Why to grow flowers in your vegetable garden?
When planning your vegetable garden, it can be a good idea to incorporate some flowers into the mix. If you’re like me, you don’t need any extra info to be convinced of the benefits of growing flowers, but for the tough guys out there, here is why:
Flowers can attract and feed a lot of pollinators, which will help the rest of the garden (especially your tomato plants!). Some of the best plants are Milkweed, coneflower and yarrow… Make sure you plant them somewhere they won’t be in the way as they are perennial and will come back every year (Bonus point! You only have to plant them once)
Some flowers are awesome companions for your veggies. Mostly Nasturtium and marigold can be planted around most everything and will chase away pests or attract pest eating bugs.
Flowers also help biodiversity thrive. And when this happens, Nature takes it’s course so that you usually don’t have to intervene as much.
Most flowers are edible! Now make sure you check before gobbling them up! Some of them are also toxic… A lot of plants also have very powerful medicinal properties. I personally use a lot of them like yarrow and catnip in teas and calendula to make cream. We also use some of them in our biodynamic preparations like Dandelion, Chamomille, Yarrow and Valerian.
Flowers add a splash of color to your garden. It will make it more enjoyable to spend time in, as beauty is necessary to our well-being. Don’t hesitate to bring the flowers indoors too! The more you cut them, the more they will grow back.
So I hope you will include some flowers in this year’s garden if you haven’t already!
Happy Planting!
