Growing veg in a flower bed

Hi all

I've decided I want to grow as much of my own veg as possible. I want to grow stuff that won't look out of place with a few flowers sharing the same ground, and I'm looking for some ideas.

I'm looking for stuff that grows quickly, doesn't all mature at once, and preferably is of a crunchy nature that would go well in stir fry and the likes.

One of the reasons I want to grow my own, apart from cost and flavour, is that I'm sick of eating half decomposed rubbish from the supermarkets. There is only me and the wife and our baby son (he doesn't eat much solids yet) so what tends to happen is we buy some veg from the supermarket, use what we need for a meal, then by the end of the week before we go shopping again everything is way past its best. That's the reason I'm looking for ideas of stuff that grows quickly and has a long harvesting time, so we can just pick what we need and use it straight away.

Any ideas? Also is there anything other than radish that can still be sown now?

 

Beetroot, pak choi, rocket / salad leaves, turnip.

The pak choi will be best for stir fries, and looks nice.

I've just sown some Mizuna in flower beds. I have no idea what it is, mind you! Little peppery baby greens I think.

 

Root crops might be a problem, as digging them up may disturb other plants nearby?

My first advice is always to grow what you like to eat Globe Artichokes would look nice in your garden, but I am sure you will tell me its an utterly pointless crop!

I like the idea of Beetroot. You can eat the leaves too (use like spinach), and we try to pick the leaves one night, then harvest the roots a day or so later.

But whichever way you cut it, vegetable gardening needs a lot of space to make any sort of dent into your normal shopping. So a few veg between the plants will give you the occasional windfall of freshness.

Have you got space from some containers? Carrots would be good in containers, and spuds.

 

Thanks all.

I think beetroot will be going in for one. I didn't know you could use the leaves like spinach, good tip Kristen. Pak Choi is a likely candidate too, thanks for that Andrew. John, I am half tempted at the thought of carrots, but aren't they quite a slow grower? According to one of my herb books you can use carrot leaves in all sorts of dishes and they are supposed to be very good for you, but if that's true then I'm a bit surprised that in shop bought ones they've almost always been scalped.

Swiss Chard might be a candidate, there are some excellent coloured ones in my seeds catalogue. I've never tried it before though so I have no idea if we'd like it. I'm still tempted to try growing some though because you never until you try it as they say.

We use onions in just about everything, but they take an age to grow, so I'm looking at Shallots which according to my veggy book grow a bit quicker.

Oh and an idea struck me, my main flower bed hasn't worked out quite as I'd planned. I was going for lots of fiery colour and it has turned out a bit two dimensional. A been wigwam right in the middle would look pretty good I reckon, especially if I go for French beans which has yellow and purple vareities. It is such a perfect solution that it should have been obvious to me. We love French beans in our house, and they are quite a showy plant, so its a win win situation I reckon.

 

Runners might be more showy than Climbing Frenchies??

Chard leaves taste like Spinach. Its not quite the same, bit more "body" to Chard leaves. You can also east the stalks of Chard - but they need cooking differently. We stand them up in our Asparagus steamer, regular steaming doesn't do a decent job, and cooking them WITH the leaves is definitely a no-no - the stems take much longer.

Same applies to Beetroot leaves

 

"I didn't realise you could eat carrot leave"

Doesn't seem to do pet Rabbits any harm :hehe:

 

My guinea pigs ADORE carrot leaves. They're currently loving my brussel sprout leaves too!

Out of interest Kirsten, why would globe artichokes be a pointless crop?

 

"why would globe artichokes be a pointless crop"

I was meaning too little return in a small garden - I was assuming that the amount of available cropping space was limited, and thus globe artichokes would be seen as space hogs.

I reckon you would need a couple of plants, at least, otherwise only one "fruit" at a time, which might cause some rows at the dinner table! and, what, 4 "fruit" per season per plant? So that the starters taken care of for 4 meals in the year? :D :D :D

Nice looking plant, architecturally though, so not out of place in a garden.

** "fruit" = "unopened flowers" - before someone takes me to task for calling them "fruit"

 

You really do never stop learning on this forum!!! :D:D

 

I have 2 lots of carrots growing ,and i take from the pots to thin them out and they have the tiniest little bitty carrot on the bottom ,wash it and throw it in my salad for lunch,

 

I've just had a quick look about the web about carrot leaves. Most of the articles I found confirm what it said in my herb book, but before eating them there are a couple of cautions to be noted.

Firstly, they contain a chemical that some people are allergic to, so watch out for that. Mind the same is true of Celery and Peanuts and many other food stuff.

Secondly, apparently they are loaded with nutrients. This is of course a good thing, but as is true with many culinary herbs which tend to be very high in one thing or another, it is possible to over do it. For example we all know that iron is good for us, but too much iron affects our liver performance.

So I guess the trick is, if you're going to eat it, do so in moderation.