Article by: Sought After Seedlings
Designer of the Bryanston Organic Food Garden
Supplier of Franchi Sementi Heirloom Seeds & Victory Ticket Organic Seedlings

You may well wonder what art has to do with vegetable gardens.

Entering a stately home in London with a friend, who knew little about vegetable gardens, she was very taken with a patch of, what she described as, beautiful, lush, sun-kissed leaves.

What the artist in her saw was tall, textured, richly coloured Swiss chard plants, with the light shining from behind them, brightly showing the yellow and deep red stems, and the dark vivid greens and reds of the glossy leaves.

She suddenly became very interested in planting up a vegetable garden, once she realised that vegetable plants, with their varied colours, textures, shapes and heights, can indeed make a beautiful visual display to compete with any flower garden.

Let’s start with the Franchi Sementi Swiss chard varieties as an example, (many refer to Swiss chard as spinach), there is the dark red rhubarb Swiss chard, the lime green Leonie chard, the thick white stemmed Bianca chard, and more…

Group your planting in a pattern of a triangle perhaps, circle or rectangle. Plant the dark red in the middle, edged with the lime green and frame with the dark green chard, alternating thick white stemmed and other large green stemmed varieties. Swiss chard can grow throughout the year and is harvested from the outside leaves inward, thus providing a constant supply of this body alkalising vegetable.

As a back drop for this picture, when summer draws near, plant your tall spiky shaped artichoke plants, or your tall soft fluffy asparagus plants.

Contrast your chard plant bed rimmed by beneficial insect attractors like bright yellow calendula in winter or orange and yellow nasturtiums in summer – they will also keep the aphids away.

Consider leaf textures, heights, and colours to create a collage of aesthetic appeal and at the same time, grow your own health giving food. With winter finally upon us, brassicas, like kale, Franchi Samenti’s Cavalo Nero, with their long, spear shaped dark blue-­­green leaves, grown in rows behind the pink and green fat, full San Michelle cabbage row, which in turn has a spikey row of chives in front of them, think how attractive that would look.

You can have loads of creative fun planning your own beautiful picturesque vegetable garden. Why not give it a try? Visit the Organic Food Garden at GardenShop Bryanston or get further inspiration with the use of hedges, trellises, stones and more.