This evening's harvest: Purple Passion Asparagus and Cilantro, with a side of spearmint.
I love how the green of the cilantro highlights the color of the asparagus. The orange handles of my herb snipper really pops out, as well.
Color in the garden doesn't just arrive in blossoms. Vegetables can be just as colorful, plus they're more filling and nutritious.
I like to grow red and purple varieties of vegetables that are typically green, such as the red noodle bean Asian long bean, or various colors of snap beans (Although beans of any kind don't figure into my diet very well at the present time, but that will change), red lettuce varieties, red cabbage, and so on. I am tempted to try growing the purple cauliflower this fall. It's been a while since I've grown cauliflower.
Chard provides another opportunity for color in the vegetable garden with varieties like Rainbow Chard, Bright Lights Chard, and Five Color Silverbeet with their yellow, red, pink, green and white stems and ribs. Asian mustards can come in rich purples.
I've grown pink celery (didn't live up to my expectations), and pink snap peas, which were not as good as regular sugar snaps. So sometimes the colorful varieties aren't as good or as hardy as the standard green. But I keep trying them anyway because sometimes they are the best, or at least just as good but more colorful.
I am definitely passionate about the Purple Passion Asparagus, which is sweeter and more tender than the green varieties I've eaten. And it can get pretty big around.
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| Plant nasturtiums in the vegetable garden -- colorful and flavorful on the dinner plate. |
If you want easy color in the garden you can just look at all the colors of tomatoes that are offered. One of my favorites is the orange cherry sized Sun Gold. This year I've got an orange slicer called Mandarin that a friend recommended. We'll see if his enthusiasm for it matches its performance.
Peppers, of course, either sweet or hot, can offer quite a bit of color. Eggplants, too, with various shades of purple skins and sometimes white skins.
I don't recommend tearing out the flower garden to make way for colorful vegetables, although I might recommend planting certain attractive vegetables in the flower garden. Those colorful chard varieties make wonderful, edible accent plants. However, I can't put chard in the flower garden. It has to remain behind rabbit-proof fencing because the bunnies love it. Many hot pepper plants are quite attractive.
Go ahead and plant flowers in the vegetable garden, too. They have value there. Just don't think that flowers are the only colorful thing in the garden.
