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Good Gardening: Making Space for Flowers

John Fisher

Flowers are kind of pretty.  OK, I said it.  Despite 50 plus years of growing primarily fruits and vegetables, I am now willing to allot some garden space for flowers.

Beauty is not the only benefit.  Flowers mixed in with your vegetables can be a multi-win situation. Some of my favorite flowers grow on cover crops.  Crimson clover provides a nectar feast for the bees, a fertilizer feast for the soil, and a lovely addition to a spring flower bouquet.  Fava beans are in full bloom right now.  Fixing nitrogen- providing beans soon. 

But perhaps the most important benefit of flowers in the vegetable garden is biodiversity.  From the simple attraction of bees, to providing habitat for natural predators, to luring pests away from the plants you want, flower power is a powerful tool.

Everybody knows that marigolds are a miracle.  Protecting plants from bugs, gophers, and invading aliens.  Their well-known powers may not be true, still a few marigolds in the garden can't hurt, and provide color if nothing else.

Some flowers are edible.  Nasturtiums, rose petals, and arugula blooms add snap and color to a salad.  No sprays of course.

And while flowers that I like to look at are nice, flowers that attracts wildlife have a different kind of beauty.  You want to see bees, let your broccoli or garlic bloom.  The yellow broccoli must contain bee-nip, and the garlic ball flower, will be pulled to the ground by the weight of the buzzing buddies attracted to it.  A garlic flower also makes a fine center piece for a table arrangement, and it can last for months.

It is good to re-examine your gardening priorities from time to time so that traditions don't hold you back.  I do like flowers- in and out of the vegetable garden.  Soon I may cherish a well-trimmed bark-o-mulched front lawn…(ha ha).