Betsy's Garden |
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April 17, 2002 Ornamental Vegetable Garden Do you think vegetable gardens look boring? You might consider creative layout and planting designs. Just because a garden is practical does not mean it has to be boring. Vegetables can be attractive plants. The mixture of leaf colors and textures adds beauty to the familiar, but staid, vegetable garden. Ornamental vegetable gardening is not a new idea. Potagers, or decorative kitchen gardens, were a part of the elaborate gardens at Versailles during the reign of Louis XIV in the 1600’s. Today, Rosemary Verey and other well-known and not so well known gardeners continue to add ornamental interest to their vegetable gardens. Through the skillful blending of vegetables and herbs with varying textures and colors, people can create garden tapestries. To combine aesthetics and practicality in an edible garden does not require the wealth of kings. We only need a little imagination and preplanning. Potagers are often geometric in layout and design. They are frequently edged with ornamental plants. Many European gardeners edge their potagers with boxwood. However, almost any small mounding plant will work as long as it does not hinder the growth and production of the vegetables within the beds. The vegetables should receive full sun at all times or production can be slowed. You might try Dahlberg daisies or marigolds for a blooming edge. Potagers tend to be formal in design with pathways dissecting them. Trellises and archways are common features in many decorative kitchen gardens. They provide support for vining crops and add height to the garden. Vegetables and herbs with colorful foliage and varying textures are used to add more interest. Bright Lights Swiss Chard, Purple Ruffles Basil, Bronze Fennel, and several varieties of leaf lettuce are just a few plants with colorful leaves or stems. You can use basic shapes for a potager or create your own design for an ornamental garden. The choice in patterns is endless and does not have to be limited to formal designs. Start with something simple like orienting rows differently in your rectangular garden plot. Creating an ornamental vegetable garden does not require sacrificing Interplanting, succession planning, crop rotation, or any other good cultural practice. It only means designing the garden in a different way to make it more visually appealing. Our vegetable gardens can be beautiful as well as functional. Here are some starter suggestions for vegetables that would add interest to your garden. You can add your favorites to this list: Chives, red and green lettuce, zucchini, peas, carrots, spinach, lavender, purple sage, thyme, tomatoes, leeks, radishes, sweet corn. There are many books that include designs and layout suggestions for ornamental gardens. Joy Larkcom’s 1997 Creative Vegetable Gardening gives a number of good ideas. Gardeners can be as creative as they wish when designing practical and functional gardens. Thanks to the City of Woodbury’s Environmental Education Commission for the Environmental Landscape Workshop on April 6. The information and the presentations were helpful and informative. Betsy Halden is a resident of Woodbury. She consulted Cornell Cooperative Extension and the University of Minnesota Extension Service materials when preparing this column. You can reach Betsy Halden at eahalden@comcast.net |
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