Edible landscaping = vegetable bed-flower bed
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Growing vegetables in flower beds or otherwise - edible gardening
In gardening, a new fashion trend is becoming increasingly popular - edible gardening.
This is when instead of flowering or ornamental plants in flowerpots and flower beds, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, lettuce, strawberries, raspberries are grown.
they are no less attractive than flowers. In addition, it significantly expands the capabilities of those who do not have a summer residence, but there is a spacious balcony. Although it is not necessary to plant ornamental vegetables and berry bushes in a flower garden: they will fulfill their “mission” in the garden beds.
Flowers in the snow
And it all started with decorative cabbage. This plant is absolutely unpretentious and requires almost no care. Cold days only enhance the brightness of its color. Luxurious lilac and white-green lace rosettes are decorative even under the snow. If a plant is transplanted into a flower pot in late autumn, it can grow at home in winter, and stands cut for a long time (preferably in a cool place, for example, on a loggia).
In the beginning, I grew only cabbage varieties ('Prima Donna'. 'Red Osaka', 'White Xmas', 'White Osaka').
Although the leaves they are considered edible, but the taste I did not really like. Yes, and did not want to spoil the beauty. Over time, the assortment variety varieties of spinach, or leaf cabbage (B. oleracea L. var. Acephala).
I liked curly cabbage, or gruenkol (translated from German as green cabbage), a tall beautiful woman with green corrugated leaves (the leaves are purple). Harvest this vegetable plant after the first frost, when the leaves become soft and accumulate sugar.
It should be remembered that the larger the leaf, the more fibrous, coarse and bitter it is.
It is better to take only the emerging leaves. Grünkol is used in the same way as Brussels sprouts: served as a side dish or prepare a variety of soups (very good soup puree) and hot salads. I usually cut into pieces and boil 6-8 minutes (it's good to add a lemon slice without a peel). Lay the leaves on the plate with water.
For several years of friendship with this plant, I guessed the main secrets of his successful cultivation.
Plant decorative cabbage in the sun. In the shade, it stretches out and collapses sideways, it is necessary to tie to the stakes.
In hot weather, regular watering is required, otherwise you will not get luxurious heads.
In recent years, stopped growing her through seedlings. This seed in May is straight into the ground, and then planted around the garden. By August, that one, that the other look quite the same.
Almost all summer decorative cabbage can be grown in a garden in any inconspicuous corner, and by the end of the season, in August, transplanted to the most prominent place. She transplants very easily.
See also: Decorative bow - planting and care
As usual, cauliflower suffers from caterpillars, so fighting with them must be permanent.
As a curb I usually plant red and yellow Bonsai. These varieties are very friendly yield, and the bushes they have equal, as if specially trimmed. You walk past along the path, hand and stretches a tiny tomato in your mouth to send.
This year I will try to grow ampel tomatoes. I even sold special hybrids (Cascade Red F1 and Cascade Elo F1) with red and yellow miniature fruit.
Tomatoes for one bite
Despite the fact that I am a big fan of large-fruited tomatoes, I could not resist the miniature undersized varieties. Lilliputians taste not only inferior to the giants, but often surpass them in their sweetness. And they are not so small, many grow the size of a walnut. Although the main thing for them in me is not the harvest.
Superdeterminant tomatoes grow in low, dense, compact bushes. Their leaves resemble potato, and they themselves look like small Christmas trees, decorated with balls of the same color. Recently, varieties appeared that are neutral to the length of daylight and are adapted to growing in indoor conditions.
But I most often grow them in the garden, from them beautiful bordyurcs are obtained. Patronize and tie them do not.
Helpful advice
If you want to decorate the windowsill with miniature tomatoes, then it is better to sow them in two terms. The first time - in early January, to get a crop in the room, and then in the spring to plant these plants and cuttings cut from them in open ground. The second time - in late July-early August, to receive fruits in late autumn and winter. For indoor varieties (bushes 25-35 cm high) a pot size of 3 l will be just right.
For growing in containers, the Dutch variety 'Tiny Tim' is good. With careful care, he can give from the plant up to 2 kg of fruits the size of a large cherry. Due to the appearance of numerous stepsons, his harvest is stretched until the fall. That in height, that in width, it grows equally.
See also: Corner of the garden and flowerbed-rock garden with spicy herbs-beautiful, tasty, useful
Tiny pepper
For a long time I wanted to grow a miniature pepper, but not spicy, and sweet. I tried several varieties ('Mini Bell Orange', 'Baby red', 'Baby yellow'), but the result was never pleased: it was not what was on the picture of the package that grew. If the fruits were miniature, then the bush grew in size from a tree. If, on the contrary, the plant was low, then only two or three large fruits.
And when I bought Big Dad seeds this year, I decided, judging by the name, that I would get a well-developed plant with large purple fruits (they promised a mass of 100-150 g). But, to my surprise, strong squat bushes grew, abundantly strewn with small thick-walled peppers. The variety turned out to be early ripe and very productive, the fruits tied together and immediately turned into eggplant - just what you need to decorate a balcony or flower garden.
The only minus is that the bright red-brown fruits in full maturity after heat treatment become pale lilac unappetizing. And fresh - they taste juicy, sweet and very beautiful in salads with yellow tomatoes.
And a flower, and a berry
Beautifully look in the flower garden bushes remontant strawberries. Fruits it from summer to the cold. Plants, which simultaneously blossom flowers and ripen berries, are smart all season.
Small-fruited strawberries usually decorate the edges of flower beds or plant it along the tracks in a row so that, passing by, you can always reach for the berry. Best for these purposes are fruity varieties. They can grow for a long time in one place, they sit down once in 3-4 year.
But the large-bodied repair patches of strawberries are more suitable in flower beds for solo parties or planting with small pencils. This year they grew among me chrysanthemums, but in the autumn I planted them between miniature roses. I really like varieties Elizabeth II, Evie II, Geneva, Charlotte, which only rooted out the rosettes and immediately they are thrown out by peduncles. It is good to grow them and in pots (one plant needs a volume of at least 3 l).
Reference by topic: Strawberry Elizabeth 2 and lawn strawberries - cultivation and care
For planting in containers it is better to take last year's bushes already with 5-6 leaves and a large heart. They have enough supplies to give the harvest all season. And before the frosts, tanks can be taken to a glassed-in loggia. Only after the harvest is harvested, the plants need a cool wintering, they can not survive in the apartment conditions. I prefer the bushes that grew in pots in the summer, to drop in on the beds for the winter.
This also applies to the so-called potted strawberry varieties (Tristar, Tarpan). They also need to be attached for the winter, thoroughly insulated. Although these varieties are considered to be ampel, one must imagine that the mustache will hang from them, but while everyone does not take root, the crop will not be very pampered.
Therefore, they should be planted in special pots-towers (strawberries). In this case, one or several well-developed bushes are planted on top (depending on the size of the tower), and the existing holes occupy the appearing mustache.
Some gardeners adapt polyethylene bags for growing mushrooms for this purpose. In any case, it is necessary to envisage how irrigation and feeding will be carried out, otherwise a good harvest will not be obtained. The more the mustache grows, the smaller the berries will be.
Cultivated a hybrid of Tarpan (seeds from Aelita). It was promised a large plant that blooms throughout the summer with large half-full-flowered flowers of rich pink color with tasty bright red berries of medium size, an elongated shape. In fact, the flowers were bright, but simple. Berries are red, elongated, but they did not reach the average size. The mustache was a lot, blossomed right away, but gave a trifle. In general, there was a lot of beauty, but there was not much use.
Who said that a vegetable garden is only slender rows of beds, where you can apply your design skills only by adjusting the height of the tomato supports? Of course, I am not against traditional gardening, but, honestly, is it really not pleasant to pick cucumbers and peppers when they are fenced with a decorative fence and harmoniously fit into the world around us ?! These thoughts, in the end, led me to a “revolution” on the site.
Enclosing
The first thing I did was make high beds. If you fence them with painted boards or build brick fences around, you can only envy the beauty of your beds. Caring for plants has become much easier, because now you do not have to bend your back. And if you get tired, you can just sit on the fence. In the design of my garden I used brown shades and bright floral accents.
Color mulching
I also used decorative mulch everywhere. Its use in the garden is generally very useful: it does not allow the soil to dry out and does not allow weeds to grow. Instead of sheltering the beds with an unpresentable covering material, I used a bark painted in shades of purple.
Earth should not be empty
I really like the principle that all adherents use
Wild Gardens: There should be no free space on the plot. If it is not there, then weeds have nowhere to grow. Therefore, in any corner of the garden I plant unpretentious flowers or spicy herbs. Sealing the garden will also play into the hands of those who have a small plot. By planting various crops side by side, I adhere to the principle of plant compatibility. For example, nasturtium attracts aphids, which means that harmful small insects will not harm the vegetables next to which these orange flowers grow. Marigolds protect tomatoes from pests. Cabbage feels great under the “patronage” of thyme, beans - next to rosemary. Last year, she planted peas next to cucumbers and found out that two leafy plants coexist perfectly together, and I did not have to build additional supports for one of the crops.
The Wanderers
Potted garden is another interesting idea for the garden. In the container I plant cherry tomatoes, wild strawberries, different types of salads. They can be moved around the garden depending on the plant’s lighting requirements and combined with each other, “stationary” vegetable and also decorative crops, changing the appearance of the plot from time to time.
Different tricks
Save space help vertical gardens. We take the old whatnot, beat the boxes to it, fill it with compost and earth - and the garden is ready! The main thing is to put the whatnot in a sunny place.
In the center of the round flower bed, you can put an old car tire, paint it in bright colors and plant a large plant inside it (zucchini, pumpkin, melon). And in the outer circle you can place mint, sorrel, savory. Simple, beautiful and original!
A fairly simple but interesting option is the vegetable triangle. Its border can be designated planting beets, and the entire inner part to fill with any greenery. Parsley, cilantro and purple basil are ideal.
You can create a flower-pharmacy. Its peculiarity is that, in addition to vegetable crops, medicinal herbs are planted to it. For example, marjoram can grow in the center of a round flowerbed, and sage, yarrow and peppermint can grow on the sides.
Berry and vegetable flower beds can be made of any shape. The main plants are strawberries, blueberries, garlic, onions.
© Author: Ekaterina V. KHARCHEVKINA, Bryansk region, p. T. Lyubohna
Note - the history of the first greens
Adding the first to the salad - the most vitamin and fragrant! - sprigs of parsley, dill and celery, made their way to the garden beds, it is impossible to believe that in antiquity all this super-useful greenery fell on the table exclusively for a decorative purpose - in the form of bouquets.
And there was not even a try then!
The ancient Greeks decorated the rooms with celery leaves on holidays, and wreaths from this plant were worn on the heads of Olympic champions. Used it as a medicine: boiled roots - with frostbite, and oil squeezed from seeds - to improve digestion.
Dill was considered the most beautiful of herbs in both Hellas and Rome, and its “kitchen” smell was enjoyed no less than the scent of roses.
Do not eat it, but sniff it, imagine?
Dill branches also decorated wedding bouquets. Fortunately, the healing properties of many plants are now well studied. Here are some of them.
CORIANDER.
It is incredible, but true: as a result of the combination of two Greek words - “coris” (bedbug) and “annon” (anise) the Latin name was born for almost our most favorite garden grass - “coriander” (aka cilantro). Where did the association with bugs come from? The fact is that the green fruits of coriander seed have a sharp, specific odor, but as they mature they acquire a pleasant aroma and sweetish taste. By the way, coriander is a close relative of caraway seeds, anise, fennel and dill.
The main value of cilantro is fresh leaves. Their nutritional advantages are determined not only by taste and aroma, but also by a high content of vitamins C, B, B 1, carotene, rutin.
Add them to salads, sauces, soups, meat and fish dishes. And when its fruits ripen in late August - early September, collect them, wash, let the water drain, roll wet with icing sugar and dry in the oven. Eat instead of sweets or decorate with coriander dragee cakes and pastries: it will be delicious and healthy, and most importantly, original! By the way, such a dragee not only invigorates, but also eliminates bad breath.
At leisure, try cooking a dish of cilantro. Finely chop the cilantro, parsley, dill, feathers of green onion and mix with a mashed fork with tuna, saury, sardines or l .. all and stuff all this potatoes.
But first boil it in the uniform, cut it in half, make a small indentation in each half, salt and pepper and then put the stuffing. And you can mix the same "bouquet" of greens with cheese and stuff the tomatoes with a mixture, after cutting off the top of them and removing the middle with a spoon.
LAPUSH.
It seems that there is nothing more useless than a burdock (this is its official name), and yet it is not as simple and worthless as it seems! No wonder herbalists call it Russian ginseng. By the way, before the 1812 war the burdock did not grow in France - it was brought with fodder after the defeat of Napoleon’s army. The French should be grateful to us for such a royal gift! The burdock was admired by the ancient Greek physician of Dioscorides Editions (40-90 AD), and the doctor of Alexander Nevsky treated the prince with this plant for all diseases.
Burdock leaves have a lot of vitamin C and vitamin A precursors - carotenoids, and the roots of burdock on 34% consist of inulin polysaccharide, flavonoids and tannins. There is a lot of essential oil in the tops and roots, and in the seeds there is an incredible amount of it - up to 20%.
Young leaves and stems, as well as soft autumn roots of the plant of the first year of life (burdock) are boiled and fried like vegetables and used to make soups. His leaves are really tasty, only the whole thing spoils the pubescence a little - when boiled they turn out to be somewhat rough: tear them as young as possible and crush them harder!
Even more pleasant is the taste of young petioles. They are more fleshy and juicy, but the harsh skin of the lower part of the petiole is best removed. Chicken can be filled with soup, and cooked as a garnish.
Pamper the household with a vitamin soup. Boil the diced potatoes (1,5 g) and rice (200 g) until 40 L is ready. Add to the soup finely chopped young burdock leaves (300 g) and browned onions (80 g), cook for 10-15 minutes. Salt, pepper to taste and immediately serve on the table, so that the vitamins are not destroyed.
Sprinkle with dill and parsley. You can fill with sour cream.
DANDELION.
Decorate your table with dandelions, but not in the form of bouquets, but as delicious dishes. The young leaves of this medicinal plant and dietary product are a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. They normalize pressure, digestion and metabolism, improve the condition with gout and rheumatism.
Yes, and carotene (provitamin A) in them more than carrots. Many in the dandelion of B group vitamins, which sharpen the attention, have a beneficial effect on blood and nervous system (soothe and promote deep sleep). There is also vitamin C in this plant, which strengthens the immune system and charges us with cheerfulness.
And dandelion boasts a high manganese content. Especially a lot of it in the roots. This important trace element contributes to the formation of insulin - the hormone of the pancreas. It is necessary for the prevention of diabetes, the prevalence of which is increasing every year as an epidemic. Scientists have found that in the blood of people with this disease, the manganese content is markedly reduced.
Keep in mind: young leaves and dandelion roots are harvested before flowering.
© Author Natalya SOLONOVICH, scientist agronomist Photo by the author and Lyudmila MOGILEVICH
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- How to make and arrange beds in the garden
- Autumn digging beds: need or not
- How I make warm beds in the country - photo
- Narrow beds of Mittlider - my reviews (Samara region)
- Vertical beds with your hands at the cottage
- Tomatoes on narrow beds according to Mitlider - my reviews
- Warm bed for tomato seedlings - we prepare in advance! (results and feedback on the experiment)
- High bed with your own hands: step by step
- Flowerbeds with own hands
- The device beds in the country from scratch with their own hands
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In the last summer season my husband gave me a gift: he built a summer kitchen. In fact, this is a small extension to the house, only without a roof and, one might say, without walls. On it in a separate corner we put a gas stove, kitchen table, cupboard for dishes, and in the center - a dining table with benches. But the most interesting is not it.
Along the perimeter of the kitchen, the husband folded the walls of bricks around 1 m high with notches along the top depth of about 25. It turned out to be something like balcony boxes. I lined these grooves with dense polyethylene, laid down the drainage layer and poured fertile soil. In general, we have very narrow beds, on which I planted greens and flowers. It turned out very comfortable and beautiful!
Now the greens are always at my fingertips - I took a narwhal, I immediately put it in a salad or soup. And if someone from the home seemed a little small, everyone can, almost without getting up from the table, pick a couple of branches of dill or green onions!
Well, flowers are just a nice addition. Although I’ve already thought about whether to plant flowers that can be brewed in tea? That would be great! And this innovation is also convenient because you will not forget about flower beds, they are always in sight, so that plants do not suffer from drought. They also get fertilizers - in the form of sleeping tea.
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If you want to combine the benefits and beauty with the arrangement of the dacha, make a French garden. His idea is that planting greens, vegetables, medicinal crops and other useful plants look aesthetically pleasing.
The simplest form of a French garden is a square or rectangle. The garden is divided into approximately equal parts of a rectangular or triangular shape. Each part is planted in a separate crop, if possible more densely. By the way, here you can alternate between ordinary and high beds. The boundaries between the beds can be distinguished with the help of long boards, old bricks, colored mulch and other materials. You can also divide the beds with paths paved with tiles. The center of the garden is indicated by a flower bed, sundial or other large object. Somewhere in the shade near the garden is to put a bench and a table.
To the site every year looked new, you can not only alternate the culture, but also change the shape of the beds.
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How to turn a garden into a rainbow of colors! For this, the following crops must be planted in rows:
Koriandr.
Cauliflower.
Beet + track 70 see.
Carrot.
Onion.
Carrot + track 70 see
Low-grown marigolds.
White cabbage.
Onions + track 70 see.
Parsnip.
Red salad.
Parsley and other crops.
It turns out a bed of three rows, then a track of 70 cm and again a bed. Alternate cultures of different colors. And also some plants perfectly protect each other from pests - for example, onions and carrots. Marigolds and coriander protect cabbage from caterpillars. You can plant crops in the form of a rectangular or round flowerbed with a combination of different plant colors or the shape of their crown, and plant zucchini in the center.
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Vegetable crops are grown mainly for food. But in fact many of them are very decorative and quite applicable in the field of landscape design.
I, for example, at the dacha arrange beautiful hedges from corn, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, amaranth, tall beans. For this, I plant plants densely in the 2-3 series in staggered order. If it is necessary that the green partition is not visible at all (for example, if it hides an unsightly compost pile, etc.), then behind it I ask my husband to install a wicker fence.
To decorate the walls of buildings on the site and the fences, pull on them a wire or set a number of trellises, over which let the peas curl.
beans, cucumbers, small-fruited pumpkin, lagenarii, tladiantu, watermelons, melons (although they do not ripen in the open ground, but give green herbs), beninkasa, lyuffa, momordika, chayot, cycliter, anguria. By the beginning of July, cultures will grow, and your site will have a very picturesque appearance.
Screened with vegetables, it is convenient to separate and zones in the middle of the site: for privacy, sunbathing, swimming pools. Vegetable lianas are encircled by arches, tunnels, pergolas (canopies on supports), arbours. Arches and tunnels, in turn, make out the entrance to the site or the transition from one zone to another. And pergolas and gazebos serve as a place for rest, summer tea drinking.
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The garden can be as beautiful and elegant as a flower garden. You just dilute the usual vegetables with decorative ones.
• On a single bed with dill, salad, spinach, cucumbers, place the decorative cabbage, which is similar to large lilac flowers.
• Plant carrots, beets, chard and combine them with decorative onion varieties.
• Celery, basil, radish, radish, turnip, parsley can divide the garden with decorative types of tomatoes, peppers.
• Horseradish plantings should be diluted with Physalis bushes with bright orange fruit lanterns.
• Sage, garlic harmoniously look on the strawberry patch. The aroma of these plants is also repelled from pest berries.
• Pumpkin, zucchini, squash with bright yellow flowers, plant in front of rows of corn and sunflower, the trunks of which become a picturesque support for the weaving plants, and protection from the cold wind.
In addition, all plantings for beauty can be fenced with bright curbs.
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Grass-flower bed of greenery
Decorate the area in front of the country house with a multi-storey garden bed of greenery. It looks even more interesting than an ordinary flower garden, but is made from improvised material.
Look at what you have unnecessary: old bricks, boards, slate, boxes, tires - everything will work. First, install the sides of the wide lower tier, sprinkle the earth. Then arrange in the form of a pyramid the upper tiers.
From below plant a moisture-loving greens of dark shades (parsley, spinach, mint, chard, arugula). In the middle, the culture is lighter (leaf cabbage, green salads, sorrel, dill). Above are plants of bright colors that require moderate watering (red salad, decorative cabbage and onion, spicy herbs). To make the flowerbed look neat, regularly pinch long shoots of plants.
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Each piece of land on the site should bring benefits or joy, and ideally - both.
I had in my summer cottage backyard a small, abandoned patch of land, which my hands never reached. As I pass by, I’ll see - even the mood deteriorates, and if I pass, I will forget. And three years ago, I decided to break a small flowerbed of triangular shape in this place - even if annuals grow. It so happened that I planted seedlings of flowers at the same time as tomato seedlings, one plant did not enter the greenhouse, I planted it in the center of the flowerbed. I put three thick pegs on each side, tying them on top, the crossbars between them are a support for the plant. In summer, the lateral shoots of the tomato were constantly removed, leaving only the strongest. You know, the crop, by the way, has grown a good one. Marigolds planted on the sides of the flower beds, but this summer I will plant them more densely - with a carpet. There is an idea in the foreground to plant curly parsley. By the way, it is not necessary to plant capricious vegetable crops in the center. You can plant a varietal bush of currants with purple berries or an unusual gooseberry. In the open, and surrounded by healthy flowers, you know what crop the plant will yield!
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Flower beds for strawberries
Starting in July, strawberry beds are empty. Sorry, but what to plant on them? The answer is obvious - flowers!
They need to be planted immediately with strawberries. Marigolds are most suitable for this purpose: they are not only beautiful, but also protect the berry from a terrible disease - nematodes. It is better to plant them along the edges of the beds in one line. Marigolds choose undersized so that they do not obscure the strawberries.
The pansies, lobelia, ageratum, and portolac will look no worse.
Suitable and low gladioli around: in the autumn, when you start to dig them, berry bushes will not suffer.
In the center, it is best to plant lilies: they are high, but they grow vertically and there are almost no shadows. In addition, they do not have to be dig out, but they blossom just in July, when on the strawberry patch, except for the leaves, nothing is already there.
Spring berry can decorate crocuses, but do not plant them too close to berry bushes: they have long leaves forming a shadow.
Well, do not forget that strawberries themselves can be placed not on a regular garden bed, but on a curly or longline flower bed - here you have a berry and a flower garden at the same time.