Liz’s Allotment Life: The importance of flowers
As summer gets underway, RHS Wisley Edibles Horticulturalist Liz Mooney shares the planting, harvesting and seasonal jobs keeping her allotment busy
After the rush of planting out all of the tender crops last week, things have been a little quieter on the allotment. Much of my time has therefore been spent consolidating and catching up on jobs. Not every plant made it through the heatwave and, in one case, I accidentally dragged a hose across a cucumber and snapped the stem clean off. Mistakes happen, and thankfully I had a few spare plants waiting in the wings.
The rain finally arrived, which has eased the burden of watering, and I have been enjoying some generous harvests. Carrier bags full of lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, spring onions and the first beetroots of the year have been making their way home with me. In fact, I have started giving salad crops away to anyone I happen to meet, as there is simply more than I can eat myself.
The first beetroot harvests of the season are beginning to arrive on the allotment
The purpose of flowers
Firstly, let's not diminish the importance of the joy flowers give us. Allotments are productive places designed to grow food to eat, but they are also sites many of us go to to relax and unwind away from work. Vegetable crops are beautiful in their own right, but flowers can enhance this and provide a wonderful display throughout the growing season.
Flowers can act as companion plants on the allotment, a term used to refer to plants whose presence among vegetables can support healthy growth. They do this by attracting beneficial insects to the plot. Whether it is hoverflies or ladybirds, these wonderful creatures are encouraged to visit, or even set up home, on your allotment if you can provide sources of pollen, nectar and habitat. While on your plot they can also assist in managing insects you might be less pleased to see, such as aphids – though these are also breakfast, lunch and dinner for many of the baby birds we have around, so it’s well worth leaving them alone for nature to take its course.
Cucumber flowers are popular with pollinating insects during the summer months
Of course, many flowers are also edible, with their colourful petals helping to brighten up your summer salads.
What to grow
To be honest, almost any flower can be beneficial on an allotment. I have a dedicated flower bed on mine which I have gradually filled over the years with a few odds and ends. I am particularly fond of Stachys byzantina (lamb’s ear), which the female wool carder bee is known to collect hairs from for use in her nest. I also grow Echinacea, Dahlia, Ajuga and a range of spring bulbs.
A ladybird on lamb’s ear, a perennial favoured by many beneficial insects
I am a particular fan of Calendula ‘Winter Sun’, a delicate English marigold that can flower for much of the year, and Nasturtium ‘Empress of India’, which is more compact than some of its counterparts. If you are after something really showy, try French or African marigolds with their large, colourful flower heads. Cultivars such as ‘Honeycomb’ and ‘Fireball’ make excellent additions to the allotment. These are frost tender, so remember to keep
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Tagetes patula ‘Honeycomb’ is a dwarf French marigold, ideal for adding colour amongst vegetable crops
Tagetes patula ‘Honeycomb’ is a dwarf French marigold, ideal for adding colour amongst vegetable crops
‘Bright Yellow’ is my favourite cultivar, but it is also worth looking out for ‘Bright Lights’ and ‘Peppermint’. I like to use the leaves in spanakopita, although they work just as well in a stir-fry.
Swiss chard combines ornamental value with reliable harvests from summer through to winter
Coming up on the plot
Looking around the plot earlier this week, a few gaps have appeared where I removed spinach plants that had gone to flower. I will need to have a think about what can be direct sown into those spaces. At this time of year there are still plenty of options, and deciding what to grow next is one of the pleasures of keeping an allotment. Whatever I choose, it won’t be long before those empty patches are productive once again.
