I have my vegetable seeds ordered.

[conuly]

Now I just need to prepare my raised beds (heeeeeeelp), and also decide what flowers we want for the front, at Jenn's insistence. My normal view of flowers is that they look pretty, but if you can't eat them I don't care that much, but Jenn is buying the seeds and she wants the front to look nice. This means inexpensive blooms that aren't like everybody else's (they favor marigolds around here, mostly) and that won't get stolen either. And easy to care for. I am completely not sure what I want.

I also have to trim the brambles on the side as a prelude to ripping them out, whack at the cypress until it is a bush again instead of a monstrosity, clip the rosemary to transplant, and find the money to replace the fence.

Comments

[janewilliams20]

Sounds like we agree on purely decorative flowers. You might want to look into the idea of "companion planting" - growing marigolds next to tomatoes, for instance. Herbs that look pretty might help, too - some of the variegated thymes, for instance? Nasturtium is an edible flower, so are violets.

[dragonwolf]

This is basically what I did with my front flower bed. I've got some decorative plants, but also a large amount of "practical" plants. Namely raspberries (to cover the front section of our fence), blueberries (mostly because the little one loves them), and strawberries (ground cover). Even the "decorative" plants serve the purpose of attracting pollinators.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

You can eat roses, marigolds, nasturtiums, chives (pretty purple flowerballs), poppies (well, poppyseed--you can buy seeds to grow your own poppyseed), sweet woodruff, daylilies, violets, Jerusalem artichokes/sunchokes, and dandelions.

All of the above are reasonably easy to grow (choose a rose with a tough reputation), pretty, edible, and inexpensive (free in the case of dandelions, but your family may not like them). Nasturtiums have a peppery taste much like watercress, and their buds can be pickled and used like capers.

[fjorab-teke.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest nasturtiums (we've used them for cake decorations and suchlike), and i like violet-lemon jam. I grew up on a little organic family farm, and Mom likes to garden and make edible goodies. I think dandelions are pretty, but many people consider them weeds - they readily spread outside their intended bounds with the slightest breeze upon their seed-puffs.

[fjorab-teke.livejournal.com]

Also, sunflowers, but the ones with seeds big enough to eat are HUGE and can be tricky to grow.

[conuly]

I adore dandelions, but of course they are non-native plants. Which, given their prolificness, I guess makes them weedy.

[conuly]

To clarify, I don't really want anything edible in the front other than our mint, which grows quite tall. Too many dogs.