In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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April 09, 2008

Flowers & veggies mix it up in the garden

I can’t resist planting flowers - mostly marigolds - in the vegetable garden. To me, it wouldn’t be a vegetable garden without flowers, including marigolds, pansies, petunias, asters, zinnias and, of course, masses of sunflowers.

I started planting flowers in the vegetable garden after the earwigs ate the marigolds that I’d planted in the flower bed. Overnight they’d turn them into ragged skeletons. It was ugly. So I started putting the marigolds among the tomatoes, then next to the eggplant, alongside the peppers or as a edging along the raised beds. Then a few cosmos sneaked into the garden, followed by asters, zinnias...you get the picture.

I’m told the flowers can attract beneficial insects or act as trap plants for the bad guys. Doesn’t matter to me. I just think they’re pretty and they make the garden a fun place to be. I can gather produce for the evening’s salad and pick flowers for the table at the same time.

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