Flowers next to your veggies? And other Qs?

[that_crazy_lady]

My mom was saying something about it help draw in bees if you have flowers closer to your veggies. What do you all do? We want a few no matter what, but didn't know if it mattered to the other plants.

We spent hours Oo & ahing over plants yesterday. And desided on a few more plants to add to our tiny garden.
Tomatos and peppers will stay in pots. And I guess snap peas, and patty pan squash in a raised bed. I'm thinking about potatos in tires. We talked about corn and carotts.
I'm guessing it's not to late for any of these?
How deep of a raised bed or very large tub would you need for carotts?
Would you plant anything in a turtle sandbox?

I guess thats all for now. As always any thoughts or info are very welcome.

 

[journey11]

Hi there, Yes flowers in with the veggies is a wonderful thing to do. They may have other benefits besides bringing in bees, such as marigolds that give off a chemical that repels nematodes in the soil or some flowers may (and sometimes herbs and even weeds!) can serve as a trap crop to distract bad buggies from your veggies. I plant lots of herbs and flowers in all the extra nooks and crannies in my garden. It gives the garden more visual appeal too.

Depending on your zone, you may be too late on the peas. I know we are, here. It is a cool weather crop. Everything else sounds good though.

You can plant in your turtle box. They are a little shallow, so be sure to mulch well.

If you have a shallow raised bed, say 6-8", look for varieties of carrots that make shorter roots. Nantes is a good one. There are even carrots that are round like a golf ball.

Good luck with your garden and have fun! :happy_flower

 

[patandchickens]

There aren't really all THAT many veggies that even NEED pollinators... mostly just tomatoes/peppers/eggplant, plus the squash/melon/cuke tribe, plus while beans don't need pollination they need bees to visit the flowers to get them to self-develop.

So any kind of salad greens, herbs, corn, and root veggies don't care at all about bees, unless of course you're letting some go to seed to save for next year.

But, bees are always a good thing to encourage of course

I wouldn't worry about planting flowers FOR your veggies at this point. Just try growing some things. Some will work, others won't, and the less you try to be all Planned and High-Tech about it, the less you'll mind the ones that don't work Also the more relaxing and fun it is.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[that_crazy_lady]

Trust me one thing I am not is an overplaner I seem to be a bit addicted to learning though haha. I'm so excited to start planting...it's almost like having a paint brush in hand, but with morse supprises.

Thanks for the good wishs and info