Beauty in the Vegetable Garden

flowers, garden, photography, vegetable gardening 2 Minutes

My favorite parts of the garden are the flowerbeds.  Beauty abounds in the annual and perennial borders.  But, I have also discovered that vegetables can be beautiful too!The first step, in ensuring this, is to pick a very sunny, well-draining, and moderately sheltered location.

Next, you will need some sturdy garden tools, such as a digging spade, rake, and hand trowel.  You may simply plant straight  into prepared ground, or create raised beds, which are ideal for cool and wet climates.

I highly recommend using open-pollinated varieties, so that you can save your own seeds to plant the following year. And choose vegetables that you love. There is nothing lovelier in a kitchen garden than watching a treat ripen!

May I, now, suggest some reasonably compliant plants to cultivate? Runner beans are an elegant and easy vegetable to grow on a trellis. This vertical element adds attractive efficiency to a garden.

Other easy vertical plants are peas and cucumbers which can be trained to climb.

Another simple and stunning addition are the summer and winter squashes. The squash flowers are not only eye-catching, but they are mouth-watering when coated in a tempura batter and fried lightly.

Vegetables that can be grown in rows or patches are bush beans and broad beans.  Broad beans have lovely little white and black flowers that are as fragrant as any designer perfume.

Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow in hot climates.  Keep them in a greenhouse if your climate is cool.

In cool or hot climates, the Perpetual Spinach is a great choice, since it is slow to bolt.  This gives you a more reliable crop than regular spinach, which tends to go quickly to seed – at the first sign of heat!

Once your seeds are sprouting, mulch around them with compost to help keep your garden healthy and tidy looking.  Mulch keeps weeds away, retains moisture,  and adds nutrients to the soil, as it breaks down. Potatoes can be heavily mulched, since they produce above the planted tuber.

I hope that you have enjoyed my vegetable sermon and tour.  And I hope that I have convinced you that vegetables are beautiful too!

I have been growing vegetables for almost as long as I have been writing.  When I see a garden – I want to take photographs.  When I see a picture, I hear words, and http://greenlightlady.wordpress.com  is where I write them down.  Thanks for visiting.

Growing greens ~ Wendy

Published by Wendy L. Macdonald

Living for Jesus, loving Him, and listening for His voice bring me great joy. I'm an inspirational writer, blogger, and podcaster who also loves to photograph creation. ~ My faith is not shallow because I've been rescued from the deep. ~ Blessings ~ Wendy ❀ http://www.wendylmacdonald.com

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26 thoughts on “Beauty in the Vegetable Garden”

    1. Thank you. I hope you find the perfect spot, at your new place, for a cheery little garden. We had the spot, but we needed to put in the raised beds after removing some lawn. It was fun planning it out.

      Blessings ~ Wendy

      Reply

  7. Thank you Wendy. i grew up on a small farm with a substantial vegetable garden and my mom loved flowers, so there was also a wonderful flower garden. In the evenings we (the family) would gather around mom and she would read from her bible (always in a place of honor by her chair) and we would learn the days lesson. When I come to visit your site I’m reminded of the fonder memories of those times. Again sincere thanks, Penny.

    Reply

      1. It was mostly. Sadly, because of almost no hearing from birth and my family not recognizing this I spoke with a lisp (couldn’t really hear how words were pronounced) So I was treated as if I were simple minded and while loved, not paid attention too re: my mind (a lot of very smart people in my family).
        When I got my hearing in the 4th grade and corrected my speech patterns, it got some better, it wasn’t until I was a teenage and part of a College IQ study that how intelligent (really high score) I actually was came out. The family was shocked!. Then they realized I had self-taught myself how to talk by watching people move their lips when I couldn’t here sounds.This is true.
        I can still read lips to this day. My parents apologized a lot for those young years, but they were lonely ones for a child who could feel and see so much and no one really listenen then. Happily years go by and this like all others becomes a part of your personal life experiences.
        I am fine with things now,
        And was very close to both parents at the end of their years! So coming here and remembering the “good” of my youth is a very special feeling. And yes I am quite the smartest one in the family 🙂 Sorry for the run-on here just wanted you to understand that the “good memories” of my youth re: you and your garden are incredibly “special” ones! Penny, with much love and affection!

        Reply

          1. The one thing I know to be true in life is that how we interpret life is dependent on our own attitude. They were not bad people, they just didn’t understand. Thank you, Penny xox

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