I have the opportunity to take on a second community garden plot this season. It’s close to my home—just a 2-minute walk away. It’s a fairly sunny location, it has a water pump, and it’s part of a nice and friendly community. I’m seriously considering this dual garden concept: veggies and flowers

The question is, if I take on a second plot, what will I grow in it? Items I’ll need on hand quickly, like herbs, lettuce, and other greens, for sure. I don’t want to waste the space on tomatoes or items that take lots of room (like squash) or a long time to mature (like eggplant, peppers, cabbage).

I’d really like some flowers, though. I haven’t grown a cutting garden before. Vegetables and flowers—I like the thought of that.

There are plenty of reasons why it’s a good idea to grow kale among the cosmos or the marjoram amidst the marigolds.

For one, it’s two worlds in one without sacrificing the enjoyment of either. Veggies are so gosh-darn pretty—the texture and color of kale, the chartreuse leaves of spinach and chard, the mega foliage and red stems of rhubarb. They don’t diminish the beauty of flowers one bit. If you have limited room and want both veg and flowers, it’s completely doable.

Here are a few ways flowers and vegetables work well together in the garden:

Veggies: support, shade, and protection

Sunflowers can support climbing vines. Bushy beauties such as cleome can provide shade for a late-summer sowing of lettuce. And then there are instances where planting one can be beneficial to the other, such as marigolds protecting tomatoes from soil-borne nematodes and other pests.

Sometimes, honestly, flowers can be too flowery.

Especially annual flowers. Vegetable plants provide a much-needed foliage backdrop against which the annual flowers can really pop. Lettuce or chard, for instance, can provide the same fantastic foliar screen as a coleus would provide—but you can eat them!

What can be put in the ground can be put in a pot or container, too.

Mixed containers can have both flowers and vegetables. The texture of herb leaves can make a container of snapdragons really sing. And best of all, you can snip some herbs for dinner and snapdragons as a floral element for the table.

Now to start planning my cutting garden. With veggies involved, it takes on a whole new meaning.