I have a veggie patch and grow most of my food there. As I am in Queensland, I can garden year-round, moving from summer to winter crops as required. For a long time, I only ever planted food-producing plants and considered growing flowers a luxury and a waste of space. Then one year, I grew flowers in the garden alongside the veggies and noticed a significant increase in yield. This was due to the flowers attracting more insects, particularly bees, to my garden, which increased pollination and led to better fruiting in my plants.

Since then, I have been planting flowers with my veggies every season. Not only does my garden look amazing, but it is also more productive.

Once I have a plan, I go to the nursery and get just what I need, without impulse-buying plants that are not right for my location or season. What I cannot get from the local nursery, I order from the Diggers Gardening Club or another catalogue company. Now that I have experienced the greater abundance flowing from my garden, thanks to the flowers attracting pollinating insects, I will never think of flowers as a luxury again. They are a necessary part of any well-balanced ecosystem, and when you plant flowers, you are helping nature to return to that natural balance that was there before we came along.

As always, live well.

Valerie