Veg vs flowers

[Valleyman]

Veg vs flowers.

Ah the age old debate in my household.

Me: "I was thinking of digging out another couple of raised beds by the bottom patio. I was thinking more beans to freze, or perhaps another bed of winter veg so we don't need to buy it from the shops"

Wife: "Hmm, I was thinking we could use one of the existing beds could be used for cut flowers for the house, and those mini beds you have next to the raised beds? Can we have something pretty in their as well I think it really makes the veg plot look better"

Me: *Sigh* "How about we keep it the same, and you can put nasturtiums in one of the mini beds for salads, and they'll look pretty"

Wife: *grins* "It's a deal."

Looks like it's down to the ninja dwarf french beans hidden in the flower beds again!

[ancee]

Ive just chucked a load of wild flower seeds in the currant bush bed. Currants are fab but drab! So I thought a load of corn flowers and corn cockles peeking through would improve the look of them! This year I've used flowers all round the beds on the garden edges and the beds in the middle are all fruit and veg. Nasturtiums appear and wind their way through everything as do calendulas, and pesky poached egg plants. Which I love but they will and do grow everywhere and anywhere!

[Kristen]

Can you be successful in growing both veg and flowers or is it better to stick to just one gardening discipline?

I am lucky enough to have a large garden and we have enough space to grow all the veg we need for 80% or more of the year, soft fruit, and I have half a dozen espalier Apple trees, some Pears, and Cherries etc. trained against a wall, Nectarines in pots that come in (to get out of the wet) in the Winter ... so we are pretty good for Food I also have some Cut Flowers in the vegetable patch.

We then have an Ornamental garden which is completely separate from the vegetable garden and is intended to be for the pleasure of looking at it - it provides a vista from the table we most usually sit at in the kitchen - as well as walking through. Each day when I walk round there may be a different plant that has just come into flower; something I propagated years ago from a-bit-a-mate-gave-me that is now flowering or looking strong ... I have topiary, a shrub garden, a "hot" herbaceous border, pond, exotic garden with Bananas and Palms etc., a labyrinth, and hedge lined walks.

Growing is much the same for vegetables and other plants. Vegetables are, in the main, all over and done with in a year. I could grow annual flowering plants like that too, but for me that would be too much work (for the area I have), although I do grow some to fill-in gaps in the garden. So I grow ornamental plants that are lower maintenance - its still a lot of work though (but its my hobby, so I don't play golf etc. I garden instead)



Kitchen view on a recent spring morning.

[busman43]

What an amazing garden.

[Kristen]

Vegetable Patch isn't quite so "presentable" most of the year

[Snadger]

Geoff Hamilton's Ornammental Kitchen Garden is a 'must read' if you can get hold of it!