When I first started vegetable gardening many years, I didn’t think I needed to plant flowers. I was focused on the growing veggies. How could flowers help? I didn’t want beauty, I wanted to produce food.

Well, I’m here to tell you how much I missed out by not having flowers planted near my summer veggie those first few years.

And now that I know reasons why growing flowers is so crucial to a vegetable garden, I want you to know the reasons that you will want these flowers with this list of 5 vibrant flowers to plant near your summer veggie garden.

Benefits of Growing Flowers with Veggies

1. Flowers provide a beautiful aesthetic to your vegetable garden.

2. Pollinators like bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies are attracted to flowers, which aids in the growth of vegetables.

3. The plants in flower beds can produce natural repellents that help keep pests away from vegetables.

4. Growing flowers adds beneficial nutrients to the soil that help vegetables grow better.

5. Flowers introduce color and texture to your garden, making it more inviting and pleasing to the eye.

Let’s take a look at these benefits of growing flowers with your veggies in more detail.

Beautiful Aesthetic

Flowers can provide a beautiful aesthetic to a vegetable garden in several ways:

1. Color – Flowers come in a wide range of colors, from bright and bold to soft and pastel. By incorporating different colors into the garden, it can create an eye-catching display that draws attention.

2. Contrast – Mixing different colored flowers together can create a beautiful contrast that adds visual interest to the garden.

3. Texture – Flowers also come in different shapes and sizes, which adds texture to the garden design. The varying textures help break up the monotony of the vegetable plants and add depth to the overall look.

4. Focal Points – Using flowers as focal points within the garden can draw attention to specific areas and create a visually pleasing centerpiece.

5. Seasonal Changes – Different flowers bloom at different times of the year, providing changing colors and textures throughout the seasons. This variety keeps the garden looking fresh and vibrant all year round.

Integrating flowers into a vegetable garden can enhance its beauty by adding color, contrast, texture, focal points, and seasonal changes that appeal to our senses and create an inviting space for us to enjoy. These flowers are great companion planting elements to a veggie garden.

Pollinators

Why do you want pollinators?

Beneficial pollinators are important in a vegetable garden because they help to fertilize the flowers of plants, which then leads to the production of fruits and vegetables. Without pollinators, many plants in vegetable beds would not be able to produce food.

Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators transfer pollen from one flower to another as they collect nectar.

This process helps to ensure that the plant will bear fruit or produce seeds. Pollination is essential for successful crop yields in home gardens.

In addition to fertilizing plants with beneficial flowers, pollinators also play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and supporting ecosystems. They help to ensure that plant species continue to reproduce, which provides food and habitat for other animals.

Therefore, it is important to attract pollinators into your vegetable garden by planting flowers companion plants that they find attractive, providing shelter and nesting sites, avoiding pesticides that can harm them, and creating a welcoming environment for these beneficial insects and birds. Companion planting with these flowers will enhance your garden ecosystem.

Natural Repellents

How do natural repellents help?

Natural repellents can help to deter pests from damaging plants in a number of ways.

Here are some examples:

1. Smell – Many natural repellents have strong odors that pests find unpleasant, such as garlic, onion, or peppermint. By planting these types of plants near your vegetables, it can mask the scent of your crops and make them less attractive to pests.

2. Taste – Some natural repellents can make plants taste bad to pests, which can discourage them from feeding on them.

3. Visual cues – Certain plants and flowers have bright colors or patterns that can confuse or intimidate pests.

4. Environment – Creating an environment that is not conducive to pest activity can also help reduce pest populations in your garden.

Natural repellents are often safer for humans and the environment than chemical pesticides while still being effective at deterring pests.

You can use these flowers as a trap crop. A trap crop is a plant that is grown specifically to attract and divert pests away from other, more valuable crops in the garden.

It’s important to note that natural repellents may not completely eliminate pest problems and should be used in combination with other methods for best results.

Beneficial Nutrients

Here are 5 other beneficial insects and nutrients that can be obtained from flowers in a vegetable garden:

1. Nitrogen – Flowers such as clover, dandelions, and vetch help to fix nitrogen in the soil which is essential for plant growth.

2. Phosphorus – Flowers like marigolds and nasturtiums have been known to increase phosphorus levels in the soil, which is important for root development and overall plant health.

3. Potassium – Calendula flowers are a great source of potassium which helps with flower and fruit production.

4. Calcium – Chamomile flowers release calcium into the soil which is essential for strong cell walls in plants.

Color and Texture

Companion planting flowers can provide a wide range of colors and textures to any type of garden, especially raised beds. Here are some ways in which flowers can add color and texture:

1. Variety of Colors – Best flowers come in an array of colors, from bright and bold to soft and pastel. Mixing different colors together can create a beautiful contrast that adds visual interest to the garden.

2. Different Shapes and Sizes – Flowers also come in different shapes and sizes, including round, spiky, or bell-shaped. This variety adds texture to the garden, making it more visually appealing.

3. Height Variation – Flowers can be grown at varying heights, creating layers within the garden. This layering effect adds depth and dimension to the overall design.

4. Seasonal Changes – Different flowers bloom at different times of the year, providing changing colors and textures throughout the seasons.

Incorporating flowers to grow into a garden bed not only provides beneficial nutrients but also adds beauty and visual interest through their diverse range of colors, shapes annual flowers, sizes, and seasonal changes. Use a garden journal to plan out your garden for each season with flowers too. Here is a blog post on gardening journals to help you.

What Specific Flowers to Grow

Borage

Borage is an annual herb, that is often grown in many vegetable gardens everywhere. It has beautiful blue, star-shaped flowers and hairy leaves that are edible and have a refreshing cucumber flavor.

Borage is also beneficial for a vegetable garden because it attracts pollinators such as bees and butterflies, which help to fertilize plants and increase yields.

In addition to attracting pollinators, borage has other benefits for the garden. Its roots penetrate deeply into the soil, helping to improve soil structure and reduce compaction.

Borage also acts as a natural pest repellent, deterring insect pests such as tomato hornworms and other pests from feeding on nearby plants.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers are tall, bright and cheerful flowers that are easy to grow in a vegetable garden. They are perennial flowers can grow up to 10 feet tall and produce large yellow or red flower heads with edible seeds.

Sunflowers attract beneficial pollinators like honey bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to the garden which help pollinate vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and peppers. This can lead to increased yields of these crops.

Sunflowers have deep roots that can break up hard soil and improve drainage in garden soil. They also absorb excess nutrients and toxins from the soil, making it healthier for other plants in the garden.

Sunflowers can act as natural trellises for climbing plants such as beans or peas. They add visual interest to a vegetable garden with their bright colors and unique shapes best flowers.

Chamomile

Chamomile is a useful plant to have in a vegetable garden. Chamomile attracts beneficial insects, improves soil health, can repel harmful insects naturally and provides tea-making ingredients.

It is grown easily and offer a range of benefits that can help your vegetables thrive. By incorporating chamomile into your veggie garden, you can create a more sustainable and healthier growing environment for your plants.

Calendula

Calendula is a bright and cheerful flowering plant that has been used for centuries for its medicinal properties. It is also a useful addition to any vegetable garden for flowers, because it offers several benefits.

Calendula flowers attract beneficial insects like ladybugs, green lacewings, and hoverflies. These insects prey on common garden pests such as aphids, thrips, and whiteflies, helping to keep your vegetables healthy and pest-free.

It is a natural source of minerals like potassium, calcium, and magnesium which are essential nutrients for plant growth. When calendula plants die back at the end of the season, they release these minerals into the soil, making it more fertile for other plants in the garden.

These pretty flowers make an excellent companion plant because it helps to improve the health and flavor of nearby plants like tomatoes, peppers and beans.

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums are a beautiful and useful addition to any vegetable garden. These flowering plants have edible leaves, flowers, and seeds that add color and flavor to salads, sandwiches, and other dishes.

But nasturtiums are also an edible flower. You can eat the flowers in a salad or freeze the flower in an ice cube to add to a drink to add beauty.

Nasturtiums contain compounds that repel pests of garden crops like aphids, whiteflies, and cucumber beetles. By planting nasturtiums near susceptible plants like tomatoes or cabbage, you can deter these pests from damaging your crops.

These beautiful flowers produce bright orange or yellow flowers that attract bees, butterflies, honeybees, and other pollinators to the garden. This helps to ensure good pollination of your vegetable crops which leads to better yields.

Another benefit is that nasturtiums have deep roots that help to break up compacted soil and improve drainage. They also release nutrients into the soil as they grow which benefits nearby plants fruit trees.

In Conclusion

To wrap it up, growing flowers with vegetables can truly transform your garden into an oasis of beauty!

From pollinator attraction to pest repellent production, amazingly vivid aesthetics while enriching soils— there’s not a bad deal in sight. This type of organic gardening with bright blooms as companion flowers can help your vegetable plot grow. Learn about more plants to grow using pollinating flowers in the blog post about BUTTERFLY GARDENS.

And if you’re thinking of giving these unique growing plants trend a go, why not start easy with tomatoes? Who knows, maybe that little tomato could produce more than what it’s worth!

For those looking for more information and tips on how to grow tomatoes alongside flowers, you should definitely check out the tomato eBook.