I have always grown veg in among my flowers, a necessity at first due to a shortage of space, but it really makes you realise just how beautiful veggies can be, not to mention the benefits of companion planting, such as the beneficial insects that are attracted, weeds are reduced, many of the flowers are edible and also end up in the salad bowl, it also encouraged me to find more unusual and beautiful varieties, I love the purple carrots!! (they were originally purple and white, long before we bred them to be orange, fashions change I guess) Along with stately globe artichokes and cardoons, purple kohl rabi, rainbow amaranth, coloured sweetcorn, my fave rainbow chard, pink and white flowering runners, red cabbages, purple cauliflower, yellow courgettes, blue pumkins, multicoloured viola, nasturtiums, calendula, chives, sunflowers. All beautiful delicious and really nutritious as a health benefit it has increased the range of different coloured foods we eat benefitting from the healthy pigments they contain, which scientists have shown don't simply affect you psychologically, these pigments such as anthocyanins and carotenoids, and the related beneficial chemicals contained, have been shown to have real physical health benefits. Not to mention homegrown always tastes sooo much better than anything in the shops, and the weird colours really helped encourage my freinds' little ones who are usually salad and veggie dodgers to try foods they would never normally eat! Thanks to GW for giving me the courage and inspiration to experiment and try new varieties each year
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It needs winter vernalisation to initiate division.
All beautiful delicious and really nutritious as a health benefit it has increased the range of different coloured foods we eat benefitting from the healthy pigments they contain, which scientists have shown don't simply affect you psychologically, these pigments such as anthocyanins and carotenoids, and the related beneficial chemicals contained, have been shown to have real physical health benefits.
Not to mention homegrown always tastes sooo much better than anything in the shops, and the weird colours really helped encourage my freinds' little ones who are usually salad and veggie dodgers to try foods they would never normally eat!
Thanks to GW for giving me the courage and inspiration to experiment and try new varieties each year