Edible flowers and herbs in the garden

If you live in the Seattle area and grow your own food, than the Tilth Edible Plant Sale is not to miss! Not only do they have a wonderful selection of hard to find vegetables and herbs, but you can be rest assured that the plants have been properly hardened off and that they are well suited to be grown in the Pacific Northwest.

Tilth Spring Edible Plant Sale

Saturday & Sunday, May 7th and 8th 

9 am to 3 pm 

Meridian Park, behind the Good Shepherd Center, 

4649 Sunnyside Ave. North Seattle, 98103

A few weeks ago, I asked on Twitter if anyone had any suggestions for what I should grow on my patio, considering that I had 300 square feet of garden space a mile away. What would make good use of just a couple of big barrels when I have so much space in the ground to work?


Someone suggested edible flowers, which would be a great addition to my herbs, and would be especially handy to have close by for garnishing meals and beautifying salads. I already have thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, oregano, mint, chives, parsley, nasturtium, sorrel and violas.  After my dinner at the Herbfarm this month, I have a greatly expanded list of herbs and edible flowers that I want to grow.

Sweet Cicely

I grow most of my plants from seed, but I will be treating myself to a few starts from Tilth. You can see a full list of what will be for sale, on their website. Here is my list, all of which are available at Tilth's sale:

• Lovage: a celery flavored herb with hollow stems 
• (The Herbfarm suggested using the hollow stems as a straw for a Bloody Mary!)
• Sweet Cicely: a tall anise flavored plant with white flower
• Scented Geraniums: I am hoping to find a rose scented
• Lemon Verbena: an herb with a beautifully sweet lemon scent
• Dill: great for seafood and in pasta salads and salad dressings
• Borage: an edible blue flower 
• Sun Gold: a "tropical" flavored golden-orange cherry tomato
• San Marzano: the best cooking tomato, a roma-type
• Purple Peacock: a broccoli-kale cross

Happy gardening - if luck is on our side, spring weather will arrive before the calendar says its summer.