'm not going to be saving one red cent with my veggie garden. I'm going to get tastier stuff but not cheaper--not at all.

It is pretty darn easy to design edibles into a garden when you live in a Mediterraean climate . Citrus, Olives and Pineapple guavas grow so well here and make great low maintenance / low water use hedges, trees and accent plants.
Herbs such as rosemary, lavender and chives are commonly seen used in city street median strips, they grow so effortlessly.

I've been enjoying all the new citrus introductions that 4 Winds and Monterey Bay Nurseries have been bringing to the trade. I've even used a few of these new introductions in a commercial landscape installation.

The request for raised beds for vegetable gardening seems to be on the rise too.

From Sonoma - Freudbrgr