May 2006 - Pottable Zest!

This spring you can add zest to both your eye and your palate no matter how much or little space you have to garden! Colorful containers overflowing with edible herbs and flowers are a perfect mid-spring project that will soon mature into seasonings and garnishes for your summer entertaining.

Choose 3 to 5 pots of the same color scheme in different styles, or even a colorful mix of pots on stands to add height. Select potting soil without peat moss, if you can, because peat moss may stay too wet for some of your herbs; then, if it ever dries out, it repels water. Buy a bag or two of clean construction sand or lightweight perlite. Some of your herbs will grow best if you mix the potting soil and sand 50/50 because they like poor, well drained soil. Those herbs include: sage, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and summer savory. Edible flowers to grow with these herbs may include orange or red nasturtum and blue bachelor buttons. The nasturtium will cascade over the edge of the pot and provide bright peppery flowers for salads and other summer dishes.

You can create a moisture-loving container for parsley or mint with yellow or ornage marigolds, violets, or calendulas. Fill a pot with straight potting soil and even add water-holding polymer. There's a cornstarch-based organic one called "Quench" that biodegrades.

If you grow basil, remember it grows fast, so needs a constant supply of nutrients. You might want to plant the plants every week or two this spring after frost to ensure a constant supply later this summer. Tarragon is another special herb because it grows slowly, filling the pot with rhizomes. Tarragon will overwinter if its pot doesn't freeze. Its fragrance enhances the garden as well as summer dishes.

Containers overflowing with edible herbs and flowers create an exciting garden in even the smallest space!

For more information about edible flowers try http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/edibleflowers.html.