Unusual Edible Plants for a Low-Maintenance Garden

Beyond the allotment: a new way to grow food

When most people imagine growing their own food, they picture allotments: neat rows of carrots and beans, constant sowing, watering, and weeding. That’s productive — but it’s also demanding.

If your goal is a garden that’s low-maintenance, biodiverse, and beautiful while still producing food, there’s a better route: unusual edible perennials and shrubs. These aren’t allotment vegetables. They’re long-lived, attractive plants that look at home in borders or hedges, yet quietly provide harvests year after year. They have given rise to the term 'edimenta' - edible + ornamental.

This is gardening that fits modern life: easy, sustainable, and full of flavours you won’t find in the supermarket.

My top picks for unusual edibles

1. Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)

A silver-leaved shrub that thrives in poor soils and coastal conditions. In autumn it produces vivid orange berries, packed with vitamin C and antioxidants. The berries are tart raw but shine in juices, jams, and sauces. They taste of bitter mango and look stunning in a hedgerow.

Note: Sea buckthorn is dioecious — you’ll need both male and female plants nearby for berries to form. One male can pollinate several females, so plant in groups if you want reliable harvests.

2. Globe artichokes (Cynara scolymus)

Globe artichoke (left) and Saltbush (right)

Dramatic, architectural plants that double as ornamentals. Harvest the flower buds in summer for eating, or let them open to feed pollinators and create striking seed heads. Hardy once established, they bring long-term character to any garden.

3. Ugni molinae (Chilean guava)

A compact evergreen shrub with neat foliage and pink bell-shaped flowers. By autumn it produces aromatic berries with a flavour between wild strawberries and bubblegum. Best in mild, sheltered gardens — a perfect edible ornamental.

4. Elder ‘Black Lace’ (Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla)

Dark, finely cut foliage and pink frothy flowers make this elder a showpiece shrub. The berries are edible once cooked and make excellent syrups, cordials, or wine. Pollinators adore the flowers, so it’s as good for biodiversity as it is for your kitchen.

5. Saltbush (Atriplex halimus)

An evergreen shrub with silvery leaves, often used in coastal planting. The leaves are edible and naturally salty — a hardy, sustainable alternative to spinach that thrives in poor or dry soils.

6. Honeyberries (Lonicera caerulea)

A type of edible honeysuckle producing deep blue berries early in the season. High in antioxidants, their flavour is a mix of blueberry and blackcurrant. Hardy, reliable, and excellent in temperate gardens.

Why they fit low-maintenance gardening

• Resilient: Thrive in poor soils, exposed sites, or minimal care.

• Productive: Provide fruit or edible leaves year after year.

• Beautiful: Designed for borders, hedges, or mixed plantings, not hidden veg patches.

• Biodiverse: Pollinator-friendly flowers, wildlife shelter, and living soil.

They’re plants that give more than they take — which is exactly what a sustainable, self-sustaining garden should do.

Next steps

• Want more ideas? Download the Edimentals free guide to explore more beautiful, edible plants that thrive in everyday gardens.

• Ready to create your own self-sustaining space? The Self-Sustaining Garden course shows you how to design a garden that’s productive, low-maintenance, and rich in biodiversity.