AIBU to rip flowers out of my garden and plant edibles?

[Cookiecrumblepie]

As above. Thinking of trying my hand at growing some veg and maybe buying a dwarf apple tree, but I wonder if this will make my garden look like an allotment, or whether a lot of people grow veg at home?

A proper cottage garden has vegetables and flowers, I'm currently growing both. No need to go all one or the other

I have a mix of vegetables, fruit bushes apple tree and flowers ,roses
It looks good and it's surprisingly productive just putting the odd veg plant in a space

Good point! I could potentially plant some herbs and things between existing plants. Just trying to think of what I could plant, and for things like carrots etc I was thinking I need a clear patch of space.

I have blackcurrants in amongst roses and spinach next to Wlesh poppies. Mix it all in!

Plant edible flowers 😉. Jokes aside, I have some fruit and veg in my yard and they actually look quite nice, the apple has pretty much just stopped blooming, the broccoli is nice and green etc.

I was wondering if whacking in edible plants would work! If it does that might be the way forward for me. @user1471556818 do you use any pesticide? Or do you treat all plants the same?

Our neighbour grows veg in his front garden in raised beds and it looks great.

My husband has made many efforts at growing veg and never produced anything but a ton of courgettes that no one family could eat and one gnarledy carrot.

On that basis I would say it can be done but don't bank on it.

Herbs are easy in pots on the windowsill. Carrots need quite deep soil unless you grow the little round ones.

I grow a lot of veg in pots but you could grow them in between flowers in the garden. Potatoes are easy, beans and peas, tomatoes in a sunny spot can be grown outdoors. Just go for it and try everything you like to eat. It's fun!

Affordable fruit trees (dwarf unless you have a massive garden) take a year or two to give you fruit - raspberries on the other hand grow like weeds (and I'm in Scotland).

People always used to grow their veg in whatever space they had a from or back garden. Mix them up with flowering plants as some have the ability to distract/protect against insect infestation in vegetables. Petunias attract pests away such as slugs.

This is all really useful thank you! I think I will try. I want to produce something and become less reliant on buying groceries (if that is possible) even if it’s just a home grow salad or some herbs I can use. I just wasn’t sure if edibles would mix and grow with other plants.

Any tips or ideas on super hardy high yield plants appreciated! (In addition to the above which I have taken note of thank you)

Beans are both pretty and productive. Strawberries and raspberries are my favourite thing to grow. Rhubarb is also super easy. An apple tree or a pear tree looks lovely.

And yes, if you grow courgettes, plant 1/3 of the amount you think you could possibly need.

What do you like to eat that’s also expensive? For us it’s fruit, green beans, herbs and lettuce. I absolutely wouldn’t bother w carrots. - I have never grown one that’s worth eating, even organic ones are cheap, and they need so much space and care. Start from what you want and work on from there. Raspberries are the biggest winner in my book.

What kind of soil have you got? Clay, sand? Where you want to grow is it full sun or part?

we are on heavy clay, we dig over the patch (full sun) and things that grow well are: rhubarb, raspberries (take a couple years), Apple trees, carrots, beetroot, marrow, runner beans and sweetcorn. Not had much success with brassicas (cabbage etc) but that’s more down to cabbage whites.

My garden is mainly flowering shrubs and bulbs, but I have a very productive plum tree that has attractive blossom in spring, a rhubarb patch, a redcurrant bush, a thornless blackberry, and a herb garden outside the kitchen with bay trees, rosemary, sage, mint, lemon balm, oregano, thyme and lavender.
Many vegetables have attractive foliage and can be planted among flowers - eg the feathery tops of carrots, or the purple leaves of beetroot. Have fun mixing and matching, OP!

Look up companion planting. Good for maximising yields and using your space well.

Have a mix. there are some easy to grow veg. Corn on the cob -easy to grow. Stunning high vertical plants that also look good. (Try the corn on the cob raw and freshly picked-yummy) Courgettes are prolific, you harvest a couple pop them in your bag turn around and there's another one snaking out trying to trip you up. So two/ three courgette plants will feed you well. Cauliflower and broccoli are also easy to grow.

I have herbs and flowers in my garden. Some of the herbs rosemary and thyme do take over.

Currently growing a few edibles which include flowers for my DD.

Btw there are some small carrots you can easily grow in large pots. The advantage is they can be raised up so carrot fly don't get to them.

Tomatoes, courgettes, beans, herbs lettuce and squash (not very successfully) and garlic (very successfully)

We made a raised bed with wood sleepers in the best bit of the garden. It looks nice and decorative. Originally I was going to dig up some of the lawn, but it is poor soil and would take years to make it productive. There is a greenhouse next to it with a little path in front and herbs with a gravel mulch and a topiary bay plant. Compost and rhubarb behind. I think it looks lovely.

We have lots of flowers round the seating area (and more herbs in pots).

Definitely go for a mix. Flowers are a great way of attracting pollinators to your veg and they can also help to keep pests at bay (or just give them something else to eat). I always plant nasturtiums in amongst my climbing squash (the cabbage white butterflies go nuts for it so it helps keep them off the brassicas), sweet peas at the back of the bed up the wall with French beans mixed in. Flowering carrots in amongst the beets. Marigolds and calendula scattered about and so on. I’ve got ox eye daisies, aquilegia, borage, and forget me nots blooming amongst the gooseberry bushes (helps keep the birds off) and foxgloves towering over the strawberries.

DH is a keen gardener. The best thing he has is two blueberry bushes - they crop really well and not difficult to take care of

You can grow carrots in a dustbin. Nice and deep and you don’t have to sacrifice other plants for it

I grow strawberries in hanging baskets. They do really well and aren't ugly plants

My whole garden is a mix. I've just relocated my blackcurrant bushes to a shady part. The variety I have like shade. I'm going to plant a rose bush in the hole.

My rhubarb is next to my delphiniums. My onions are next to my iris and clematis.

Onions are looking lovely this year. Mine were a bag of red onions from Tesco I planted last year.

Just make sure you sieve the soil well for carrots, I didn’t when I grew them and they were absolutely delicious but looked like aliens because they grew so twisty in the soil 😂

We’ve got a dwarf apple tree and the garden would seem weirdly empty without it, the apples don’t keep well, so I end up making apple jam or freezing them chopped and semi cooked.