Yes, and the short list of edible flowers in containers is easy to keep in your head. University of Alaska Fairbanks Extension names pansies, violas, signet marigolds, most herbs, and nasturtiums as the good candidates for pots. You get most of what you would want on a plate, and you need no garden bed at all. A back step, a rail, or a bright sill gives you enough ground to work with.
The nasturtium leaves in the rail pot beside my Lemon Gem signet marigolds on the back steps went limp by early afternoon, pale and folded in on themselves. I checked the pot and the soil had gone dry. Nasturtiums will not tolerate dry conditions, and a pot runs out of water long before a bed does. I soaked the nasturtiums, and the leaves stood back up before dark.
Moisture is the one real issue with container gardening flowers, and you want your watering right before anything else. Soil in a pot is a small volume with hot sides, so your pot can go from damp to dry in one afternoon while a bed nearby is still holding on. Nasturtiums show the strain first because they will not take dry ground, but every plant in your pot lives off the water you gave this morning. Pick a watering habit you can keep.
Flavor is where the marigolds surprise people. Signet marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia) are the best-tasting marigolds of the group, and you will find them on seed racks as Golden Gem and Lemon Gem. Herbs are your other easy win, since you probably keep a few of them in pots already.
Pansies And Violas
- Where they fit: Both sit on the short list of flowers that crop well in a pot, so your rail or a sunny sill works fine.
- Picking: Cut them while they are cool, in early morning or late evening, and you get better storage once they leave the plant.
Signet Marigolds
- Best flavor: Signets beat the other marigolds on taste, and you want Golden Gem or Lemon Gem on the seed packet.
- Sugar content: Blossoms you cut in the cool hours carry the most sugar, so the hour you pick is worth planning.
Most Herbs
- Easy start: Your herbs are already pot plants in most kitchens, and the same pots give you their flowers.
- Spray rule: Anything you put on them has to be labeled for edible plants, because ornamental products often are not.
Nasturtiums
- Water first: They will not put up with dry soil, so this is the pot you check before your others.
- Gentle watering: Keep your water down at soil level, since overhead spray can damage the petals you plan to eat.
Harvest time matters more than you would expect. Pick your blossoms while they are cool, in early morning or late evening. Cool flowers keep better once you cut them, and they carry the highest sugar content. When you are growing edible flowers on a balcony, plan your picking around the cool hours and not around whenever you walk past the pot.
Two rules keep your container crop worth eating. The first one is a shopping rule. Pesticides sold for ornamental flowers may not be labeled for use on edible plants, so your pot gets only products labeled safe for edibles. The second one is a watering rule. Overhead sprinklers can damage petals, and that is why drip irrigation and mulch are the pair to use on flowers headed for your plate.
Start with one pot of signet marigolds and one of nasturtiums, and put your nasturtiums where you will see them wilt. In a survey of 290 shoppers, only 15% found edible flowers easy to buy, so your own containers are the supply you can count on.
Read the full article: Edible Flowers: What to Eat, What to Skip
