When my boyfriend, Pete, came back from extensive touring through Europe, he remarked on how he really liked the vegetable gardens in nice neat rows. This is the way my mother planted her garden. It is the way most people plant their gardens. I tend to inter plant my crops and my flowers. I think both designs work great. Below are the pros of each.
ROWS
Pros:
- visually pleasing, in a uniform design
- great for plant recognition
- easy to harvest
- easy to map out in order to rotate crops the following year
- good for a large area
INTER-PLANTING
Pros:
- visually pleasing, in a more natural way
- pollinator attracting plants can be planted next to plants that need pollination to fruit
- some plants are beneficial to each other (example, sunflowers can provide a trellis for cucumbers)
- companion planting allows for more harvest in a small area and help with pest control
- less weeding
- good for a small area
As long as you water wisely, use organic practices, and provide flowers to attract beneficials, gardening can hardly go wrong.