Mixed or Combined Planting

Usually, in a garden, vegetables and flowers are planted separately. Combined planting is where for example vegetables and ornamental flowers are planted together, interplanting is a method where for example different vegetables are planted in the same bed/container. This was very common when cottage gardening as it was commonly called was a necessity. The practice is again becoming popular due to the world economic situation as families are growing as much food as possible.

These methods have obvious advantages, valuable growing space is saved, and crops can be easy to maintain. This process also increases bio diversity in your garden.

Runner beans with Bougainvillea, geraniums etc, making good use of space

Benefits of combined and interplanting are:

Better pollination:

Flowers attract bees for pollination. The more attractive the flowers, the better the pollination. Vegetables usually do not have attractive colorful flowers unlike the floral plants. Interplanting gives vegetables an added advantage of bees pollinating the plants.

Insects:

Some insects like lady bug, lace wing, ground beetles etc are good for the plants. They drive out the bad insects. These beneficial insects prefer certain plants. So if we plant their favorite plants along with other ones, both the plants benefit. Coriander, parsley and Aster flowers attract good insects.

There are some plants which will drive away bad insects. So planting these plants with others helps. For example Marigolds repel Asparagus beetles. So when interplanted, asparagus can grow well.

Beautification:

Lastly, your vegetable garden looks amazing now with colorful flowers in between the crops. You can plant artistically to create a beautiful landscape and also save the vegetables from pests.