Amazing ideas to intercropping vegetables and flowers together
If you still grow vegetables and flowers on the opposite sides of your garden, is it time for you to think again… Co-cultivation of vegetables and flowers is a cultivation technique aimed at increasing production and maintaining plant health, and it is easy and beneficial to be carried out even by beginners.
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The most important reason to plant flowers in your vegetable garden is to attract bees and other beneficial insects. Bees looking for food carry grains with flower-to-flower pollen, which can help all our crops noticeably. Besides, with bee-friendly plants next to the vegetables, you are helping the ever more pollinated population of pollinators and biodiversity. You can also plant flowers specifically to attract butterflies and other beneficial insects.
Many vegetables help each other with the flowers and are protected even by the presence of some weeds. Before ordering seeds, follow tips that are important to keep in mind when choosing the flower varieties for your vegetable garden.
Pay attention to the flowering season
In order to thrive with the flowers, you should choose flowers that will bloom at the same time as your vegetables. Seed packs indicate when each flower blooms so you can sync cultivated species. A good idea is to plant a variety of flowers to ensure that you have continuous flowering throughout the growing season.
Keep in mind the shape of the flowers
The shape of each flower makes it easier or harder for different species to access nectar and pollen. To attract bees and other natural pollinators choose flowers with a complex shape.
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Keep in mind the height of the flowers
I do not think you want your flowers to compete with your vegetables for sunlight. For this reason, select mainly low-growth flowers. However, some crops, such as lettuce, may benefit from a small shade during the summer months. So occasionally you can choose some higher varieties.
Where to plant the flowers
Plant the flowers scattered and not at one point. Where exactly? The choice is yours. You can make a series of vegetables that will be followed by a series of flowers. Or you can plant them in the same order. Consider planting flowers to show that a vegetable ends and starts another. Or you can plant flowers outside your vegetable garden to form its limits.
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