Veggies mixed in with flower border - anyone tried this?

[123Deb321]

Hi, I've just registered today, we moved house late last year, so are about to overall the small garden.

It is square-ish, about 4m x 5m, all areas are in sun/partial shade. So I would like to try and get the most out of it by having a small grassed area in the centre, and borders around the edges, by mixing veggies in with the flower borders. By having tall flowers/shrubs at the back and veggies towards the front of each side/border.

My question is, has anyone mixed veggies and perennial flower borders successfully, and does anyone have any advice as to what flowers/shrubs would work well with which veggies, without interfering with crops (I bought loads of veggie seeds, so have most types of veggies, but no flowers as yet).

Thanks for any help you can offer, I really appreciate any advice.

[Chippy Minton]

I believe this is called a potager approach and is quite successful. Have a quick search for potager

[Penellype]

I've had a go at this on a few occasions and there are things that do work. A good example is peas, which you can grow instead of sweet peas (or as well if you like). Nasturtuims, which are very pretty but also completely edible, go well with peas, helping to keep the pests down. Here is a picture from July last year:



I've harvested and removed the right hand half of the peas, and more were growing. As well as peas and nasturtiums there is broccoli and blue and white lobelia in the bed at the back. I think it looks perfectly ok. I've also grown red lettuce (eg Lollo Rossa) and yellow courgettes in amongst flowers.

One of the downsides is that you will be removing plants as they become ready to harvest, so you will have gaps. Another is that certain crops like cabbages and carrots need netting against insects and this is really difficult in a flower bed and doesn't look great. So you need to choose which veg you do this with carefully.

[Guest]

Hi and welcome to the vine.

Some considerations are edible flowers such as viola,nasturtium, marigolds, lavender etc.
Garlic will help reduce black spot on roses.
Look at companion plants.
Herbs such as bay, thyme and rosemary.
Large plants like jerry artichokes (flowers similar to sunflowers)
Globe artichoke large striking structural plants. Depends on depth of your borders.

Go with what you like both for flowers and veg. I find many veg under-rated as ornamentals which I think is a shame. I personally don't like salsify but the flowers are gorgeous and the wildlife love them.

[hellybore]

I do the other way round at the moment - flowers mixed in with the veg at the allotment, but I hope to move soon to somewhere with a bigger garden, and this is what I hope to do there. Alys Fowler has a great book 'The Edible Garden' which gives lots of ideas. Do post some pics when you get going, would love to see!

[emzgogo]

Hi and welcome to the vine.

Some considerations are edible flowers such as viola,nasturtium, marigolds, lavender etc.
Garlic will help reduce black spot on roses.
Look at companion plants.
Herbs such as bay, thyme and rosemary.
Large plants like jerry artichokes (flowers similar to sunflowers)
Globe artichoke large striking structural plants. Depends on depth of your borders.

Go with what you like both for flowers and veg. I find many veg under-rated as ornamentals which I think is a shame. I personally don't like salsify but the flowers are gorgeous and the wildlife love them.

Like norfolkgrey suggests look into companion planting. I plant flowers that work to an advantage to the crop i planted xx

[Kristen]

I would watch out for shade - there are very few veg plants that tolerate much shade - so if you have larger plants at the back it would help if they are on the North side, so they don't cast a shadow over the other plants.

An alternative approach to a potager is to grow "pretty veg". There is a vegetable garden at East Ruston Old Vicarage which always looks amazing; for example they have a row of Rainbow Chard and although they harvest some, they let individual plants go to seed so they look good amongst the others.








Flowers and Vegetables mixed

[Bren In Pots]

My question is, has anyone mixed veggies and perennial flower borders successfully, and does anyone have any advice as to what flowers/shrubs would work well with which veggies, without interfering with crops (I bought loads of veggie seeds, so have most types of veggies, but no flowers as yet).

Alys Fowler has a great book 'The Edible Garden' which gives lots of ideas. Do post some pics when you get going, would love to see!

Deb have a look here on youtube at 'The Edible Garden' its the Tv series to go with the book hellybore mentions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=podo...gvTg0AmtTXdPKF

[Lumpy]

I have onions and garlic around a couple of dwarf root stock fruit trees and will let a few of them go to seed as they have pretty flowers. Kohl rabi (which I don't eat) looks stunning if you get the purple or blue variety. Radish both eaten for the root or left to flower for the seed pods are mixed in with my borage, hyssop and chives. Rhubarb is underneath a budleia.
The only thing I can suggest is a trial and error approach because soil type, sunlight etc will control both flower, bush and veggie varieties that are successful.
Good Luck
p.s Welcome to the site and I hope you enjoy!

[muddled]

I prefer the old cottage gardens, tumbling and full to overflowing, so much less formal than a potager.

The thing to consider is the harvesting.
Harvesting spuds for example will disturb quite a large area. They are best grown in a pretty container somewhere.
Kales come in a variety of colours and make good structural plants for the back of the plot.
Things that grow upwards can be trained up a sunny fence or around a pretty rustic wigwam....runner or french beans, cucumbers etc.
Nasturtiums are really delicious.
Tomatoes come in many different colours.
Strawberries can be grown in guttering along fences or in hanging baskets.
Herbs are beautiful and attract bees.

I feel that the beauty of an English cottage garden lies in the abundance, the totally full and bountiful look of it. Just lovely.

[Snadger]

I can recommend this book which I've had for many years!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ornamental-K.../dp/0563360178

Geoff Hamilton was the master as far as I am concerned!

[Penellype]

Agree Snadger - I've had that book for years and read it again recently. It was my inspiration for doing so many of the things that I now do as second nature. I used to love watching him on Gardeners World - it was never quite the same without him, although I do like Monty Don too.