9 Flowers and Their Benefit to Vegetable Gardens

We are not only going to plant vegetables in our garden, we will have some flowers as well. Flowers are not just pretty faces in vegetable gardens, they have many benefits such as bringing in good insects and pollinators and keeping out pests.

I have included a lot of information about the benefits of each flower, including Wikipedia links. For example, if you don't know what a "thrip" is (I didn't know before today!) then click on the link to read more about it!

Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Zinnias, Sunflowers, and Herbs such as Lavender. If I can get my hands on some Bee Balm, Cosmos, Calendula and Borage seeds, we will plant those as well.


1. Marigolds.(Signet marigolds have edible flowers) 
These cheery yellow flowers are helpful for keeping a variety of pests away from the garden. Rabbits, deer, javalinas, rodents, are peccary are even said to be deterred by marigolds. This is particularly relevant to us because we have an abundance of rabbits! They will hopefully also help with keeping squash bugs away. Other critters they repel are mosquitoes, slugs, roundworms, thrips, tomato hornworms, and whiteflies. We will make sure to plant these next to the squash and or the tomatoes!
These need to be planted outside after the last frost. If there was a superhero/rockstar flower of the vegetable garden, the marigold would be it! 


2. Nasturtiums. (Edible flowers and leaves)
These flowers will help keep squash bugs, white flies, and  beetles away. These are considered a trap crop for aphids, which will get into things like cabbage, collards, kale, turnips, mustard, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and radishes. A good place to plant these will be next to the squash or kale. 
Nasturtium leaves and flowers are also edible! I will have to try them at some point this summer.
The package of seeds I have says that these do not transplant well and that one should be careful not to water them too much.

3.Zinnias (We are planting "California Giants") (Edible flowers)
Zinnias will attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. These are good flowers to plant near a window, because they grow to be large (2 to 3 feet.)

The package of seeds says that these can be started indoors about a month before the last frost and then transplanted outside. These need plenty of water.

4. Sunflowers  (Edible Flowers and Seeds) 
Who doesn't love sunflowers?
Sunflowers are great flowers to have in the garden because they attract pollinators like bees and butterflies, and they can also be trellises for climbing plants like beans.
They do have some negative alleopathic effects on other plants, however. (Some say they are toxic to certain vegetable plants). So these might need to be isolated a little bit from the other plants in the garden.
The sunflowers grown from the seeds we have will grow to be 4 to 6 feet. I think I would like to have them in the South Garden right in front of my big window. They will be beautiful to look at and they will get enough sun in that spot.

5. Lavender  (We are planting Vera Lavender)
(English Lavender flowers and leaves are edible) 
Lavender smells wonderful to humans, but not to certain pests such as deer, mice, ticks, cabbage moths and even mosquitoes and flies.

These need to be started inside and "acclimated" to direct sunligh tor "hardened off." This means that the plants will need to be exposed to the elements gradually. This is an interesting process that involves starting them indoors, then allowing them to spend a little time outdoors each day (progressively more time each day) until you finally transplant them into the ground.
I will probably put these in the south side of the East Garden (it is the sunniest spot in the East Garden) when they are fully hardened off. We will definitely be dehydrating much of what we grow to be used later in tea and other things.

6. Bee Balm (Edible flowers)
This beautiful flower attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. It is also said to repel some soil pests and mosquitoes. Planting it near tomatoes is said to improve flavor.

This flower is also called bergamot, and it smells like bergamot orange (which is used for Earl Grey tea)

Bee balm actually can be used to treat bee stings and it a good general antiseptic. We will definitely be dehydrating a lot of this!

7. Cosmos (NOT edible)
Cosmos can attract bees and lacewings. Lacewings are the vegetable gardener's ally because they consume pests like aphids, thrips, and scale insects.
These flowers can also attract ladybugs, hoverflies, and wasps (this is beneficial!)

These can be planted anywhere in the garden. They will brighten it up quite a bit!

8. Calendula (Edible flowers)
Calendulas attract aphids and can be used as a trap crop for vegetables that have problems with aphids. These flowers also deter tomato hornworms and asparagus beetles.And because they are bright, they will attract pollinators.
I am really looking forward to dehydrating calendula because it has many medicinal uses, such as being anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-tumor. It can be used to treat acne, abdominal cramps, and constipation. Read more about uses of Calendula: http://mountainroseblog.com/healing-calendula/

9. Borage  (Edible flowers)

Borage is a beautiful flower that is very effective at attracting wasps, bees and other pollinators. They can deter tomato hornworms, cabbage worms, and manduca moths. It is said to be a good companion to tomatoes, legumes, spinach, and strawberries.







Read more about companion planting and flowers that will benefit your vegetable garden! 
http://savingkathy.hubpages.com/hub/Vegetable-Garden-Companion-Plants http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html 
http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetable1/tp/Flower-For-The-Vegetable-Garden.htm
http://www.livingspace360.com/index.php/best-annual-flowers-to-plant-in-the-vegetable-garden-28883/

It's Go Time! Tilling and Raking Our Soil

Saturday, my husband and I worked on getting our soil ready. We borrowed a tiller and went to work!

The "North Garden" which is shaded most of the day. It will be a perfect spot for the celery! 

There is a large rose bush by the South Garden that needs to be pruned very badly. Hopefully, we will have some beautiful roses by the front door this summer! 

The "South Garden." This spot gets a lot of sun all day.  

    

Finished tilling!

This will be the "East Garden." It is a huge area where we will plant vegetables and herbs that can tolerate a little shade. 

My gorgeous husband working hard! :-) 

After my husband tilled, I raked out the soil. This was not as hard as tilling, but I did work up a bit of a sweat! Here are our prepared areas:

We were also given a very nice composter. This neat contraption has a crank so that the barrel can be turned a few times every day. I will try to add a little water to the mix every week as well. It will make the compost process more fun and easy.

Getting Started - Planting Indoors

Today, we planted six of our vegetables in window boxes. We had to get a little creative because we have three cats who are very curious. It took them a total of ten minutes to hop into the boxes while we were working on them in the living room.

 My husband was able to hang the boxes from the top of the windowsill. This should allow them to get the sun they need and it should keep them (mostly) out of reach of the cats.


We bought these planters at Home Depot, but we only bought six of them because my husband is planning on building the rest with wood from pallets.

The six vegetables that we planted today are kale, cayenne peppers, Romanian sweet peppers, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers and Texas Grano onions.

Sweet Banana Peppers 
Solanaceae (Potato and tomato family)
Eventually, these will go in our South Garden, which gets a lot of sun. We have a total of four varieties of peppers we will be planting - These will be planted next to the Romanian Sweet Peppers.
According to the companion guide, these can be planted near basil, carrots, eggplant, onions, parsley, or tomatoes. (Says Keep away from: fennel, kohlrabi, but we are not planting those) I might plant them between the hotter peppers and the tomatoes. It is really true that if you plant jalapenos or other hot peppers next to tomatoes, your tomatoes will be spicy! 

Instructions say: Plant at a depth of 1/4 inch. Plants should be 2 feet apart, each row should be 2-3 feet apart. 
Transplant from indoors after last frost

 Early Jalapeno Pepper 

These will go in the South Garden along with the other peppers because they need a lot of sun. They will go next to the cayenne peppers and NOT the tomatoes.These peppers should grow fairly fast. The companion guide says to plant next to basil, carrots, eggplant, onions, or parsley. 

I am looking forward to having fresh jalapenos for salsa! 

Instructions Say: Plant to a depth of 1/4 inch, Plants should be 2 feet apart. Rows should be 2-3 feet apart.
Transplant from inside after last frost.

Early Texas Grano Onions 

Allium (Onion family) These will go in the East Garden because they can tolerate a little shade. The companion guide says these can be planted next to beets, cabbage family, carrots, chamomile, lettuce, parsnips, but to keep them away from beans and peas. An interesting thing about onions is that they deter pests like maggots. I will be glad to have them in my garden! 

Instructions say to plant at a depth of 1/8 inch, and to space individual plants 4-6 inches apart. The package says to plant as many as 100 seeds in one pot! So we will have a lot of these in our garden because they can be grown close together. 

When transplanting, we will need to trim the tops of the onions to 3 inches. These plants can tolerate light frost.  

 Lacinato Kale
Brassicas (Cabbage family)
The kale will go in the sunny South Garden. This particular type of kale is also known as "Dinosaur" or "Black Tuscan Kale" and it has bumpy dark green leaves!

Companion guide says to plant near  aromatic herbs, buckwheat, cabbage family, marigolds, nasturtiums but to keep away from pole beans and strawberries. 

Instructions say to plant at a depth of 1/4 inch, and the plants need to be 1 to 2 feet apart. Rows need to be anywhere from 1.5 feet to 3 feet apart. These can be transplanted outside 4 weeks before the last frost because they can tolerate a frost (they will be some of our first outside plants!)

Romanian Sweet Peppers
Solanaceae (Potato and tomato family)
These sweet peppers should be very colorful and sweet! They will change from ivory to orange to red and can be multiple colors at once!

The companion guide says .to plant next to basil, carrots, eggplant, onions, or parsley. Peppers, in general, should be kept away from fennel and kohlrabi. We won't be planting those, however. 

Instructions say to plant at a depth of 1/4 inch, plants need to be 2 feet apart and rows need to be 2 to 3 feet apart. They cannot tolerate frost so they can only be moved outdoors after the last frost.



Cayenne Peppers 
Solanaceae (Potato and tomato family)

I am really excited about these, because my husband's family has had good luck growing them in this area and they had large yields. They can be dried and used for a long time. I use cayenne in a TON of recipes.

Like other peppers, they can be planted near a variety of things like basil, carrots, eggplant, onions, or parsley. I know we will be planting these next to the jalapenos. 

Instructions say to plant at a depth of 1/4 inch, plants need to be 2 feet apart and rows need to be 2 to 3 feet apart. 




And the finished product!  (Now only 7 more varieties to plant indoors) Hopefully, my husband can get the pallet planters made soon! 

Testing Our Soil - pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium

I'm doing a little Chemistry today! 

We were able to obtain a soil testing kit from an industrial supply store in our area. You can find similar kits on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Luster-Leaf-Rapitest-Tester-1609CS/dp/B0019AI7PU/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1393708580&sr=8-6&keywords=soil+testing+kit 
Home Depot, Lowe's, and local gardening supply stores will have them as well.

The soil sample I took was actually from a fresh gopher hole in the yard (the instructions say to get the soil sample from 6-8 inches underground) We WILL be getting rid of the gopher as soon as possible, because I know that he/she/they will interfere with our gardening endeavors!

This sample was taken before adding anything - no manure, wood ash, or compost.

The process of testing the soil was fairly straightforward - I really enjoyed doing it (I was a Chemistry major in College).
The kit came with:

• -Tubes
• -Tablets
• -Color chart

I provided

• -A soil sample
• -A Styrofoam cup
• -Water

The kit said to dry the soil sample for an hour. Humidity here is about 14% today (and is always quite low because we are in Southeast New Mexico), so I skipped this step.



The first test was the pH test. The soil was directly mixed with water and the testing tablet.

Our soil has a pH of about 7.0. This is not too bad. We do need to get it acidified a little, but it is not as alkaline as I thought it would be.

The next step was the nitrogen test. I mixed the soil with a few tablespoons of water and a special tablet. It was stirred in a Styrofoam cup and then the soil was allowed to settle out. The water from this mixture was then placed in the tube and mixed with the nitrogen testing tablet. Then the tube sat for about 5 minutes. 

It appears that we have very low nitrogen in our soil. Adding manure should help with that.

I did the phosphorus test next. In this test, I added only a 1/4 teaspoon of the soil water from the Styrofoam cup, then the test tube was filled to the top with pure water. After adding the tablet and shaking, the tube sat for 5 minutes.

It seems that we have fairly low phosphorus in our soil.

The next test was for potassium. The tube was filled to the top with soil water from the Styrofoam cup. The tablet was added and the tube was shaken. I did not have to wait for the results of this test, the solution turned cloudy right away.

The tube was placed in front of the row of black marks on the color sheet for comparison. Since the solution was extremely cloudy (not much black showed through) we have high levels of potassium in our soil.



So our sandy soil is essentially neutral, low in nitrogen, low in phosphorus, and high in potassium. We will over the next few weeks need to:

• Acidify the soil by adding manure
• Increase the amount of nitrogen in the soil by adding manure
• Increase the phosphorus in the soil by adding a fertilizer mix or bone meal
• Think about not adding wood ash to the garden (it is very high in potassium)

Also, I will probably look into having our soil tested by the local county extension office and I will see what they recommend to add/not add.