With the price of food getting higher, many judicious people are considering a home vegetable garden.
But with the average size of new yards getting smaller it may seem at first that it will be difficult to squeeze a vegetable patch in.
We tend to think that a vegetable garden takes a lot of space and is boring to look at - long rows of vegetables in straight lines with wide weed-attracting paths in between.
But planting your vegetables in rows is only one of the many possible vegetable garden layouts.
It is possible to design an attractive veggie garden with a creative garden layout where flowers are interspersed amongst the vegetables.
Vegetable garden layout options

• Raised bed layout - using a special soil mix with lots of organic matter mixed in, raised garden beds will enable you to grow your plants closer together.
  Each raised bed is created to be just the right size so that all vegetables can be reached without stepping on the soil.
  
• Potager kitchen garden layout - a symmetrical garden of geometrical beds, often bordered with low hedges.
  The vegetables, herbs and flowers in the potager are chosen for their color, shape, texture and size as well as their practicality.
  Plants are grouped together in pleasing patterns.
  
• Four square garden layout - a simple layout of four square (or rectangular) gardens beds separated by two intersecting paths.
  Feel free to include flowers next to your tomatoes in these garden beds.
  
• Formal asymmetrical garden layout - your garden can still contain elements of a formal garden such as clipped hedges and geometrical patterns without being too rigid with symmetry.
  
• Informal garden layout - the garden beds can be any shape and any size often with curving lines and flowers, herbs and vegetables planted together.
  
• Japanese theme - Maybe you love Japanese gardens.
  You could include vegetables with a gravel area, bamboo, boulders, a flowering plum or cherry tree, or a Japanese lantern.
  
• Mediterranean theme - Maybe you'd prefer a Mediterranean garden.
  Try including terracotta pots, tile mosaics, a fountain, an outdoor eating area and lavender, lemons, rosemary, olives and a grapevine.