Planting Your Vegetable Garden? Make Room for Flower Bulbs!
Vegetable gardens are prettier and a lot more fun when they contain flowers as well as vegetables. Tulips and dahlias are perfect for vegetable gardens. They fill a gap in spring and fall without competing for growing space.
TULIPS FOR SPRING
Tulips flower weeks before it’s planting time for salad greens and other spring crops. So why not enjoy some early spring color? In the fall, plant tulip bulbs after you have harvested the last of your tomatoes and peppers. With ready-made planting beds, it’s easy to plant a hundred bulbs in just a few minutes.
Experiment with color combinations. Grow some mixes for bouquets. Choose varieties that bloom early, mid and late season. After your tulips finish flowering, simply pull them up to make way for vegetables and plant a new batch of bulbs in the fall.
DAHLIAS FOR FALL
As fall approaches, vegetable plants grow more slowly. Fruit production tapers off and vegetable gardens start looking bedraggled. Dahlias, on the other hand, are at their best in early fall. These heat-loving bulbs grow vigorously through the dog days of summer and then really turn it on as nights begin to cool down.
Plant dahlias in spring at the same time as you are planting your tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. You can grow dinnerplate dahlias between your tomato plants; decorative dahlias among your peppers, and border dahlias in your herb garden. When you’re picking vegetables for dinner, you can pick a bouquet for the table at the same time.
Do you grow flowers in your vegetable garden? Leave a comment and tell us about your favorites!
Dear Kathleen,
I’d like to plant amaryllis between my veggies. I already planted herbs together with the veggies.
Will they grow well together?
I live in tropical country.
Hi Krisna. Gardeners in southern parts of the US often plant amaryllis bulbs in their flower gardens. If winter temperatures don’t fall below freezing, you should definitely give them a try.