Yeah, so I don’t do flowers. Until this year I’d never really seen the point, but then we all painted the outhouse walls and the patio became a far nicer place to spend more time. Hence the flowers.
So I invested in some colourful blooms for a hanging basket by the front door and troughs on the patio. And, you know what, they’re really rather nice. They’re flourishing, too.
Previously the only flowers I would have considered growing would have been sunflowers, so that we could give the seeds to the chickens, or marigolds, so that we could put them down around the tomatoes to scare off the aphids. We’re doing the marigolds again this year, but resting the sunflowers for a season.
The patio looks great, though, and although they have no real use I’ll certainly do flowers again next year.
Flowers
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Violets and panseys are edible. The former makes lovely syrups and jams, while latter is pretty on cakes and in salads (and the more you clip the more they bloom). Rose petals are also edible and rose water is simple enough to make. If you find a variety that produces big hips you can feed them to your chickens or make jelly. I’m sure there are plenty of other dual purpose flowers out there, but those are a good start.
If you grow herbs like rosemary, borage and thyme you will get both flowers and food.
It’s good to add a few flowers to the garden to encourage the pollinators along to help with things like raspberries, strawberries and beans.
Even if you grow flowers that can not be used for food or medicine, they do serve a purpose–they nourish your soul! Although when I dream of my future farm, I picture a giant veggie garden, I also picture big lilac and rose bushes next to the house, so the gorgeous scent will come in the open windows!