Category: Vegetable Gardening

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National Kale Day – October 2nd

Dear Readers,

TheGardenLady was amiss in not telling you in advance about the newest holiday. I just did not know that October 2 was proclaimed National Kale Day. Of course, in my defense, National Kale Day is not quite a holiday yet. But you can make it a reality if you vote for it here.

Though I wish a healthy food would be more to my taste, say like coffee ice cream. I can’t wait for a National Coffee Ice Cream Day touting the benefits of my current favorite ice cream. But alas, that might not happen in my life time.

However, since Kale is now considered one of the most nutritious foods around, perhaps you would want to add it to your garden.

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Landscaping your gardens – front, back, side, and roof – with vegetables

 

I guess, because ThisGardenLady was born and raised on a farm, to me there is nothing more beautiful than seeing farms, gardens or orchards.  And I guess, because I was a poor child, I like to see value in what I raise. Don’t misunderstand, I think that a lawn is pretty and a peaceful sight. But I like to see added “bang for my buck.”  And what can be better than seeing plants grow and then getting food from them?

I know that there are towns or housing developments where you have to have a front yard that looks like every body else’s front yard. That is the law in some places. I know that neighbors have to be kept happy.  There are some neighbors who want to see a similar front yard as theirs and are intolerant especially when someone landscapes a little bit differently. Some of these people call the police or take people to court for these differences.  I believe in peaceful coexistence and would never encourage any fights, even over front yards or gardens.

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Creating a front yard vegetable garden

Front Yard Veggie Garden by urbanwild

Landscaping a garden in your front yard whether you want to plant vegetables or flowers is enhanced by garden structures, containers and other items. It’s nice to have small garden areas and raised beds outlined with interesting rocks, but the vertical structures add interest to the landscaping and give vines a place to grow or another height for positioning plants.

Now if you are handy and can build your own structures, lucky you- there are lots of online directions.  You might also be lucky to know someone who is handy who can build garden structures for you. I saw some wooden structures used for climbing pole beans at a local historical house with garden and museum. Volunteers make these structures. I asked if they would build two for me- the money I will pay for these towers will be a donation to the historical house. They agreed to doing it; but I await the approval from the people in charge.

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Peppers bring color to the Garden

ornamental pepper by megrje

Another vegetable suggestion for the flower garden or the front yard vegetable landscaping is the miniature or the dwarf hot or sweet pepper. Once again the gardener has the choice of the ornamental variety which may or may not bear edible peppers or the edible pepper plants. But why bother with the ornamental pepper when there are so many pretty edible pepper plant options? There is a huge selection of  edible pepper plants that have green, red, yellow, orange and almost black peppers that grow against the pretty green leaves of the plant. The shapes of the fruit are varied and can either stand up or hang down. How decorative can those choices be?

Peppers in garden by Martin LaBar

Many plants look like Christmas decorations. Look at this photo of  Chili Pepper Prairie Fire pepper  . Could any ornamental be prettier?

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Indoor Vegetable Gardening

I’m gonna be busy tomorrow. by Josh Kelahan

TheGardenLady has written numerous posts about vegetable gardening.  See here for example.  But all of TheGardenLady’s recent posts on vegetable gardening have been about outdoor vegetable gardening. Vegetable gardening can also be done indoors.

The idea of having fresh salads in the middle of winter seems like a nice reward for this effort. Many vegetable plants like pepper plants are easy to raise indoors. Most herbs will grow indoors (above is a photo of vegetables and herbs growing indoors under grow lights). Some of the herbs may grow indoors if you have very sunny windows. But since most vegetables and herbs need lots of sunlight, when one grows vegetables and herbs indoors, it is best to grow these plants under grow lights, designed to stimulate plant growth.

And if you are really handy, you might want to build your own benches and lighting systems to grow these plants.
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More vegetable suggestions for the flower garden

Edible Front Foundation Planting by Chiot’s Run

When plant breeders want to discover new plants to breed for the flower garden, they will go all over the world searching. They will even look at vegetable plants they think they can breed into pretty flowers or show pieces. Then they will work to develop some aspect of the plant that will be most interesting for the flower garden often at the expense of something else the plant might have had. So, for instance, if they see a pretty leaf that will lend garden interest, the breeders will work to create larger or more interesting leaves; sometimes this will change some other aspect of the plant.

Garden vegetables like kale, when developed for their pretty colors that make them more ornamental, make their leaves tougher when eaten -unless you eat the leaf when it is young and tender. That was why TheGardenLady suggested planting the vegetable form of kale in the flower bed instead of the ornamental variety if you want to truly landscape with vegetables and eat them, too.

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Landscaping your garden with ornamental cabbage or ornamental kale

Julia’s Garden by Allie’s.Dad

You have decided that you do want to landscape your front yard with vegetables. You know it is permissible in your neighborhood. But do you wonder where to start?

How about starting with ornamental cabbages or ornamental kale? These are easy choices because these days ornamental cabbages are very popular as plants in the fall flower garden. Ornamental cabbages are edible; but since they are bred for the showy qualities they tend to be tougher.  So if you want to eat the foliage, you will have to eat the leaves when they are very young. (see here)

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Planning a Vegetable Garden

 

Though TheGardenLady’s garden has herbs and a few vegetables tucked in the small sunny areas of my garden among the flowers, alas, with all the trees on my property, I do not have enough sun that most vegetables and herbs require. I also have rabbits that are hungry. They love vegetables. And even though I spray with Liquid Fence which says it can be used on vegetables, the rabbits seem so hungry they are nibbling plants. But if I had the sun, ThisGardenLady would love to experiment using vegetables more interestingly in garden design. I can envision leaf lettuces used as border plants snaking around my garden beds.

 

 

TheGardenLady had attended a talk with slides by Lloyd Traven the owner of Peace Tree Farm – a wholesale nursery in Bucks County.  He had used leaf lettuces planted decoratively in planters. One design was of purple and green lettuces planted in half barrels in concentric circles. (see here)  There were other patterns in other containers. These displays were as pretty as any containers with flowers. (see here)

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Creative Vegetable Gardens

vegetable garden by mazaletel

When TheGardenLady recommends making an edible garden instead of merely a flower garden in the front yard, it should be as attractive as a flower garden can be. It should not be the long straight rows of one type of vegetable, the type of field a farmer would make to grow commercial vegetables. Just because you are using vegetables doesn’t mean that the artist in you cannot create a beautiful masterpiece. You can create a landscape with vegetables that are beautiful as well as edible. When one reads gardening catalogs it is apparent that vegetable plants of today are often as pretty as flowers. Go through the Park Seed Catalog or the Burpee Seed catalog or any catalog that has photos of the plants. You will find vegetables as pretty to the eye as they are to eat.

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A Vegetable Garden to Beautify your Front Lawn

Hanging Vegetable Garden by me’nthedogs

I wrote a post about putting a vegetable garden in your front lawn, if your neighborhood allows it . There are horror stories of cities not allowing it. (see here )  Remember vegetables and herbs need sun- a full day of sun, so these are not suggestions for shade gardens.

What would be some pretty plants, plants that have attractive flowers or look like flowers, to plant in your front lawn vegetable garden or among your flowers?  I have a list of some vegetables (I include herbs in the vegetable category) that either have pretty or interesting foliage or pretty flowers or both. I have chosen 10 that I think are particularly pretty. These plants add another dimension to any garden.

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