There are many reasons why gardeners plant flowers along with their vegetable plants. Flowers are beneficial to the garden because they can help repel harmful insects, attract pollinators, and help amend the soil. Let’s look at what flowers to plant with vegetables.
What flowers to plant with vegetables
If you would like to plant some flowers in your garden this year, you will find several wonderful candidates below.
Lavender
Lavender is often the flower of choice when it comes to the garden. Not only is this flower beautiful, but it also has a wonderful fragrance. While this flower looks and smells great, it has other benefits. Lavender will ward off many garden pests, and deer try their best to avoid it.
This flowering plant can be used as a herb, and the smell of lavender can promote better sleep. Lavender is commercially grown in many areas of the world, but it also does great when planted in the home garden.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers are tall-growing flowers that look amazing in the vegetable garden. This flower will bring many beneficial pollinators to the garden, which will help your vegetable plants flourish.
Some sunflower varieties produce edible seeds that you can roast in the oven. When sunflowers mature, they make great supports for climbing vegetable plants like peas and beans. If your garden is small, planting sunflowers can help save space by growing other plants close by.
Zinnia
If you’re looking to attract bees to your garden, then you should consider planting zinnias. Zinnias contain tons of liquid nectar that pollinators flock to. Many people love to use zinnias as cut flowers and bring them inside to add beauty to their homes.
For those that grow vegetables for the farmer’s market, adding zinnias to your produce will help you earn some extra income.
Cosmos
Next on the list, we have cosmos. Many of you have probably already heard of these eye-catching flowers. Cosmos flowers are huge, and they provide a beautiful backdrop when planted next to vegetables.
This flower is very attractive, but it also helps improve the health of the garden. White and orange cosmos varieties attract a beneficial insect called the green lacewing. Green lacewings are heavy feeders, and they will feast on pests like aphids and thrips.
This will reduce the need for pesticides which many gardeners try to avoid at all costs.
Borage
Borage is not only fun to grow in the garden, it also has many uses. This flowering plant is a herb that is used to treat certain conditions. If you are looking for a flower you can eat, borage is a great choice. Both the leaves and the flowers of this plant are safe to eat.
Borage flowers will bring in lots of bees to the garden. This plant will often self-seed and come back year after year without the need for replanting. Keep in mind that borage can spread quickly, so make sure you have enough room for it to grow.
Lupins
Many people have never heard of lupins before. However, it is a very beneficial flower that everyone should consider growing. When used in crop rotation, Lupins will add nitrogen to the soil. Most vegetable plants need lots of nitrogen to thrive. Lupins are also unique looking and make great conversation starters. These plants have tall flowering stems that will rise above the rest of the plants in the garden.
Clover
Clover is a traditional flower that is grown in the garden. Clover is a great cover crop that will help prevent erosion. This plant also will provide lots of much-needed nitrogen to the soil when tilled into the ground. You can also compost this flower and use it when planting next year’s crops.
Comfrey
Comfrey is grown in the garden for several different reasons. Many people plant comfrey because it adds beauty to the garden and attract bees. Others plant comfrey because it makes a great cover crop that can provide natural fertilizer when added to the compost bin. Some gardeners also make liquid fertilizer from comfrey.
What flowers to plant with vegetables: Conclusion
If you were wondering what flowers to plant with vegetables, then now you know. Any of these flower varieties will look amazing in the garden and will provide you with lots of benefits.
So, what are you waiting for? Get planting today.
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