Here you’re introducing flowers to a vegetable garden which comes with perks and the addition of beauty. Usage of flowers in a companion planting, which helps to deter pests and attracts pollinators. Interplantation will also save time and space if you grow many plants in one place.
Without companion benefits, the vegetable garden is more likely to plant flowers that are intended for cuttings. If you’re cut them as you select the vegetables for dinner. Here are the few edible flowers that can be grown in your vegetable garden.
1. Pot marigold calendula officinalis
Calendula or pot marigold is not a family related to the marigold of genus tagetes. It is considered an edible flower and has a bitter flavor. It has an orange color which livens up a plate. In the garden, it repels few pests such as tomato hornworm, and asparagus beetles but attracts a few of them including aphids.
You can use it as a trap crop placing it on another side of the vegetable garden away from the plants that can often attack like peas.
It can be grown in the US development zone from 9 to 11. It has distinct colors such as orange, yellow, pink, and cream. It can face the full sun to part shade. To improve the growth of this flower the potting soil should be rich in nutrients, slightly acidic to neutral, and well-drained.
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2. Cosmos
Few flowers grow as easily and as much as the cosmos flower. And these flowers can be planted in the garden because they attract many beneficial insects. For example, if you want to paint the scarabs green, choose a bright white or orange, such as Space Orange.
Green beetles are voracious, eating all kinds of soft-bodied insects, including aphids, scales, and thrips, so they are considered beneficial insects and make them their home in their garden, which will help to prevent pest problems. It has distinct colors such as pink, yellow, purple, red, and white. It is exposed to full sun with moderate moisture and well-drained soil.
3. Lavender
Lavender flower is difficult to grow from seeds, so buy from the nearest garden center or cut from the growing plant. it loves cool winters and hot dry summers. Several varieties are hardy in zone 5-9 check out your specific variety and it likes well-drained soil and lots of suns. It has a distinct taste like rosemary/mint combo flavor and like all herbs blooms edible. Truthfully, lavender has so many uses at home.
4. Nasturtium
Nasturtium is one of the best edible flowers that will grow in the container. It has upright varieties with distinct colors like a sunset (think oranges, reds, and yellows).
Its seedlings are planted in the warm soil in the spring. Darkness is required for germination so start them indoors. Once the seedlings are sprouted and are ready to transplant outdoor then place at full sun location. In zone 4-8 treated as annuals and in 9-11 treated as hardy and it cannot survive in freezing temperature.
The whole parts of the plant are edible: petals, leaves, and seeds. The flavor of each part is distinct such as leaves are spicy, flowers are sweeter. I use the nasturtium-infused vinegar for salads and dipping bread for making sweets.
5. Sunflower
It is the best flower for the vegetable garden and it makes trellises for climbing plants that have a lot of nectar to attract pollinators.
Ultimately, it has a problem with squirrels because they attract growing seeds but you have to save seeds. Plant the coarse-leaved vegetable squash near the sunflowers can make to deter animals. It is an annual plant with different colors yellow, red, burgundy and chocolate. It is exposed to full sun in well-drained and moist soil.
6. Sweet pea
Sweet pea seeds are poisonous for humans but few creatures find them delicious. If you find difficulty when placing them in your flower garden, plant them in a vegetable garden for protection is an alternative.
Growing sweet peas along with pole beans is a trap to squeeze them into the garden to attract more pollinators to your beans. They cannot cross-pollinate with edible peas due to different genera.
It is also an annual plant with various colors such as red, pink, blue, purple, and white and it is exposed to full sun with medium moisture and well-drained soil.
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7. Zinnia
It is also an annual plant with distinct varieties red, pink, yellow, orange, lilac, purple, green, and white. It is exposed to full sun in the well-drained soil.
Planting zinnia plant in the vegetable garden which allows using them for the filling gaps between the vegetable garden because
Nectar is rich in zinnia flower which acts as a magnet for the bees, popular with the hummingbird and other pollinators.
Pale, pastel varieties appear attractive to Japanese beetles and can be used as traps. On the other hand, you might not want to plant anything that attracts Japanese beetles unless you already have the problem you are trying to solve.
8. Roses
Rose flower is also edible and it offers a sweet flavor with a slight spice. The leaves are good for making tea similarly tastes like black tea. The rosebuds have to dry and use them in different dishes to the addition of flavor and use petals for salads, infuse in honey and garnish desserts, and so on.
The flavor of the flower depends upon the type, color, and soil conditions. The heavy darker petals give more flavor but before consuming remove a white portion of the petals.
The rose hips are tasted like zesty crab apple which has full of antioxidants and rich in vitamin C. The rose hips are harvest when it becomes orange or red, not in green, cut them into halves and scrape out the seeds.
While purchasing roses be sure to choose a disease-resistant variety because roses are very disease-prone. Plant the rose in spring and select the location which is well-drained soil and full sun. In warm climatic conditions protect the plant.