Growing Your Own Summer Edible Flowers

Written by Suraj Shah, Chief Executive Gardener at Herbivore Garden Centre

There is nothing like a sprinkle of colourful nasturtium flowers in a salad, violas on a birthday cake or pineapple sage flower with your gin and tonic. Edible flowers are a fun and easy way to add colour and flavour to all sorts of dishes and I’m going to show you how you can grow and pick a few right from your own garden for your culinary needs. There are many Edible flowers you can grow, in addition to some herbs and vegetables whose flowers are also edible like Fennel flowers and rocket flowers which make a great addition to any salad while chamomile and lavender flowers (dried) make a great relaxing tea. Here, I will focus on the three which grow and flourish really well, Pineapple sage, Nasturtiums and Violas. Edible flowers are best eaten raw, freshly harvested.

PINEAPPLE SAGE

Pineapple sage is a perennial herb whose bright red flowers attract birds and butterflies into your gardens. The crushed flowers also smell like pineapple hence the name Pineapple Sage, which can be used for garnishing cocktails, salads and any other edibles. The leaves can be brewed in hot water to make a deliciously flavoured herbal tea which is commonly used for its antibacterial and antioxidant properties. Pineapple sage needs a good draining soil with compost, and a sunny location to thrive. If planted in the ground it will need water once or twice a week depending on your soils, and if in a pot, it will need water every other day. In terms of companion planting, Pineapple sage grows well with Lemon Verbena, Lemongrass, cabbages, onions, tomatoes, chillies, and carrots.

Compost: Fresh forest soil, full of life and nutrients, similar to the soil found in the forest

VIOLAS

Viola flowers are edible, beautiful and come in a range of colours. They make a green salad look colourful, and can also be frozen into ice-cubes for cocktails. Violas also make a great addition to your garden with its low growing nature making it perfect for borders, especially for salad gardens and other edible gardens. Varieties available are double-flowered, as well as violas with particularly striking, variegated foliage. Violas like full sun, but not the heat it brings. When planting, make sure they get some shade during the hottest part of the afternoon. Good mulching and frequent water will help offset the stress of high temperature. Plant in good draining soil with lots of compost and mulch. Water regularly, but allow the soil to dry out between waterings. To promote blooming and to extend the flowering period, remove faded flowers by pinching off the blooms at the base of the flower stem. You can revive overgrown violas by cutting them back to about 3 to 4 inches tall. Violas can be planted with a lot of herbs and vegetables and look good at the border planted with onions, garlic and salad greens.

NASTURTIUMS

Nasturtiums are the perfect addition to salads, and I use them instead of rocket leaves due to their spicy flavours. Not only do they taste great, but they also add great colour to your green salads because of their range of red, yellow, orange and peach colours. Nasturtiums are the easiest flowers to grow and also found growing wild in many parts of Kenya. They grow very well next to Beans, Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli, Potatoes, Radish, Squash, Corn, Tomato and Sunflower. Nasturtiums cover the ground, so they suppress weeds and shade the soil when grown near tall plants like sweet corn, tomatoes or sunflowers. Nasturtiums are not too fussy about the soil condition, but a good quality soil with compost will help it thrive.

These are only a few colourful edible flowers which are available to buy as seedlings from Herbivore Garden Centre ready to grow in your garden but there are many more When harvesting the flowers, always try and harvest early morning to get the best flavour from the flowers.