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Post by daylilydude on Dec 24, 2010 6:12:09 GMT -5
Vice-Versa... I have grown zinnias in the veggie garden because that's the wifeys favorite flower, so have you all tried and why?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2010 16:16:04 GMT -5
i some times plant marigolds on the edges of my raised beds.
i have dianthus/pinks in my asparagus bed.
Larry
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rintintin
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Post by rintintin on Dec 30, 2010 19:57:37 GMT -5
Marigolds are one of the top companion plants for veggies. They repel many damaging insects.
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Trudi
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Post by Trudi on Dec 31, 2010 12:32:33 GMT -5
I've always got flowers in the veggie beds, especially something for ground cover, like alyssum or nasturtiums. A few years back I was cleaning up the garden at the end of season and I was pulling out the nasturtium vines, I was a little distressed to see that they had some aphids (afterwards I learned they were a trap crop) but my distress quickly turned to joy when, riding along on the vines, I found a whopping big preying mantis. I dunno if he was munching on the aphids, but he was certainly there under the tomato plants so I suppose he was patrolling the whole bed for his dinner.
I'm very keen on growing flowers among the toms and veggies. It gives halyctids a smorgasbord of blooms so they don't concentrate on just tom blooms (if that was all there was for them to visit). Does it cut down on cross pollination? I am not sure. But, if there's more choices for them then, it seems, less chance of cross pollination because they're not focusing on the mater flowers.
My biggest mistake with blooms among the veggies was planting Hopi amaranthus--my gosh what a pesky reseeder it can be, fortunately the seedlings have purple leaves and I can ID them on sight and out they go with a swift draw of the scuffle hoe.
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Post by paulf on Jan 3, 2011 15:32:09 GMT -5
My wife always plants some kind of flowers on the edge of the vegetable garden to add a little color (she calls it interest because she watches too much HGTV) in front of the picket fence that surrounds the vegetables.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2011 18:06:42 GMT -5
I plant marigolds around the borders of my veggie gardens to....seems to work....
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Penny
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Post by Penny on Jan 4, 2011 11:47:28 GMT -5
Me too, i always plant marigolds in and around my veggies, seems to keep the bugs away.
I plan on hiding some tomato plants in with the perrenial gardens this year.....need more space!
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Pharmer Phil
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Post by Pharmer Phil on Jan 4, 2011 16:13:45 GMT -5
Marigolds..in and around the gardens edges, good for the insects, Sweet peas on the fence because they attract me... But seriously, SOMETIMES...a few tough seeds escape the heat of the compost...and they bloom where they planted themselves...unless they are dead in the way... Then I kill em' Not really, I usually move them and hope they make it....
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Post by sorellina on Jan 5, 2011 10:02:08 GMT -5
I love planting flowers in with the vegetable beds. I started putting just edible flowers in there, but I've expanded to include ones that just make me happy, like Rich's zinnias. I like to put a tall branching sunflower in the middle of each of my tomato rows, usually a tall, branching, non-yellow darker-coloured variety like Cinnamon Sun or Chocolate Cherry. I pick 2 non-orange mounding varieties of nasturtiums to grow every year in between my basils, one variety per bed. Last year, I grew Mahogany in one bed and Salmon Baby in the other. I started them too late to get a good amount of seed at the end of the season so I may re-grow those. I use dwarf sunflowers and dwarf nasturtiums in my containers as well. I put Sweet Peas in with my edible peas (and I know not to eat them) and I put Runner Beans in with my Romanos (and I DO eat those flowers). Everlasting Sweet Peas have come back for the last 3 years in my stepson's garden, so whatever vegetable he grows on his trellis shares space with the flowers. Sometimes it's beans, sometimes it's gourds. The zinnias I grew last year ended up being a very tall variety. I didn't know they'd get so tall going into it, but it's good that they did because there was a very ambitious Bianca di Trieste zucchini growing nearby that would have otherwise run the zinnias over. In the end, their competition for sunlight was mostly a draw.
Thanks for the 411 re: amaranthus, Trudi. Duane has a crush on those plants and has pleaded with me to grow them somewhere. I'll not be putting them in the vegetable beds!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2011 8:00:48 GMT -5
Define 'flower'. Trudi says she plants nasturtiums, I EAT nasturtiums, so are they flower, herb, or veggie? Borage, an herb, I grow it for the flowers for the bees. Chives flower, and I let 'em go, but really they're more an herb.Last year I had poppies in the veggie beds, mostly cause I had extra seed to scatter. Oh, and that volunteer morning glory year before, loved climbing up the poles with my beans.
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Trudi
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Post by Trudi on Jan 7, 2011 9:29:50 GMT -5
I eat Nasturtiums too Wrennie. One of the summer camp classes I teach is sowing a small container garden of edibles, we sow mesclun, beans and nasturtiums. Flowers can be ornamental or edible, or sometimes both.
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Penny
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Post by Penny on Jan 8, 2011 8:06:18 GMT -5
I grew borage for the first time last year, and the flower is gorgeous!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2011 8:57:39 GMT -5
I eat Nasturtiums too Wrennie. One of the summer camp classes I teach is sowing a small container garden of edibles, we sow mesclun, beans and nasturtiums. Flowers can be ornamental or edible, or sometimes both. I've put the flowers in salads that I brought to parties. People were astonished that they could eat the blooms.
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Post by sorellina on Jan 8, 2011 13:22:48 GMT -5
Ciao all-
I love putting edible flowers in salads and other dishes at the end of cooking. I like to stuff nasturtiums and squash blossoms with herbed garlicky cream cheese or floating borage blossoms in mugs of gazpacho for their cucumber flavour.
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