A recent article discussed a problem with lettuce and other vegetable plants bolting and going to seed prematurely, but flowering is just a part of the natural cycle of things out in the veggie patch. A look around the back yard revealed quite a few edible plants that are bolting and flowering, but for the most part it’s not a problem if it occurs at the proper time and shouldn’t be taken as a sigh of something gone wrong.

My passion has always been for growing vegetables and creating attractive gardens that also yielded delicious produce. In that light here’s my Top Ten List of Reasons for Growing Vegetables rather than purely ornamentals in the backyard garden and landscape: