Short on space? Plant veg in your flower beds

17 May 2015 - 02:00 By Laurian Brown
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Great companions: marigolds and Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’.
Great companions: marigolds and Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’.
Image: THINKSTOCK

Foodscaping (edible landscaping) is a huge trend. So if you've got no space to grow veggies, add them to your flower beds. Plant edibles instead of flowers, as though they were flowers or mixed-border style.

Glowing red cabbages, silvery artichokes, feathery carrots, frilly lettuces, purple-sprouting broccoli, lush fountains of rainbow chard, red mustard and emerald-green mizuna... who needs flowers? The smartest gardens now - especially small ones - are brimming with gorgeous things to eat, and not just in pots and boxes or regimented plots, but everywhere.

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True, cottage gardeners have always mixed vegetables and flowers, but as our love affair with home-grown continues to burgeon, so has the tendency to reduce (or even largely dispense with) ornamentals in favour of edibles, which can be as decorative as any flower and satisfyingly worthy into the bargain.

It may just be that we've learnt to appreciate the intrinsic beauty of vegetables, but the available range of heirloom varieties and colourful new hybrids also continues to expand, providing an irresistible palette for adventurous gardeners.

It's all about playing with colours, forms and textures, combining tall and round and flat and flouncy in groups, with the occasional accent plant, just as you would with a mixed-flower border. And using edibles in all the ways you might use ornamentals.

WHAT TO PLANT

Shade: grapevines, fruit trees

Screening: sunflowers, sweetcorn, runner beans

Climbers for trellises and obelisks: runner beans, sugar-snap peas, cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, boysenberries

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Accent and form plants: rhubarb, artichokes, cabbage

For height: broad beans, leeks, lovage, lemon grass, fennel, Jerusalem artichokes

Robust leaves and strong forms: kale, cabbage, cauliflower, pak choi

Bright fruits: chillies, eggplant, sweet peppers

Bushy: rosemary and lots of other woody herbs

Flowery: all the sages, especially pineapple sage

Feathery fillers: fennel, carrots, parsley, dill

Ground covers: parsley, chives, thyme, oregano, mint

Large lush leaves: Swiss chard, mizuna, Japanese red mustard, sorrel

Dainties: cut-and-come-again lettuces, rocket

Edible flowers: day lilies, nasturtiums, calendulas, violas

SECRETS OF SUCCESS

• Most vegetables and herbs need plenty of sun.

• Prepare soil well, with plenty of compost.

• Start with a few trays of seedlings and pots of nursery plants.

• Don't crowd plants; they need space for light as well as sturdy growth.

• Go on to growing your own special favourites from seed.

• Sow suitable plants direct. Mark sowings with sand and thin seedlings ruthlessly.

• Keep well watered and feed regularly.

• Don't forget the new rave - indigenous edibles.

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