So you only have a small plot of land on your property to use for gardening. There’s no need to be jealous of your friends’ and coworkers’ fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, and there’s certainly no need to sneak into your neighbors’ gardens under cover of darkness for fresh pilfered produce. In fact, sometimes the very best advice with gardening, as with life in general, is “Keep it simple.”
There is no rule that says that vegetables and ornamentals can’t coexist. (Seriously, there’s not even a rulebook!) If you’ve got a little area where you have flowers or small shrubs, who says you can’t mix in a tomato plant or some lettuce? And fresh herbs are even better . . . . many of them flower and are both edible AND ornamental! Just do your research first; most vegetables and herbs require full sun and well-drained, moist soil. Also keep the size of plants in mind . . . . tomato plants grow tall, so would be best suited to the BACK of a garden or flower bed, and some plants, like cucumbers and green beans, tend to grow tendrils around surrounding plants.
But, that being said, vegetables and flowers can live harmoniously together. In fact, be adventurous . . . . that ornamental plot in the FRONT of your yard? Give the neighbors something to talk about by planting vegetables or herbs there. Again – there’s no rulebook, and no rule that says veggies have to be planted in the backyard or out of sight. And, honestly, do most of us really NEED 6 tomato plants? One or two will give you plenty of tomatoes to enjoy throughout the season. KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Neat, orderly rows of vegetable and herb plants are fine, if you’ve got the room. If not, throw some basil into that pot of mixed flowers on your front steps, Plant some flowering sage and lavender among the other flowers in the flower bed, and stick some vegetable plants near the rear of the ornamental garden. Be a rebel. “Live like there’s no tomorrow, and garden like you’ll live forever.”

So you only have a small plot of land on your property to use for gardening. There’s no need to be jealous of your friends’ and coworkers’ fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, and there’s certainly no need to sneak into your neighbors’ gardens under cover of darkness for fresh pilfered produce. In fact, sometimes the very best advice with gardening, as with life in general, is “Keep it simple.”

There is no rule that says that vegetables and ornamentals can’t coexist. (Seriously, there’s not even a rulebook!) If you’ve got a little area where you have flowers or small shrubs, who says you can’t mix in a tomato plant or some lettuce? And fresh herbs are even better . . . . many of them flower and are both edible AND ornamental! Just do your research first; most vegetables and herbs require full sun and well-drained, moist soil. Also keep the size of plants in mind . . . . tomato plants grow tall, so would be best suited to the BACK of a garden or flower bed, and some plants, like cucumbers and green beans, tend to grow tendrils around surrounding plants.

But, that being said, vegetables and flowers can live harmoniously together. In fact, be adventurous . . . . that ornamental plot in the FRONT of your yard? Give the neighbors something to talk about by planting vegetables or herbs there. Again – there’s no rulebook, and no rule that says veggies have to be planted in the backyard or out of sight. And, honestly, do most of us really NEED 6 tomato plants? One or two will give you plenty of tomatoes to enjoy throughout the season. KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Neat, orderly rows of vegetable and herb plants are fine, if you’ve got the room. If not, throw some basil into that pot of mixed flowers on your front steps, Plant some flowering sage and lavender among the other flowers in the flower bed, and stick some vegetable plants near the rear of the ornamental garden. Be a rebel. “Live like there’s no tomorrow, and garden like you’ll live forever.”