by Lisa Giroday, Sandra Lopuch and Sam Philips | OK, so your tomatoes have likely been planted (if not, it’s not too late); salads are abundant; strawberries and garlic scapes are beginning their season (the latter already showing up in our pestos, hummus, frying pans, and pickling jars – more of scapes and what to do with them here); peas are flowering and pods are forming. You’ve surveyed with satisfaction the rapid growth of your veggie garden but forgotten one thing: garden pests.

Yes, the bain of summer gardening is upon us. Aphids are in season; you see ants carrying them around all over the undersides of plant leaves, in plant crevasses, you name it. But what can you do besides spraying the little beasts off repeatedly with a hose? This is where companion planting comes into play in the organic garden. Here, we want to talk about our top two faves that pair well with an array of veggies: two edible flowers, nasturtiums and marigolds. They can be planted at this time to combat pests and bring harmony to the garden. Bee attraction? Check. Warding off pests? Check. Edible, too? Perfect. There absolutely have to be flowers in a veggie garden, too.

Let’s start with nasturtiums. They grow like mad and their leaves and flowers are edible. Harvest for garnish and salads. They have a unique, delicious taste; a tad sour and peppery. They act as aphid “bait” in the garden. Yes, they may attract aphids, but trust us. If you plant them near your tomatoes, peppers, kale, artichokes, and anything else susceptible to an aphid attack, your other crops will remain unscathed. And, if your nasturtium remains relatively unscathed too, all the better. Plant nasturtiums around tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, and under fruit trees where they will battle wooly aphids, whiteflies, cucumber beetles and other pests of the cucurbit family.

And then there are the miraculous marigolds! Not only are they garden superheroes at fighting off evil, they are also a great addition to salads. They even do well in beer (Marigold IPA anyone?). What’s more, they keep soils free of bad nematodes and discourage many insects from munching on your precious, health-sustaining veggies. Plant them throughout the garden and reap their many gastronomic and medicinal benefits (yup, marigolds are also used in treatments for eczema, rashes, burns, gastric ulcers, fever, and more).

We’ll be at the OLLA flower festival on June 22nd at Victory Square Park from 9am to 4pm and we’ll have enough marigolds and nasturtiums for all your pest control and culinary needs.

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Victory Gardens is a team of local urban farmers for hire. Lisa, Sandra and Sam help transform tired or underused residential and commercial green spaces into food producing gardens. Their goal is to challenge the way communities use space and to participate in the change needed to consume food more sustainably. For the rest of the growing season, they’ve hooked up with Scout to share some cool tips and tricks on how to get the best from of our own backyards.