Veg verses Flowery things?

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Why do some people grow solely vegetables and others will only grow flowers?
I’ve been growing for a couple of years now and to be honest I only started as a way of taking my mind off of stopping smoking.
My GP said I needed a hobby and Carol (Mrs. Digs) said the garden needed doing so I dug over the lawn and planted some veg. Before this point I had absolutely no interest in the garden and had to be blackmailed into cutting the grass!!!
I soon found, however, that planting those tiny little seeds and watching them appear from under the soil, fascinating, and the taste was indescribable compared with the limp, ‘produced’ offerings from the supermarket.
This year I have been tempted away from my veggie patch and co-ursed into growing these flowery things that have absolutely no edible value whatsoever,
Nice straight rows of tasty veg growing in my garden

how did that happen?

Well I can pinpoint the exact moment it happened, when I was dragged (kicking and screaming) from the little haven of my back garden with its raised beds and fruitful growth to the front with its colourful and aromatic displays of worthless blooms.
Carol is the one to take the blame, its was my lovely and well loved wife who, after browsing the many pages of GoY, filled with every colour and shape of flower, decided we needed a ‘bed’ in the front. “it won’t take long” she said “and I’ll look after it, if you just dig it over for me”
Well I knew, at that point that my life would never be the same again, gone were the days of simple hoeing between nice straight rows of carrots or peas, never again would I find myself lost in the simplicity of a line of seed potatoes or the beauty of a block of sweetcorn. The perfection of a dead straight line of seedlings would be no more and from now on I would be forced to think in terms of ‘look’ and ‘design’ loomed up at me like a goul from the night!

Now at this point I feel its only fair to say I have embrassed the beautiful worthlessness of flowery things with an abandon that takes even my breath away. No more will I swear “I’m a veggie grower”, never again will I be able to lock horns with the dedicated flowery thing lover and argue over the benefits of my beloved veg.

My latest aquasition in the flowery thing front

But ! ! !

why should we be dedicated to one or the other, why choose beautiful flowers over the good wholesome taste of truely fresh veg? and conversly why ‘waste’ so much time and space with vegetables, I do admit they can take up an awful amount of space, for what appears to be so little gain.
Perhaps I can tempt you to try both. As I am finding out, vegetables and flowery things share an awful lot more than just growing in soil and they can run hand in hand during the growing season. Not only can they tolerate each other but they can definately help each other to beat the common enemies of those tiny black devils who call themselve ‘Aphids’.
Tagete’s grown alongside beans and peas deter aphids, Garlic planted around roses have a similar effect. When winter draws its long icy fingers over the land, not to many flowers will continue to give us a display but the humble cabbage or the tall rampant stalks of the brussel sprout will fiill the eye (and the stomach) of many a gardener. Colourful lettuce can be used to enhance any summer display and they also taste wonderful. Sweet peas grown beside the edible kind not only enhance the display but ultimately encourage the bees to polinate the edibles too produce an even better crop of sweet green balls of delight. (These are my second favourite veg after all) Potatoes can be grown in bags or sacks and their flowers are a delicate purple or white which I believe many gardeners miss out on simply because they are ’ veggies’. The humble beetroot has a vivid deep red foliage that any flower grower would be hard pressed to re-create and the likes of the simple tomato hung in a basket is as colourful as many other basket favourites and they can feed you for the whole of the summer as well.
Cougettes have he most delicious little flower and the fruit isn’t half bad to eat too. Onions produce tall ‘spears’ of foliage that are quite lovely to look at and dwarf runner beans, whilst needing no support, have an abundence of deicate litttle flowers that would look quite at home in the front of any bed. (and they keep coming back all summer) Purple sprouting broccoli adds depth and colour to any garden and globe artichokes are equally as nice in the beds other either type of grower.
I think, what I am trying to say is very simple, we can all gain from choosing to mix our beds and not discarding anything because it is a veg or a flower. By mixing both we can end up with the best of both worlds, beautiful flowers that are insect free AND the most delicious tasting vegetables that have very little in the way of insect damage. Sure there are some cases where these two just will not mix and it is impossible to grow both together, but with a little thought and planing it seems feasable that anyone can combine the benefits of both and enjoy lovely displays that will feed us as well.

PS. I still haven’t stopped smoking but don’t tell my doctor will you! Lol

1 Aug, 2009
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Lily2

Well Ian, very impressive, I didn't know you had such a way with words! :~). In a life BC (before children) I had a very large garden and I grew almost every vegetable and fruit there was and loved it. 4 children in 5 years put an end to all that for 20 or so years and by that time I was too worn out for it all. Also had a much smaller garden by then and now it's wall to wall flowers for me!!

1 Aug, 2009

Veg verses Flowery things?

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