Jim Bartz plants tomatoes in his rose garden. A narrow 18-inch strip of soil between his Town of Clayton home and his driveway holds shrub roses year round and during the summer months hosts several tomato varieties as well. The roses and tomatoes intertwine producing lovely blooms and delicious tomatoes.
Gardeners often plant a row or two of flowers around their vegetable plots, but the concept of vegetables in the flower bed is relatively new.
Vegetables can have a place even in a formal landscape. Leaf lettuce and other greens come in lots of colors and textures and make a neat edging. Parsley, carrots and beets are other good edging plants.
Fast growing pole beans can climb a trellis against a wall or a tower in the middle of a perennial bed.
The rainbow colors of ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard really brings pizzazz to a bed. Both hot and sweet peppers grow on compact bushes and add a splash of bright color to a flower bed in late summer and fall when the rest of the flowers are fading.
Don Lewis of Oshkosh grows ‘Royal Burgundy’ bush beans among his flowers. The neat 15-18 inch plants produce deep purple stringless bean pods that turn green when cooked. Wax beans can add a yellow glow to the garden, and ‘Coco Rubico’ dry beans produce attractive pink-streaked pods.
Vegetables in the flower beds have more advantages than just great looks. Flowers will attract good insect predators like hover-flies and ladybugs to control aphids on the vegetables. The flowers will also attract pollinator insects for those vegetables that need them.
Mr. Lewis also plants lettuce in his flower bed. The flowers shade the lettuce so it is less likely to bolt. In turn, the lettuce serves as a living mulch, cooling the roots of the flowers.
Aside from aesthetics, gardeners plant vegetables in their flower beds if they haven’t the time, space or inclination to commit to a full-sized vegetable plot. Tucking a tomato plant or a few beans in amongst the flowers is a great way to enjoy fresh produce and have a pretty garden too.
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