Our vegetable gardens need a facelift! Just because something is practical does not mean it has to be boring. Vegetables are often attractive plants. Their mixture of leaf colors and textures adds beauty to the staid vegetable garden.
Techniques to Create Ornamental Vegetable Gardens | Ornamental Vegetables | Flowers to Plant with Vegetables | History | More Information
Techniques to Create Beautiful Vegetable Gardens
Vegetable gardens are not always known to be the most attractive garden spaces, but this doesn't mean they can't be. You can avoid some of the "ugly vegetable garden" issues by using a few broad principles. In the end you can have a vegetable garden pretty enough to be in the front yard!
Keep the Garden Well-Maintained
Healthy plants are more attractive and they are more productive. Provide the best growing conditions possible by:
- Siting the garden in full sun. All vegetables and herbs grow and produce better when provided with at least 6 hours of direct sunlight a day
- Building good soils. Vegetables are best grown in well-drained organic soils.
- Managing pest and disease issues. Scout frequently and deal with issues as soon as they arise. Incorporate practices like crop rotation, proper watering techniques, proper plant spacing, and protection from animals like deer and rabbits.
Learn more in this article: Growing and Caring for Your Vegetable Garden.
Grow Pretty Vegetables
Some vegetables are just more attractive than others. Select varieties with bold and attractive characteristics like 'Bright Lights' Swiss Chard, 'Purple Ruffles' Basil, 'Bronze' Fennel, and 'Speckled' leaf lettuce.
Pretty vegetables to consider include:
- Lettuce - many, many different types that are quite attractive
- Swiss chard - bright, colorful stems stand out in the garden
- Basil - several different leaf colors (green, purple, etc.) and textures (ruffled, flat, etc.)
- Chives - unlike their edible cousins, onions, and garlic, they have attractive flowers and compact growth
- Herbs - in general, these plants are attractive colors, textures, and blooms, including thyme, sage, parsley, and rosemary
- Asparagus - ferny foliage and perennial
- Rhubarb - bold foliage and perennial
- Peas - beautiful flowers
- Scarlet runner beans - flowers and fruit attractive and grows well on a trellis
- Peppers - many different types varying in size, color and shape. The smaller varieties tend to be more ornamental
- Tomatoes - especially those with bicolor or interesting fruit. Select compact varieties as they are typically more attractive
- Be careful; other types can be very ugly, especially when covered in disease
- Cabbage & Kale - beautiful colors that intensify in cool weather
- Sweet potatoes - a nice ground cover
- Fruit trees - nearly all of them are beautiful bloomers; just keep them free of disease
Interplant With Flowers
Any flower that likes the same growing conditions as vegetables (full sun; moist, well-drained soils) can be added. Flowers can not only beautify the garden but also help to attract more pollinators and beneficial insects that can help with pest control. With proper selection, the flowers can be harvested for cut flowers.
Annuals to consider planting with your vegetables include:
- Nasturtium
- Borage
- Marigolds
- Pot marigold (Calendula)
- Pansies (for spring and fall)
- Cosmos
- Agastache
- Zinnia
- Salvias
- Coreopsis
- Dahlberg Daisy
- Alyssum
- Sunflowers (the dwarf varieties)
Modify Plant Spacing
Dense plantings are typically more attractive. Planting your vegetable plants a little closer together can improve the appearance of the garden overall and help shade more of the ground, reducing evaporation and suppressing weeds. There is a balance that must be struck with plant spacing, however. Plants placed closer together risk having more disease issues due to poor circulation and light penetration. They can also be more difficult to access or harvest. Good layout design can help with ease of harvest.
Consider Color & Texture
When we design other landscape areas, color and texture are important factors to consider. Apply those same principles to the layout of your garden. This requires an extra "layer" of planning because you'll need to consider not only the ideal conditions for vegetable growth but also the beauty and aesthetics of the plants in relation to each other.
Vegetables come in a wide variety of colors. Try planting varieties in the same color palette. Many vegetables are bold and coarse-textured plants, so pairing them with fine-textured vegetables, herbs, and flowers (like asparagus, fennel, or cosmos) can create a lot of interest and beauty.
Rethink the Rows
Start with something simple, like orienting rows at an angle in your rectangular garden plot. Plant in wide rows (rows that are 2 to 3 plants wide instead of one). This can create a denser, more visually appealing look and save space by reducing the space dedicated to aisles.
Planting in blocks (sometimes called square foot gardening) can create an attractive space that also enhances pollination and shades more of the soil, reducing weed growth. It can be a very efficient use of space as no space is reserved for aisles.
Some vegetables, like corn and onions traditionally planted in rows, can also be clustered in small groupings or hills, creating attractive focal points and improving pollination.
Add Garden Ornamentation
Whether a traditional sundial or a more whimsical art piece, garden ornaments can add beauty and personality. Get even more out of it by using garden ornaments that can also be functional. (an attractive trellis for cucumbers or a colorful mason bee box, for example).
Give the Garden Good Edges
Research has shown that maintaining mowed or "crisp" edges can give the appearance of the area being well-cared for - an important component of what makes a space "traditionally attractive." This can also be enhanced with fences, linear bed lines, and orderly plantings.
Spread the Vegetables Out
Planting vegetables in pockets throughout the landscape, rather than in one concentrated area, can help soften the coarse texture or unattractive features of some edible plants. It has the added benefit of making practices like crop rotation more effective and allows you to place the plant in the best light and soil conditions. However, spreading out the vegetable garden too much can make things like harvest and irrigation more time-consuming since everything is not located in the same area.
Growing vegetables in containers is another way to spread vegetables out and locate them in the ideal growing conditions.
History of Ornamental Vegetable Gardens
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, gardeners still add ornamental interest to their vegetable gardens through the skillful blending of vegetables and herbs with varying textures and colors to create garden tapestries. The combination of aesthetics and practicality in an edible garden does not require the wealth of kings, only a little imagination and preplanning.
Potagers
Potagers are often geometric in layout. They are also often edged with ornamental plants. Many European gardeners edge their potagers with boxwood. However, almost any small mounding plant will work if it does not hinder the growth and production of the vegetables within. The vegetables should receive full sun at all times, or production can be compromised.
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.
The book Creative Vegetable Gardening by Joy Larkcom contains many designs and basic shapes; or create your own design for an ornamental vegetable garden. The choice in patterns is endless and does not have to be limited to only formal designs.
More Information
- Edible Flowers (PDF)
- Edible Fruit on Ornamental Trees and Shrubs
- Planning Your Vegetable Garden
- Where to put your vegetable garden (PDF)
- Small Plot Vegetable Gardening (PDF)
- Creating Raised Bed Planters
- Container Vegetable Gardening (PDF)
- Crop Rotation in the Vegetable Garden
Photo credits: 1: Garden Guru/AdobeStock; 2: Valerija Zeleneva/AdobeStock; 3: Garden Guru/AdobeStock; 4: julietPhotography/AdobeStock; 5: KateD/AdobeStock