I have a back yard veggie patch and grow most of my own food there. As I am in Queensland, I can garden all 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, just for their beauty, 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 the yield for that year. This was due to the fact that the flowers attracted more insects, and in particular bees, to my garden and I, therefore, had a much higher rate of pollination, resulting in better fruiting of my plants.

Since then I have been planting flowers with my veggies every season. I had some successes and some failures until I learned what flowers to plant when. I was used to planting the right veggies for my location and time of year, but not flowers. That was where the Flower Growing Guide came in handy. I now take this laminated guide into the garden with me, along with my Vegetable Growing Guide and plan out all my garden beds for the season.

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Once I have a plan, I go to the nursery and get just what I need, with no impulse buying of plants that are not right for my location or season. What I cannot get from the local nursery, I order in from the Diggers Gardening Club, or another catalogue company. Now that I have experienced the greater abundance that flows from my garden due to the flowers attracting pollinating incests, such at bees to my garden, I will never think of flowers as a luxury again. They are in fact 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.