Wild flowers and veg

[selfraising]

Does anyone know whether it would be okay to sow wild flowers in amongst my veg which will be in a raised bed? Thought it might help pollinate the veg and provide nectar

[Snadger]

Can't see any reason not to. I am trying to be faithful to the ornamental kitchen garden which includes interplanting with flowers........can' t see any reason why they cant be wild flowers. Anyway, if you don't like em you can always dig them in as green manure.!

[burnie]

Mine have been growing amongst the weeds for years,indeed some think some weeds are less of hazard as we might think

[selfraising]

Thankyou, I will give it a go! Relatively new to gardening. Have heard a lot about interplanting. Are there any books that tell you which flowers to plant with which veg?

[lynda66]

i had a bed of wildlowers last year, from a mixed pack, with borage in the bees loved them, think i will also plant them closer to the veg this year to get more bees to the things that need pollinating

would definitely recommend nasturtiums (get the small ones) they attract cabbage whites and blackfly away from your beans and stuff and bees. and borage is wonderful for bumble bees, and marigolds and petunias for hoverflies

[selfraising]

Thanks for the advice. I think I've got some borage seeds somewhere, so will try those. I've also bought a bumblebee box to see if I can get any to nest, although I've heard it can be difficult.

[lynda66]

you might be lucky, think you need to put food in there for em??? but if you attract lots to your garden you've got more chance than not having flowers borage does get quite big and unruly but very pretty flowers

[Alice]

I don't see why not Selraising. I always put a few marigolds and nasturtiums tucked in at the edges of my raised beds. And my kitchen garden has ornamental beds round the edges. I like the place to look nice and it provides food for the polinators I need.

[selfraising]

What sort of food do you have to put in?

[selfraising]

Exactly what I was thinking, practical but also looking nice. Also as I have quite a small garden I have to make the most of every inch of space!

[Two_Sheds]

Thankyou, I will give it a go! Relatively new to gardening. Have heard a lot about interplanting. Are there any books that tell you which flowers to plant with which veg?

It's companion planting that you want to look up. Companion planting guide.

As for flowers, these are my Tried & Testeds:

1) Calendula (English Pot Marigold) for hoverflies (their babies eat aphids)
2) Limnanthes (Poached Egg Plant) for hoverflies & bees. Also a fabulous hardy green manure.
3) Nasturtium as a sacrificial plant. The blackfly & cabbage whites hopefully colonise that instead of your beans & brassicas. You then compost the entire plant & the pests with it. Or you can eat the bits that don't have bugs on, it's delicious.
4) Borage is nice for bees, but it suffers terribly from powdery mildew. I prefer Scabious.
5) French Marigold repels whitefly ... plant is amongst your brassicas.

[Flummery]

I grow pot marigold and nasturtium in with veg. I also have borage - because I planted some once! You'll never be shot of it. I like it but you do have to be quite fierce about uprooting it where you don't really need it.

[selfraising]

Oh thankyou, that's exactly what I wanted. Thanks everyone for your help!