Purely for pleasure or to expand your healthy choices: every reason is a good reason to make room in your garden for some vegetables. You can’t seem to find the space or time? If you have just one flowerbed, you have a vegetable garden! Follow the trend and create your own urban garden.
Gourmet flowerbeds
Fruits and vegetables in the flowerbed? Why not! Some plants really are as tasty as they are attractive.
- Blueberry bushes: produce beautiful flowers in the spring, colourful fruit in the summer, and leaves that turn to red in the fall
- Cabbages simply look like great, big flowers
- Climbing cherry tomato plants growing on a trellis are really impressive: pretty blooms transition into gorgeous red, yellow, orange or purple tomatoes
- Dill plants: delicate wonders
- Chives: graceful flowers
If you have an existing flowerbed, look at it very closely: it may already include edible flowers that are all perfectly good to eat.
- Daylilies
- Hostas
- Phlox
- Impatiens
- Pansies
- Gladiola
- Tulips
Sun requirements for plants
Sunlight is the stuff most vegetable plants crave. There are, however, plants that thrive with a little shade. Choose your plants wisely. Know the sun requirements of the plants you want and be aware of the sun exposure in your garden.
- Full sun: 6 to 8 hours (and more) sunlight per day
- Partial-shade : 4 to 5 hours sunlight per day
- Shade: 1 to 2 hours sunlight per day
Soil type
Plants are not all created equal when it comes to the nutrients they require, which means some plants are well-suited to a particular kind of soil whereas other plants require the opposite. First things first: have your soil analyzed at a garden centre so you know exactly what kind of soil you have to work with.
Clay soil | Artichokes, eggplants, chard, cauliflower, headed cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, rhubarb, chives, mint, spinach, beans, peas |
Sandy soil | Carrots, beets, celeriac, turnips, radishes, potatoes, garlic, fennel, shallots, asparagus, beans, peas, strawberries, parsley, tarragon, cilantro, chives |
Limestone soil (alkaline) | Moderate: garlic, carrots, beets, radishes, parsnips, beans, peas, tomatoes, lettuce, Jerusalem artichokes Very alkaline: headed cabbage, cauliflower, savory, thyme, rosemary, melons, leeks, artichokes |
Humus-rich soil (acid) | Squash, zucchini, cucumbers, melons, eggplants, peppers, chili peppers |
Perennial vegetables, herbs and fruits
The main purpose of a flowerbed is to be decorative, so ensure the beauty in your garden extends to the fall by planting perennials. That way, you won't be left with a bare patch after everything has been harvested!
- Perennial vegetable plants: asparagus, rhubarb, artichoke
- Perennial fruit and berry plants: strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, elderberry, blackcurrant, currant, grapevine
- Perennial herbs: savory, sage, lavender, mint, oregano
Bring biodiversity and its benefits to your garden
Vegetables in the flowerbed. Flowers in the vegetable garden. The idea is to bring biodiversity back to the garden by creating an environment that welcomes bees, butterflies, specific insects and even birds. Flowers attract insects that pollinate vegetable flowers. Others protect vegetables from destructive insect pests. Side by side in the garden, they make a winning team!
Learn more about companion-planting
Garlic | Repels many insect pests |
Dill | Flowers attract bees |
Basil | Pest-repelling Enhances the flavour of tomatoes |
Nasturtium | Keeps aphids away from vegetables |
Lavender | Pest-repelling (aphids) Attracts bees |
Mint | Pest-repelling (cabbageworm) |
Aster | Attracts bees |
Marigold | Repels several pests (cabbage and tomato worms, worms that attack asparagus, and pests on beans) Attracts bees |
Delicious vegetables, herbs and berries
There are plants we like to grow purely for their taste. Sweet, spicy, sour, juicy, or crisp: how will you describe the fruits of your labour?
- Herbs : basil, chives, parsley, rosemary, coriander, oregano
- Vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, carrots
- Fruit: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries
- Flowers: bee balm, miniature carnations, phlox, platycodon, impatiens, gladiola
Plants that are beautiful and tasty
Stop and stare! Some food plants are just stunning to look at. Admire the colours, shape and texture of the leaves.
- Herbs: dill, parsley, purple basil, silver thyme
- Vegetables: multicolored Swiss chard, curly green lettuce, red-leaf lettuce, two-toned lettuce, red cabbage, kale, asparagus, yellow zucchini, garlic
- Fruit: yellow raspberries
- Flowers: your favourites!
