Flowers, friends of our vegetables

Flowers, friends of our vegetables. Why separate flowers and vegetables? Today, the garden has become a true place of life and relaxation. And the vegetable garden is no longer a simple place of production. By introducing flowers among the vegetables, we naturally bring a touch of beauty, color, and more if affinities. Because certain flowers have very positive effects on vegetables. But to combine business with pleasure, you have to make wise choices... Attracting the right insects. In the aisles of garden stores, the range of honey-producing plants to grow in the garden has expanded considerably. Honey-producing plants are a source of nectar for bees and attract them. They promote the pollination of vegetable plant flowers. Flowers of tomatoes, beans, peppers, and even eggplants are thus fertilized, and fruit to produce delicious vegetables. Provide organic matter to vegetablesIn a corner of the garden, before planting vegetables, phacelia sown in April grows very quickly, smothers weeds and, with its pretty mauve flowers, attracts pollinating insects. To prevent phacelia from self-sowing, it can be mown at the end of flowering, dried and buried. It will thus provide organic matter to all the vegetables that are hungry for it: squash, flower vegetables, cabbages, celery, leeks... Repel diseases and pestsCertain flowers have a beneficial effect against diseases or pests. While dwarf nasturtiums protect tomatoes with their anti-mildew action, marigolds, without anyone really knowing why, strengthen them and promote abundant production. Aromatic plants, such as wild thyme or basil, interspersed between the rows of vegetables, will keep away the flies that attack carrots with their scent. So, there are many useful flowers in the vegetable garden: asters, purslane, marigolds, nasturtiums, snapdragons, zinnias, daisies, morning glory... They will be effective and pleasant at the edge of the vegetable garden or near vegetables.