Flowers in the Veggie Patch!

  Much to Son's vexation, I came across about a billion things that made me smile.  While I am one who loves flowers, he thinks plants should provide foodstuffs.  According to him, plants that cannot go to the dining table have no place in the vegetable plot.  When I showed him the delightful find of a clump of tiny marigold seedlings, he just grunted and mumbled "Great."  (Which in Son-speak does not mean the "fantastic" sort of great but rather the "things I have to tolerate" sort of great.)  He knows that I am going to try to salvage each and every one of the plants and I know he really does not mind.  We have a mutual understanding of how things work in the garden plot.

  Personally, it does seem to me that the marigolds should be in the veggie garden as they do a grand job of keeping certain pests from creepy-crawling on the other plants.  It is not a bad idea to plant a row of the flowers then intersperse things such as cabbage among them.  The marigolds are happy to share the space and, when I tried this, kept my cabbages worm-free!  Apparently, cabbage moths think twice before infiltrating the marigold patch.  

  Another couple of grand thing about these plants is the fact that down here with our mild winters, marigolds have a tendency to bloom year round and they reseed themselves.  Only the harshest of freezes seem to bother them.  When kept pruned of spent blooms, they just keep on growing.  Tossing those spent blooms in the garden provides a new batch of plants in a few weeks!  To me, the marigold blooms give a welcome splash of color in an otherwise drab winter garden space.

  So, Son!  I beg to differ with your opinion of my happy, little plants.  Their presence will enhance the veggie plot and allow us to harvest more yummy foodstuffs for our table.  (And! They are pretty!)