If you want a healthy and bountiful vegetable patch, you should plant some companion flowers.
So, you are quite inspired to plant a vegetable garden. It is a good way to get fresh and organic veggies from the field right to your kitchen. After doing your research you must have brought all the necessary tools, manures to have a perfect and bountiful vegetable bed. But can we suggest something unconventional? While planting your veggies be sure to leave a space for ample space for the flowers. Surprised? Flowers are known for their ability to attract bees and many other pollinators. Gardening specialist, Maggie Saska at Rodale Institute’s organic farm remarks that without all the bees coming to your vegetable patch to swap pollens around and snack on nectar, you would have a pretty disappointing harvest. And also veggies that get all the benefits from flowers who are declining due to excessive use of chemicals in recent times which is linked by many experts to the loss of natural habitat. The security of our food production can come from more places for bees and pollinators to feed.
In an article, Maggie Saska also explains how should we choose appropriate flowers for our veggie patch.
Keep in mind the blooming time of the flowers
It is very important to keep in mind that we don’t want vegetable crops and plants to bloom at the same time. Interestingly, she clarifies this further with the help of an example, suppose you have planted a crop of peas along with flowers. If the flowers do not bloom until two weeks after your peas have flowered then you might be out of luck with good peas harvest. If you want the blooming of flowers to occur throughout the growing season of your crop then think about planting a variety of flowers.
Keep in mind the flower shape
You might not know about the importance of flower shape in attracting different pollinators such as bees, wasps, and hummingbirds. Maggie Saska strongly recommends flowers that have petals arranged identically around the center. Some of these flowers are cosmos, marigolds, and Zinnias.
Keep in mind the height of the flower
Try to go for low-growing plants as they would not block sunlight for vegetable crops. But vegetables such as lettuce can be benefitted from the tall flowering plant as it needs a bit of shade in summer.
Lastly, choose plants that can also repel various pests that can ruin the veggie crop.
