Why grow FLOWERS in a vegetable garden?

We started gardening mostly to grow food, but we’ve expanded over the years to grow more flowers. In addition to adding lots of natural beauty, there are several reasons why flowers are beneficial. One of the most obvious is that they attract pollinators, but they also can serve multiple other purposes as well, as this video demonstrates.

with food prices going steadily up new gardeners focus more on growing only vegetables in their Gardens I used to be that way too in the beginning of my gardening Journey my mom asked me Dena why don’t you grow more flowers in your garden and I still remember I said to her I can’t eat flowers why would I want to grow them it took me some time to realize how ignorant I was about gardening and growing flowers in a vegetable garden so why do we need to grow flowers in a vegetable garden most gardeners know that flowers attract pollinators but when they think about pollinators they mostly think about honeybees but did you know that butterflies moths wasps native bees and even dreaded cucumber beetles can act as pollinators as cucumber beetles travel from flower to flower they carry pollen from a male flower to a female flower and that’s how we get our cucumbers melons and a lot of other fruits and vegetables today is June second and I still have not noticed a lot of honey bees around but our squash and cucumbers are still getting pollinated because we get other pollinators in the form of butterflies moths and others it’s amazing to think how much we depend on beneficial pollinators to get our food the second benefit is that certain flowers can cleanse the soil from toxic elements for example sunflowers pull heavy metals and even arsenic from the soil so if you have contaminated soil It’s very effective to plant sunflowers before you start a vegetable garden but after the sunflowers are done growing and blooming it’s better not to put them in the compost pile so that all those toxins would not go back into your soil it’s interesting that sunflower seeds do end up having Metals but they’re below toxic levels the next benefit is companion planting some Tall flowering plants like hibiscus for example or our Mystic Spire Salia or even the abilia shrub provide much needed shade during hot summer afternoons for example the beans that are planted here are really enjoying the afternoon shade provided by ailia zenas when they grow tall and dance they create too much shade for weeds to grow and thrive in maragold are great companion plants they deter certain harmful pests but they also attract spidermites so spider mites prefer to attack marold and leave other plants alone the next benefit is that flowers are a source of food for example Nims pansies and also squash blossoms are nutrient-rich foods as well as sunflower seeds with squash blossoms you can either sauté or fry them and pansies and aums add Beauty to your salads but before you consume any flowers make sure they’re actually safe to eat the next benefit is that certain flowers have medicinal properties for example a Cana can be very effective at treating colds coughs and and various infections and yo has anti-inflammatory purposes it can stop bleeding and heal wounds also when it comes to flowers please consider growing flowers that are native to the area where you live the importance of growing native flowers is that they are beneficial to the insects that are native to your area for example monarch butterflies lay their eggs only on specific kinds of milkweed that are native to our area if I plant a milkweed that’s native to a foreign country but not native here then monarch butterflies won’t be able to lay their eggs and they won’t be able to reproduce and the final benefit is that flowers simply add Beauty to any garden thank you so much for watching this video I hope you grow more flowers in your garden and have a great day