Treacodactyl
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Squeezing more in...Fruit and veg that is. As much as I would like to turn our entire garden over to fruit and veg it's not possible at the moment so we have to have a balance between flower boarders and the veg beds. However, I would like ideas to squeeze even more fruit and veg in without it being that noticeable.
I currently have plenty of soft fruit in the hedges; globe artichokes asparagus and many herbs in the flower bed but I would like some more ideas of what can also be included.
Looking at the runner beans they can go in and look just as good as other flowers and we also have some purple flowered and podded peas that can go in.
What else will make a good show and be edible?
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judith
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Cavolo nero looks pretty good, IMO.
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sean
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Nasturtiums? Chives/three cornered leek if you let them flower?
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judith
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Orach. Bright lights chard.
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TAVASCAROW
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Beetroot.
Traditional corn (Maize).
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sean
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Cardoons.
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tahir
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| judith wrote: | | Cavolo nero looks pretty good, IMO. |
Even normal kale
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Bugs
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Ragged Jack kale was pretty too (this year we've got cavalo nero and scarlet).
Bright lights is one of the things we didn't have room for this year so that's a good one.
| TAVASCAROW wrote: | | Traditional corn (Maize). |
Ooh good one - again something we can't allocate space to in the main beds, and possibly also a chance to try the more colourful types like Rainbow Inca.
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Kinnopio
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I think the leaves on red cabbage look really attractive.
I've got a bed of mixed flowers and veg this year and it looks lovely. It's a 'cottage garden' mix of flowers with some brasicas, red and green lettuces and even some courgettes and squashes growing through it all. It looks really nice!
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wellington womble
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Squashes are quite, pretty - you can do ground cover or climbing. What about things in hanging baskets, or pots.
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Slim
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You can eat day lilies...
Scarlet Runner beans are gorgeous....
An incredibly varied assortment of lettuce could be as pretty as an assortment of coleus... you know, some differing shades of red and green, maybe even "freckle", and all manner of exotic leaf shape. upright romaines, frilly leaf lettuces, funky oak-leafed types...
Orach can be pretty cool looking.
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TAVASCAROW
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Carrot foliage would look great against a complimentary foil at the front of the border.
Not to late to sow some borlotti beans with nice purple streaked pods for drying.
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Mary-Jane
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Fennel looks nice - either the herb or the bulbs.
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Treacodactyl
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Our beds tend to have a huge amount of foliage already so something a bit more colourful would be good, like the beans. Some of the courgettes might work well as they do produce quite a few flowers.
Just looking at our current veg another obvious one to move to the flower boarder is the bread seed poppies.
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OtleyLad
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I've alternated a red (Marvel of 4 Seasons) and green (cos Pinares) lettuce in my new herb patch to fill in the gaps while the herbs mature.
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wellington womble
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what about peas - some of them are very pretty. And fruits - blueberries, strawberries, blackcurrants etc are all pretty early on. Aubergines have pretty flowers, although I guess you'd need them in a pot. Tomatoes might be fun, too, although I don't know how they'd do outdoors.
I'm sure most of my books have something on potager, stuff. I'll have a look - I usually skip that bit.
I'm thinking of not having a squash bed next year - just putting them in as ground cover. There's one in the sweetcorn, and I could fit a couple in the soft fruit bed. I was wondering about around the beans or the brassicas. It beats mulching or weeding!
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cab
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Some lettuce varieties look stunning in a flower bed. Prettiest little lettuces I've ever encountered would be a variety called 'freckles'.
Some of the Rubus fruits are most ornamental too; salmonberries (although they're very vigorous) and silver stemmed bramble stand out.
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Treacodactyl
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Elephant garlic if you let it flower.
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