Growing edible flowers is a must for all good hosts! Not only are they extremely versatile, but if grown outside, they are fantastic pollinators too.
I have listed below all of the edible flowers I grow, but have noted beside some of them which ones are a must if you only have a small space to grow -
- Dianthus – must grow
- Viola – must grow
- Lavender – must grow
- Mini Chrysanthemums
- Pansies
- Marigolds
- Calendula
- Nasturtium
- Cornflower
- Sunflowers
- Daisy look (Feverfew, Chamomile) – must grow
- Elderflower
For most of these varieties, you don’t need a lot of room to grow them and there are plenty of small space friendly ways to do this –
- Small pots on your windowsill, outdoor table or a spot on your balcony or courtyard
- A kitchen herb garden near your kitchen window with a mix of herbs and edible flowers (the mix of herbs and flowers will help each plant grow, this is known as companion planting) at my home, we have a tall planter box of herbs and edible flowers up on our top balcony so that I always have access to fresh herbs close to the kitchen. Then we have our large planter boxes for vegetables, fruits and more flowers down in our main garden. Having herbs and edible flowers nearby to the kitchen makes it much more accessible and likely that you will use them more frequently
- This brings me to my next point – a lot of these varieties are cut and come again, meaning that if you pluck the flowers, you will get more flowers. The same goes if you mix these in with herb plants – herbs need to be used in order to stop them going to seed – if you don’t cut and use them, they will overgrow and not be usable.
Growing from seed or seedlings
- This is the most cost effective way to grow anything, but it is time consuming and does take a while to germinate and grow depending on the variety.
- You can pick up edible flower seedlings that are small from your garden centre which will give you a small but established plant that you can nuture to grow. Personally I do a mix of both – I always have seeds being raised but also add in a few established seedlings that I buy to ensure I always have a constant supply.
- If growing from seed, make sure you have a seed raising mix as general potting mix is too chunky and without the right nutrients for your seeds. The seeds will have a hard time pushing past chunks of bark and sticks after germination, so don’t make them struggle!
Processing and storing your picked edible flowers is relatively easy, follow these steps below
- Delicately rinse off any dirt
- Pull any dead petals off and any excess leaves/stems (generally they don’t need much more than 1-2cm of stem to stick them into where you want)
- Allow them to dry briefly before storing them in an airtight container and keeping them in the fridge. They should last a few days this way, but I always recommend to pick them as close to use as possible to avoid any disappointments or fading of colours or worst, dead flowers. So plan ahead when you need to pick and process them.