What if some of the best allies in your vegetable garden aren't pesticides, traps, or expensive products—but flowers?

That's right.

The flowers growing around your tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and cabbage can do much more than make your garden look beautiful.

Certain flowers can attract beneficial insects, confuse or distract some pests, and in some cases actually help reduce insect damage.

Today we're looking at flowers you can consider adding to your vegetable garden to create a healthier, more diverse garden ecosystem.

And there's an important point we'll make throughout this episode:

Flowers aren't magic pest repellents. Their effectiveness depends on the flower, the vegetable, the pest, and how the plants are arranged.