http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
I have one 4X4 raised bed that is pretty much dedicated to herbs for the kitchen I have dill, rosemary, tarragon, chives, basil, lemony grass stuff, parsley, hot peppers, and other stuff that strikes my fancy in there some of these herbs are such hardy perennials that they will try to take over the whole bed that’s one reason I do not have any mint. The almost invasive ones can go in one of those 3’ by 8” window box deals so you have them isolated
Yeah, we’re behind the curve with fruit trees. Just got some of those to start with last year. We’re trying to go with low spray (disease resistant) varieties to reduce the amount of pesticide we have to use (expensive!) and with our hectic schedule I don’t want to forget to spray one week and have a dead tree the next! So far we’ve got Liberty and Enterprise apples. Along with a couple varieties of low spray Asian pears.
We’ve got 4yr old blueberry bushes now that made several gallons last summer. Kids love those in muffins and pancakes. I just rinse them, let them dry off in a colander, put them in a ziploc and into the deep freeze they go! Pour out the desired quantity of little frozen pellets when I get ready to use them. My kids will eat them frozen too, right out of the bag. It’s fairly easy to grow these ‘organically’ down here. Just mulch around them with pinestraw and water them if it gets egregiously dry.
We also got some little bush cherries. Sour cherries but supposedly they’ll can just fine for jam and preserves.
I got a hanging planter of strawberries last summer on impulse at the local nursery. 3 little strawberry plants. Those three little plants sent off over SIXTY runners. I’m getting ready to put those in the strawberry bed this week. I think they’re everbearing because some of them were setting fruit last October. I’ll use the ones that don’t fit in the bed along a sidewalk as edging. Did I mention I hate monkey grass?
And I might be putting in *another* order to Jung this week LOL. I am an unrepentant seed collector.
Winter savory is one herb that I put along the edge of my rose bed. It turns brown in the winter, but it comes right back like gangbusters. It’s good with meats, Italian food, stews, etc.
It’s under a foot of snow right now, but I’ll cut it back in the spring and it will be green and fluffy. I took about half of it out last summer because it was spreading too quickly. It gives the bed some structure and interest when the roses are all pruned back. It gets a tiny white flower on it, but that’s really insignificant.
A window box is a great idea.
I like parsley the first year. It works great as a landscaping plant as it is nice and green and leafy. It fills in empty spots nicely.