'Showy' veg for raised beds?

[amandaandherveg]

Our garden has been included in the Village Open Garden Weekend in July (they choose 8 to 10). This was a bit unexpected and caught me on the hop.

I have 2 beds filled with strawbs and have loads of young plants and seedlings pootling away in the greenhouse ready to plant out when the frosts have passed. Can you make some suggestions as to what would make the best 'show' - I have 5 more 1.2 x 1.2m raised beds yet to fill. I thought perhaps one with sweetcorn and one with tricolour courgettes.

[Two_Sheds]

Rainbow chard?
Big, grows fast, looks pretty.

[zazen999]

Borlotti beans make a very good show, with their lovely pods.

Peas as well, particularly ones with different coloured flowers.

I think i'd perhaps do a couple of sweetcorn spirals, one pea tripod, one bean tripod and a good sized yellow courgette, and plant a salad bar around the outside of each central piece. This can include all your salads, including some red leaved varieties and radishes and beetroots, a few chards maybe on the corners, a herb or two at the corners [coriander, basil, oregano etc]. Infill with other edibles, nasturtium, flax for example, to attract the bees and other insects in. Tomatoes poking out of the flowers would also look good.

[amandaandherveg]

Ladies, thanks soooo much, that's given me load to think about. Most of the plants/veg that have been suggested are already in the greenhouse so I have a head start.

TS - My Rainbow Chard did nothing last year - did I start it too late?

I've built a nice long trough out of scaffold boards and planted up some salad and it's coming through nicely. Courgettes are doing well in the GH, just waiting for the frost risk to be done with. Picked up the idea of growing BNS in a wheelbarrow from here and going to let them cascade down the side our our steps which we've made out of sleepers so nice and wide. Need to get some well rotted poo.

I'll pop a tomato or two in amongst the flowers - perhaps taking them out of the GH on the day or the day before as it's too cold up here to grow them outsides.

What's a sweetcorn spiral? I have Borlotti beans started in modules but I can't find anywhere on the packet or the T&M website to tell me how high that variety grows. As per your pea and bean suggestion, I've ordered a nice colourful selection to grow up 8 wigwams that I've lined up against the back wall which should look good.

Again, thanks so much for the help.

[indigox]

I second rainbow chard, the colours are fantastic, it's easy to grow, and it tastes lovely.
I saw a lovely bed edged with dark red lettuces the other day at a NT garden, not sure what variety they were, maybe some kind of cos.
I think mixed beds always look nice if you're going for showy (as well as practical).

[zazen999]

Sweetcorn spiral....have a read of this - post No 25 follows up my description with a nifty diagram!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ise_32218.html

[amandaandherveg]

Sweetcorn spiral....have a read of this - post No 25 follows up my description with a nifty diagram!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ise_32218.html

Aaaghh.. now I get it.

I see that you are growing seeds from the States. I also picked some up from there two weeks ago and started them off 8 days ago. They are now 4-5 inches high and outgrowing my Swift. They are called Early Bantam - anyone heard of them?