Traditional flower beds and shrubs are nice I guess, but I like all my plants to have more purpose. Almost everything gives me food, tea, healing or something. I want useful stuff out of the beauty of my beds. <<<
I agree and you might be surprised at the response to a few vegetable seeds tucked in here and there.
Wouldn’t it be fun to have winter squash growing all over those vacant lots....LOL
Keep saving seeds, you will find a spot to tuck them in.
That's interesting. Could you explain in a little more detail? I am rather new to gardening(Two years growing tomatoes in buckets, and my first small veggie garden last year). This year it'll be bigger, but recent back surgery may hamper my efforts.
My front yd is tiny, and I just do shrubs, roses, perennials, etc. The back yard is about 1/2 acre, and I have a 20 x 30 plot ready to plant. What could I plant in other areas? "Flowers" that are pretty and useful, like echinacea, and dill, mint come to mind. What else could I plant in these areas? (I'm in Tennessee - hot and dry, but I water as they need it)What about plants that attract bees and butterflies, to increase pollination?
Thanks for any help. I'm ordering heirloom seeds today.
The first year Lloyd wasn't too happy to hear I was mixing my vegetables in with the "flower beds." But, he loved the results. He wasn't familiar with a lot of my flowers cause I had pot marigolds, bee balm, borage, several sages, and other such things. He was used to nursery bedding flowers. He liked the new flowers and *finally* agreed that "yes the squash does have a pretty flower and fit in nicely." LOL I converted him on that score that first year. He likes roaming out and finding a cucumber or ripe tomatoes.
OH! And he has found that he likes tea. He wasn't accustomed to drinking herb teas but he's hooked now. And he likes the jellies and herbed wine I make with them. He's a convert. LOL
Then, it was so funny because last summer we were driving down Main Street here and one of the stately old historic homes, which has beautiful formal looking landscaping, had 2 squash plants in a nice symetrical formal bed by the street. And up by the house in a bed in front of the house they had some beans growing up a trellis which fit in perfectly with the formality of the landscape.
I told Lloyd, "See, I'm not a weirdo, I'm a trendsetter!" ~grin~