Growing vegetables in flower beds

[Fi]

May 28, 2008 6:35:15 GMT Whitbywoof said:

I may well do that Fi as I do like my runner beans! Someone at work gave me a couple of tomato plants which are thriving well and we planted sweetcorn and pumpkins earlier this year - although I think those seeds have ended up in the bellies of robins and tits!

I never really saw myself as a Barbara Good - the garden is more wild to attract birds, butterflies and damselflies - but needs must... I think I'll start taking a greater interest in the gardening board.

Runner bean flowers atttract all sorts of insects, and also put nitrogen back in the soil, if you don't pull the roots out when they are done. That will benefit whatever gets planted in their space the next year. Since they grow up canes and other things (I've even seen them grown on a garden arch, they don't use up much space on the ground. Other thoughts are that sprays of carrot leaves look as good as ornamental grasses if planted in a clump; artichokes and cardoons grow into wonderful architectural plants and taste divine - leaving some flowers to mature will give a supply of seeds to several birds, especially bullfinches; red and black currants provide an early source of nectar for bumble bees, as do early sprouting brocolli etc etc. We've grown our own vegetables, soft fruit and herbs for years and have always left some of each crop for food for wildlife (other than slugs and snails!). When we get round to it, the vegetable garden we are building will be stocked as a parterre and include some flowers for cutting as well as show. Herbs are also a great source of food, and many of them are already incorported in the existing flower garden. Fruit are even better, since all are preceded by flowers for bees and the fruit is also a source of food for many birds, butterflies and other insects. Watching tipsy blackbirds that have feasted on rottten apples is always fun and the apples are also food for welcome animals such as harvest mice and shrews. The list is pretty much endless - it's just a matter of using your imagination, but I'm sure that adding vegetables will lead to a source of food for many insects and some of them will then become food for dragonflies and damsel flies.
One other thought - if you do decide to grow runner beans, choose one of the stringless varieties. It's save a lot of work strining them and the beans can remain on the plants for longer before harvesting. Oh - and be warned - Jodie might get a taste for them - we've had several dogs that loved pinching them off the plants and the same goes for peas. We also had one dog who loved strawberries so much that we ended up planting a bed of them just for him.

[Whitbywoof]

Thanks Fi, that's very informative. I suppose I've always thought of gardens as being flowers OR vegetables (I didn't have a garden between the ages of nine and 35 so I'm a bit of a 'garden virgin').

We have an apple tree that produces small but sweet apples - the nack is to get the fruit before the wasps do - and there was a raspberry bush which suffered at the fate of the blackbirds.

I didn't realise that while I was reading your post above, R was catching up on the fresh vs frozen thread, and he has suggested that we dig out the bed on one side of the garden and raise and replant it with veg. The side of the garden he is thinking of has bushes rather than flowering plants so visually it would be little loss - and from what you've said about vegetable flowers quite possibly a gain. And raising it might keep Jodie's nose off the produce! I think it's an excellent idea in principle but I am concerned about the lack of light - the bed is on the south side of the property and is shaded by the fence - is there anything that absolutely won't grow in the shade and would therefore be a complete waste of time in planting?

This of course is a project for next year (apart from some beans this weekend) because of the labour involved and because the bushes are full of birds nests (so we will have to provide shelter for the robins).

Oh, we're also going to dig out and deweed the gravel driveway - anyone fancy a digging party this autumn?

[Fi]

Most vegetables, fruit and herbs do better in the sun. The first thought that comes to mind is to move the flowering plants to the south side and the second is to plant the vegetables in among at least some of the flowering plants, and move the rest. Or, in the first year plant vegetables of your choice on the south side, to see how well they crop and, if they don't do well, move the vegetable plot the next year. Since you are something of a garden virgin, I also suggest that you search on the web for soil requirements (yours will need improving) and fertilizing, as well as reading the instructions on the seed packets on how to cultivate the plants.

One insignificant after thought - even bushes have flowers, but some are so small they are insignficant to humans, but insects will still benefit from them.

[Peek]

This may sound like a really silly piece of advice, but runner beans , along with most fruit and veg need lots and lots of watering to help produce the produce , so make sure you do it constantly.

[lily]

We grow sweet peas up the canes the runner beans grow up and plant mixed lettuces along the edge of the border.

xxx

[BjornTobyStomped]

I've started growing veg in raised beds as I don't have the space in the garden.

[Fi]

May 29, 2008 14:45:44 GMT Peek said:

This may sound like a really silly piece of advice, but runner beans , along with most fruit and veg need lots and lots of watering to help produce the produce , so make sure you do it constantly.

Using well rotted compost as a mulch also works well to stop the soil from drying out. If no compost is available, finely shredded newspaper works just as well - of course it doesn't look as nice, but it does do the job and helps maintain good soil texture when it's dug in at the end of the growing season.

[oldbean]

Runner beans were originally grown for their flowers and not for the beans!

Companion planting is always a good idea... and for beans use English marigolds as they will draw away the black fly.

[tigerlily]

Will French mariglods work just as well?

*looks hopeful*

[oldbean]

Sadly no, they have to be the English ones... must be the pheromones that do it.

[tigerlily]

Bottom.

I must now scour the garden centres of Notts in search of English mariglods!

[Tina Biscuit]

Jun 2, 2008 13:35:39 GMT @oldbean said:

Sadly no, they have to be the English ones... must be the pheromones that do it.

I beg to differ, French marigolds are excellent for companion planting - the odour repels greenfly and blackfly.

English marigolds on the other hand just attract the blackfly away from everything else, which is fine on the one hand, but on the other you end up with marigolds covered in blackfly!

[Fi]

Jun 2, 2008 11:37:23 GMT @oldbean said:

Runner beans were originally grown for their flowers and not for the beans!

Companion planting is always a good idea... and for beans use English marigolds as they will draw away the black fly.

Their petals are also a pretty and tasty addition to salads - and seeing some of the subsequent posts to yours, the petals of english or pot marigolds are the only ones to have a pleasant taste.