Beautifully Designed Veggie Gardens

In light of this article about a woman in Michigan possibly going to jail for planting a veggie garden in her front yard, I thought it best to discuss some great ideas on how to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your landscape design that are attractive and efficient!!!

Here is the link ..........

http://www.takepart.com/news/2011/07/08/michigan-woman-faces-jail-time-for-planting-vegetable-garden?cmpid=tp-fb-2011-07-8-Jail-Vegetable

Gardens filled with fruits and vegetables is a great way to eat locally, stop pesticide use, preserve native soil and share with your neighbours. According to this article, this woman's neighbours didn't like the look of her traditional vegetable garden so they are taking her to court ......... I know, I know, I too cannot believe that with the fountain of information that is out there that people still believe that lawn is a good idea!!!!

In order to create a veggie garden that is efficient, does not need pesticide, and is beautiful to look at and one that your neighbours will LOVE, follow these few simple tips:

#1 Mix your fruits and vegetables with different types of flowers. Traditionally in kitchen gardens, many types of flowers including marigolds, bee balm and roses were planted as companion plants around veggies to either keep pests away or attract them from your food crops.

#2 Design your veggie garden on paper before you install it, this way you can have a proper visual of what the end product will look like. Try to create a pattern of some sort, either formal or random but it should make sense to the eye

#3 Out line each garden bed with a type of hedge. Traditionally it has always been boxwood, but depending on where you live, you can use, Jasmine, Rosemary, Sage or Lavender.

#4 On the pathway between the garden shapes, use an attractive bark mulch or cocoa mulch, a scented ground cover such as thyme or Corsican mint planted between flagstones is always a great option, or if you feel you would still like some lawn, you can plant strips of lawn between the garden beds.

#5 Plant multiples of each plant so you can allow some of your herbs and veggies go to flower while you use the others for food.

With these few steps, veggie gardens are a great way to create a stunning garden ......... hopefully this woman's neighbours can see it the same way!!!!!