Growing flowers in your vegetable garden may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you're mapping all your plants out... but I'm going to tell you why it should. There are many beneficial flowers you can grow alongside your vegetables that will work as companion plants.
Certain flowers will help to attract pollinators like bees and butterflies to your garden and deter pests like aphids and white flies! Growing flowers among your vegetables can also work as a living carpet and choke out weeds, which means less work for you in the long run.
Not only will planting flowers add more colour to your vegetable garden, it will save you time in the long-run fighting with pests and weeds! I have four go-to flowers I always plant alongside my vegetables that I swear by:
(1) Calendula
Calendula attracts pollinators as well as draws and traps aphids with sticky sap to keep them off of other crops. Calendula works best when planted near tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, carrots, asparagus and other spring salad vegetables.
(2) Marigolds
Marigolds are beautiful flowers that will add a bunch of colour into any space. They also help with controlling pests like squash bugs, thrips, white flies and tomato hornworms. Plant marigolds near cucumbers, melons, eggplants, squashes, potatoes, lettuce and pumpkins.
(3) Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums are similar to marigolds, they repel squash bugs, white flies, aphids, beetle and cabbage loopers. For best results, plant nasturtiums near kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, collards, broccoli, cabbage and radishes.
(4) Borage
Borage is an amazing flower that I use to attract pollinators to the garden bed. They also repel hornworms and are compatible with most plants. Personally I plant borage beside tomatoes and squash, but they're also a great addition to a strawberry patch.
These are my four must have flowers in my garden beds but there are plenty of other companion flowers to choose from! Next time you're mapping out a new vegetable garden, plant some flowers alongside your crops and reap the benefits!
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Happy planting!
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