Vegetables planted in flower border?

Hello,

Wasn't sure whether to post this in the Edible Gardening forum or on the general forum, but it's a question open to anyone, so decided on the general forum.

Is there any reason that tomato plants, climbing beans, beetroot, chard and so on can't be planted in a flower border? Everything that I read about edibles is always about pots/trenches/growbags/greenhouses etc, but I really like the idea of having borders mixed with ornamentals and edibles. Would save a lot of space on the patio as well, since I don't really have room for that many more pots (it's pretty chocka already. Oops.)

I grow a lot of geraniums, asters, some grasses, geums, couple of roses, lythrums, sanguisorba etc etc. My soil is fairly fertile, and whilst some parts are far too clayey, others are fairly rich & free draining (in summer at least).

Would I be silly to put my edibles in amongst my flowers?

 

No, we do this every year, some of the neighbours really don't like it !

 

What you describe is a pottager...absolutely nothing wrong with mixing veg with or ornamentals.

 

And some edible plants are really attractive - things like rainbow chard, beetroot, carrots, fennel etc. They can be really useful as gap fillers in a border. I'd say - go for it!

 

Artichokes !

 

Thank you all! Was just having a crisis of confidence!

 

What??? I think it would look really beautiful and interesting! In fact, if my neighbours did this, I'd definitely be peering over the fence to have a good look & learn.

 

...go for it!
(though best not to mix broad beans with wisteria!)

 

Definitely do it.
You need to plan a continuity so that harvesting leaves no gaps. Also try and plant clumps not rows and remember where you've put things otherwise meal planning becomes a challenge.

 

Ha! We planted an onion or two in the front garden 3-4 years back thinking the flowerheads would look good. It kept on coming back and you know what a few months back we were missing an onion in the kitchen.. Yep one went in the pot!

 

Haha! Thankfully my garden's not that big....! But good call.

 

Sue Kent was doing exactly that on Gardener's World the other week. Red-flowering broad beans in amongst the flowers.

 

French beans, peas and a clump of mini sweetcorn have been planted amongst hollyhocks, and sunflowers. In fact I'm hoping the peas will use the stems to climb. I always like to 'experiment' it adds to the interest.

 

I used to stick lettuce into borders, if I had a surplus, and let them go to seeding stage.
Unfortunately, trying to get them past the slug attacks is the hardest part.
I used to put mange tout in among the other plants too, but usually in pots, for the same reason - it's easier to keep them in one piece.
They also get some aphid attention, so it was ideal for the blue tits.

Did you find out what exactly the neighbours didn't like about it @DiggersJo ?