Education:
During my first year of gardening, I didn't think much about planting flowers. I like flowers but my mindset was, if I can't eat it, I'm not growing it.
However, with a bit of research I learned that flowers in the garden are essential!
This article (13 Benefits of Growing Flowers in your Vegetable Garden) provides excellent reasons why you should plant flowers in your garden. One of my favorite reasons is for the pollinators!
Bees are usually what comes to mind when we think of pollinators. This is true but there are others ... butterflies, ants, and see more here! I had no idea many of these were actual pollinators!!
What do Pollinators do?
When pollinators visit flowers for food, which is nectar and pollen, they accidentally brush against the flowers reproductive parts depositing the pollen from flower to flower around your garden. Your plants use this pollen to produce fruit or seed. So, we LOVE and NEED pollinators.
Here is another expanded list of pollinator types ... ones I'm sure you didn't think of!
Application:
I plant flowers in my garden every year now. I've grown to appreciate their individual beauty more and more. Plus, I love the benefits of each.
This article lists the best flowers to grow in a garden along with the beneficial characteristics of each. Each of these is really easy to grow, and a couple are even edible.
The main flowers I grow are sunflowers, marigolds, mums, nasturtiums, pansies, zinnia, cosmos, and California poppy. I typically have success with these .... except .... just so you know... I plant marigolds all over my yard because they are supposed to deter rabbits. Apparently, I have Rambo Rabbits because they think my marigolds are the seasonal town buffet. They eat the flowers right off of them!
Bonus Tip:
I might do a future edition on 'herbs' but right now I want to share why I interplant herbs with my tomatoes.
The first year I grew tomatoes the horn worms were out of control! If you've ever grown tomatoes, you know what those little beasts look like and how they can demolish a tomato plant literally overnight. *Close your eyes right here and now if you don't want to see the following picture of it .. too late ... Sorry* They are interestingly gross to look at.
So, here is my tip. When you plant your tomato seeds or plant in the ground or in a container, plant basil (preferably purple basil) around the base of the plant. They will grow together.
I did this for the past two years and I only saw one horn worm in two years. I'm not sure how or why it works but something in the basil deters hornworms so I'm going to keep doing it.
You can interplant other herbs with different vegetables as well. Just do a quick search on herb companion plants.
