Recycling Organic Materials to Improve Your Florida-Friendly Edible Landscape

There are many different terms for edible landscaping: foodscaping, food forest, permaculture, square-foot gardening, and urban agriculture. But the Florida-Friendly Landscaping (FFL) principles represent best management practices that can be applied to all types of edible landscapes. This series is for Floridians interested in expanding their own edible landscapes, with information about creating a backyard garden that delivers fresh food in an affordable, sustainable way.

The biodecomposition of organic material, such as animal wastes, plant residues or sludges, in the presence of air, by controlled methods including mechanical mixing and aerating.

Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ (FFL) means using low-maintenance plants and environmentally sustainable practices. Learn how you can have a beautiful landscape that could save you time, energy and money while protecting our future. See the Florida Friendly Landscaping™ program website for training, contact information and more information about the program.

The term is used to describe a series of activities that include collecting, sorting and processing recyclables (that would otherwise considered wastes) into raw materials (such as fibres and metals) and manufacturing the raw materials into new products.

In 2025, as an administrative change, the UF/IFAS Department of Environmental Horticulture was sunsetted. Faculty and staff were rehomed to other departments, primarily the Departments of Horticultural Sciences and Agronomy (turf), and the School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatics Sciences (arboriculture).