Vegetable Gardening (86 page)

Like oregano, thyme makes an excellent container plant. Creeping varieties grow well in windowboxes and hanging pots. Taller varieties look great combined with annual flowers such as lobelia. You can harvest thyme leaves and sprigs all summer. In early fall, cut the sprigs, tie them together, and hang them upside down in a warm, dark, well-ventilated place to dry. You also can dry stemless leaves on a tray or freeze them. Freeze stems of thyme in plastic bags. Store fresh thyme in the refrigerator as you would dill.

Making Your Landscape Blossom with Edible Flowers

With your edible landscape it seems that you could be eating almost anything in your yard, so why not the flowers? That's right, many flowers are edible. Now I'm not saying that all edible flowers pack a huge flavor punch, but putting a few in a salad adds pizazz and color.

Plant edible flowers anywhere you'd naturally plant other flowers. They look great in containers, in the vegetable garden, along a walkway, or mixed with other annual flowers. Even though you'll be picking some of the flowers, the beauty of these plants is that they produce an abundance of flowers so they'll still look good even after a harvest.

Here are some edible flowers to munch on. Remember that flowers should be washed before eating, and don't harvest flowers that have been sprayed with pesticides. Some people may be allergic to the pollen-bearing parts of a flower so eat only the flower petals.

Apples

Bee balm

Calendulas

Borage

Dandelions

Daylilies

Hibiscus

Lavender

Lilacs

Signet marigolds

Nasturtium