Growing Flowers in the Veggie Garden

You know, I've often wondered why people plant flowers in their veggie gardens. To my untrained eye, my only theory was that people wanted to make their gardens pretty. I thought it was weird, but you know, to each their own! Well, it turns out I was wrong (an uncommon occurrence, I can assure you!), and perhaps I can go so far to say I was only partially wrong. Flowers, regardless the reason they're put there, still make a veggie garden look prettier!

So the real reason is, drum roll please... companion planting! After I did some investigating, this turns out to be almost a science on it's own! Today I will only touch on the relationship between flowers and veggies, but I will be making another blog post (or maybe several) about this subject in the future that will expand past flowers.

Marigolds

• French Marigolds can be used anywhere to deter Mexican bean beetles, squash bugs, thrips, tomato hornworms, and whiteflies. They are also known to repel harmful root knot nematodes (soil dwelling microscopic white worms) that attack Tomatoes, Potatoes, Roses, and Strawberries. The root of the Marigold produces a chemical that kills the nematodes as they enter the soil. If a whole area is infested, at the end of the season, turn the Marigolds under so the roots will decay in the soil. You can safely plant there again the following spring.
• The strong aroma from the Marigolds tends to mask the smell of the vegetable plants, which can confuse garden pests.
• For the best results, plants clumps of Marigolds throughout the garden to ensure the best coverage.
• The one down side to including Marigolds in your garden is that they can attract spider mites, but these can be taken care of with a quick spray down with the hose.

Nasturtiums

• Nasturtiums deters bean beetles, squash bugs, potato bugs, Cucumber beetles, whiteflies and the asparagus beetle.
• The flowers of Nasturtiums, especially the yellow blooming varieties, act as a trap for aphids.

Lavender

• Lavender is an excellent general pest repellent flower to use in your garden. It repels both fleas and moths, and it can help protect other plants near it from whiteflies. 
• Lavender’s distinctive scent can work wonders for deterring aphids, so planting Lavender around Carrots and Leeks can confuse the little blighters and send them off!
• Lavender can also handle some of the bigger garden pests, and has been noted to be useful in repelling both mice and rabbits. 

Petunias

• Petunias can repel asparagus beetles, leafhoppers, aphids, tomato hornworms, and others.
• They also trap cabbage worms. These “worms” are in fact a species of caterpillar that will eat through an entire crop if left unchecked so the best, organic method for you to control these pests is to plant Petunias in your cabbage beds.

Sunflowers

• Sunflowers might be the largest flower you have in your garden and that is what will draw those beneficial pollinators over.
• Then for that same reason, the Sunflower will also act as a distracting decoy for aphids. The aphids will attack the Sunflowers, but they do little damage because of the Sunflowers' thick stalks and overall toughness.