sounds like you're on the right track! I like all those ideas!

If the $ is available, I would have a professional exterminator in to try to get rid of, or minimize, the yellow jackets. At our previous home, yellow jackets were a huge problem, and no matter what happened, they would not go away. We were able to temporarily control them with wasp spray but it never worked.

They got so bad that they invaded an upstairs bedroom by the hundreds. I also stepped on one in the laundry room.

It would be very much worth it to get a proffesional exterminator in - we were at the point of getting one before we moved.

I keep a can of spray beside me during yellow jacket season in the fall. I don't hunt them per se, but if they come around me, they die.

Yellow jacket stings are not good, and I have gotten to have worse reactions. Hope your mom stays sting free.
kay

LL - I'm sure you've already researched yellow jackets, but I did some checking for my own interest. The link below is to one good source that I think is probably local to your area (?) It doesn't emphasize as much as some of the others the need to have a professional do the spraying if you choose to spray. After reading some of the articles, I certainly wouldn't want to tackle spraying a nest myself! It was interesting to read that the colonies die out each winter and the nest disintegrates. New nests are formed each year (I didn't find an explanation of where the new queen comes from though! Migrates maybe...?) It was interesting to read about control possibilites by trapping the queens in spring to reduce or eliminate populations later in the summer. That might be worth doing.

Since we don't have much sun in the backyard, all our veggies are grown either in the flower beds in the front garden or in pots on the driveway. We don't have a large veggie garden but enough to be fun and useful. Garlic is quite ornamental in the garden when it produces the curly scapes (which are tasty as a stir-fried side-dish!) DH tucks in garlic all over the place wherever he finds a bit of bare ground in the fall. Chives are very ornamental when they flower so they fit nicely in my 'pretty in pink' driveway border.

Lettuce we grow in pots because it's unattractive once it bolts. It's easier to cut it down in the pots. We don't grow cooking onions but the little green onions grow very nicely in pots. So do baby carrots. I've grown leeks in pots too - it's easy to start them in just a bit of soil at the bottom and then keep adding soil to the pot as they grow - much easier to do all that in the pot than it is to keep hilling them up in a trench in the ground in the garden!

Peas do beautifully in big pots. I plant at least 5 different varieties each spring in April. I choose the varieties based on days-to-maturity, selecting ones that range form 50-70+ days to maturity so I get a long season of production. 6' bamboo poles in a teepee arrangement makes good support for the peas. I use 8' bamboo poles for the pole beans, which also do great in pots, but would be ornamental in the garden as well. Since the peas finish earlier than beans and look ugly and need to have the foliage ripped out by late June-early July, beans would be the choice to grow in the ground as a productive ornamental, leaving the peas to be grown in pots. The pots I use are the big gray plastic storage pots with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage - they're cheap, can hold a lot of soil, and look not-too-bad :-) Deep window-box type pots make good containers for things like baby carrots, green onions and leeks.

I've never had any luck getting tomatoes to do well in pots. I always put those in the herb bed on the side of the driveway. I move the location for the tomatoes around to prevent disease build-up from year to year.

I've tried growing cucumbers and watermelons in pots but they weren't happy for me. Zuchinni did well (I think it would do well anywhere!) Green peppers did so-so.

The big disadvantage of pots is watering the cursed things! I keep resolving to have fewer pots but it never happens... Now that DH is retired, he has taken over the 'veggie garden' and doesn't seem to mind the watering - he keeps adding more pots...

Putting the veggies with the ornamentals should be useful and fun for your mother. Definitely go for it! You should be able to do a lot of it without a lot of digging up of new areas; just tuck things in wherever there's a bit of space, unless your mother wants a huge veggie garden.

Some pictures:

peas and garlic in very early spring (garlic in pots is planted in the fall and stored in the unheated garage for the winter):

A month later (mid-May):

The veggie garden on the other side of the driveway late-May:

Young carrots, green onions and lettuce:
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Peas ready for harvest:
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Part of the harvest:
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Bean towers are so ornamental as well as productive. I love them!
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Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow Jackets

I like the idea of peas in pots. I quit planting peas in the garden as they take so long to finish and I didn't want to wait to use that area for other plants like tomatoes or pole beans.

Krycek- Most of the yellow jackets come from the neighbors' metal sheds, but an exterminator is a good thing to think about. We're hoping a few yellow jacket traps (that trap the queens) might help, too.

Kay- I like your attitude! My mom should keep a can with her, while she's outside.

Woodyoak- They do sell traps to catch the queens, but as you mentioned, it has to be done in the spring. Last year, it was too late, but we'll be ready for them, this year! I love all your pots...what a great idea. Great pictures :)

Mnwsgal- I'm with you...Woodyoak's idea to plant peas in pots might be much easier, than waiting for them to finish, before planting the tomatoes or beans.