It has always been my dream to plant edibles among the perennial landscaping. Now that we own our own place and like to do things a bit differently from the norm, I have made those dreams a reality. I let the self-seeding flowers flourish this summer as I’ve patiently waited to see what kinds of blooms are already planted out front.
It’s like Christmas every day and I’m still discovering new flower types each week. Tulips, irises, peonies, daisies, poppies, delphinium, hydrangea, liatris — all blooming in their own time and in their own way. When I got my vegetable garden planted this spring, I planned out just about every inch of it.
And then I found myself with more plants than I had space for and more seeds that were calling my name. I have always heard of a “kitchen garden” —herbs, greens and readily-available edibles — generally planted right outside the kitchen window or door, or in my case, just close enough to the house to not have to wade through puddles in the yard to get to the garden. I have a stack of galvanized tubs planted with herbs of all sorts and a very old wheelbarrow we dragged out of the woods holding my lettuce greens.
I also added decorative (but also edible) kale to my flower planters, as well as smaller planters to hold “bush” variety cucumbers, called Spacemasters. I’m sure there’s some scientific reasoning behind partner planting flowers and vegetables, but I simply enjoy both the beauty and taste of home-grown plants. I’m.