our allotment competition

hi, well we have only had our allotment since october and didn't realise that they did competitions but they are. we have decided to enter as they have a ' first year beginners catergory' (actually getting quite excited )

the only thing is on the criteria it mentions flowers but we don't know what sort of flowers that would be best to plant, obviously we don't want to put anything in that will take over also herbs and i know some of these can take over.

so what should we plant ? this will also help us for the future, we just haven't got to flowers and herbs yet. any help greatfully recieved

Not all herbs are invasive. Sage, rosemary, oregano and parsley are pretty easy to control and very useful herbs. Mint and chives you have to be careful with, but you can always enclose them in something so they can't spread. Bay and basil are useful and non-invasive but basil won't live through the winter and bay can be a little bit tender.

Which flowers really depends on whether you just want something pretty or something with a purpose. You could try some companion planting, like nasturtiums or tagetes to help the veggies. Some sweet peas growing up the runner bean canes would look lovely. And some flowers can be eaten (for example nasturtiums).

First of all, be careful of nasturtiums.  They can be invasive.  When the flowers are dying off, they drop loads of their seeds, and next year you get, yes you've guessed, nasturtiums - they come up everywhere .  Birds tend to pick up the seeds and drop them anywhere .

I have some flowers/flowing bushes, eg, hydranga, peonies, usual bulbs both spring and summer ones, irises, clematis (a Josephine one, which is a double-headed one and is looking beautiful at the moment), and snapdragons (I just love those) .