As you are planting and planning your vegetable garden, don't forget to make space for flowers and herbs. Both of them are very important to include into your garden. They attract pollinators and beneficial insects, which can help with the pest insects you might have problems with this summer. Herbs are wonderful, they attract bees and beneficial insects and you can eat them! Some herbs actually deter pest insects away from your vegetable plants. Flowers attract pollinators and can help fight pests as well. Marigolds are terrific little flowers. You can eat the petals, they attract bees, they keep some pests off your tomatoes, and their roots secrete a substance that kills root eating nematodes, what a plant! So remember to plant lots of herbs and flowers in and around your garden. They will help with pests, attract beneficial insects and pollinators, and they are very pretty too. One tip, if you're going to plant any mint or oregano (which is a mint family member), I suggest you plant them in pots, of any shape or size. Both are very aggressive growers and will take over an area quickly. If you want a field of mint or oregano it won't be too difficult to accomplish, but if you'd like that space for other plants, use pots for both. It's a good idea to cut off oregano flowers before they seed as well, they will spread by both seed and root.