The peppers and tomatoes in my growbed are going great guns. I’ve already picked tomatoes and my grow bed peppers are way ahead of those I have in soil, though not big enough yet to pick. It won’t be long.
I have a tire-bed of glads (tiny tot and regular), violets and a small climbing rose. I had a late-season beautiful red gladiola fall over from heavy rainfall. Rather than waste the beautiful blossoms I cut it and some marigold, white columbine and multicolored zinnia to fill a small vase.
Looking at the marigold in my growbed caused me to think it would be good to put together a cut and cut again wall of flowers.
There is no comparison between the marigold I planted in soil and the one I planted in my growbed. The one in the growbed is huge. The one in soil looks stunted by comparison. I think the marigold works as an attractant, enticing to it any insects that might want to address my food crop. I notice bees, bumbles and earwigs get attracted to it and are stuck there instead of visiting and leaving. It’s been interesting to watch the behavior over the summer.
Maybe I’ll do a grow wall of wild flowers next year. The variety and color of blossoms are great and they bloom all season long. Terry prefers the aggressive growth of wave petunias so I won’t plant wild flowers in his planter again next year.