Growing edible flowers indoors is a fun way to add color, flavor, and beauty to your meals all year round. With the right setup and care, you can successfully grow gorgeous and tasty blooms like nasturtiums, pansies, violas and more right in your own home.
Why Grow Edible Flowers Indoors?
There are many great reasons to grow edible flowers inside:
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Add visual interest and texture to dishes with colorful petals
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Infuse unique flavors like peppery, sweet, and spicy into recipes.
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Garnish cocktails in a chic way
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Grow flowers not native to your climate.
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Harvest edible blossoms any time of year.
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Control growing conditions like sunlight, temperature, and soil.
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Avoid exposure to pesticides and chemicals.
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Quickly snip fresh flowers to use right away.
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Show off your green thumb by growing plants in unexpected spaces.
Best Edible Flowers for Indoor Growing
When choosing flowers to cultivate inside, go for varieties that thrive with indoor conditions. Great options include:
Nasturtium
These edible flowers come in bright shades like red, orange, and yellow. They have a pleasantly spicy, peppery taste perfect for salads or as a garnish. Nasturtiums are easy to grow indoors and do well in containers.
Pansies & Violas
These cheerful flowers bloom in a diverse range of colors from solid to two-toned. Mild in flavor, they make lovely cake decorations or additions to fruit salads. Keep their soil moist and give them bright indoor light.
Lavender
Growing lavender indoors requires lots of sunlight and well-draining soil. It has an elegant floral flavor that enhances sweets and liqueurs. The flowers also add appealing aroma.
Sage
Adaptable to indoor conditions, sage blossoms have a soft herbal flavor. Their tiny blooms look beautiful as cake decorations when sprinkled on frosting.
Chamomile
Tiny and dainty, these blossoms impart a mild apple-like taste. Chamomile flowers make a soothing tea or whimsical garnish for desserts and drinks. They grow well indoors with proper light.
Marigold
Marigolds produce edible flowers in shades of yellow, orange, and red. They have a citrusy, spicy bite perfect for livening up salads. Give them full sun and well-drained soil.
Dandelion
Yes, the resilient weed produces edible flowers! Dandelion petals have a sweet, honey-like flavor great for teas, fritters, and jelly. Their long taproots require deep containers when grown inside.
Borage
Delicate borage flowers impart a cool cucumber essence. Their pretty blue hue adds style to cocktails, salads, and more. They easily grow in containers with minimal care.
How to Grow Edible Flowers Indoors
Follow these simple tips to successfully grow gorgeous edible blooms inside your home:
Provide Plenty of Bright Light
Flowers require substantial light to grow and bloom. Place containers in a south-facing window where they’ll get 6-8 hours of direct sunlight daily. Turn the pots regularly so all sides get illuminated.
If ambient light is low, utilize grow lights. LED grow light panels or bulbs that provide full spectrum light work great. Position the lights close to the flowers.
Choose the Right Containers
Make sure indoor flower pots have drainage holes to prevent soggy soil. Self-watering containers that regulate moisture are excellent choices. For flowers with long taproots like dandelions, use deep pots at least 6 inches deep.
For bushy, multi-stemmed flowers, opt for wider containers. Fill pots with a quality potting mix formulated for flowers or edibles.
Monitor Soil Moisture
Proper watering is key! Check soil daily and water containers when the top 1-2 inches become dry. Don’t let pots sit in water, causing roots to rot. After flowering, reduce water slightly to extend bloom time.
Provide Moderate Temperature
Maintain indoor growing areas around 65-75°F for happy flowers. Keep pots away from heating vents and drafts. A portable heater or fan can help regulate optimal temps.
Fertilize Every 2-3 Weeks
Use a water-soluble, balanced liquid fertilizer made for blooming plants. Dilute it to half-strength and drench soil every 2-3 weeks during the growing season. This nourishes plants and spurs prolific flowering.
Groom Dead Growth
Carefully pinch off spent blooms and any dead leaves or stems. This tidies plants, redirects energy into new growth, and prevents disease.
How to Harvest and Use Edible Flowers
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Pick flowers in the morning after dew dries for best flavor and shelf life.
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Snip blooms at their base using clean scissors or gardening shears.
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Gently rinse and pat dry delicate petals. Store loosely covered in the refrigerator.
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Use flowers as garnishes for salads, cheese boards, and desserts.
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Mix petals into fresh fruit salads, chilled soups, and herb butters.
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Crystallize flowers or freeze in ice cubes to preserve them.
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Infuse flowers into simple syrups, honey, wine, and cocktails.
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Bake pretty blossoms into cakes, custards, scones, and breads.
Troubleshooting Common Indoor Flower Problems
If your indoor flowers underperform, check for these common issues:
Leggy Growth
Cause – Insufficient light
Fix – Provide supplemental lighting or move to a brighter location
Wilting
Causes – Under or overwatering, diseases, pests
Fix – Adjust watering practices, treat diseases/pests
Few or No Blooms
Causes – Low light, overfertilizing, incorrect temperature
Fix – Increase sunlight, reduce fertilizer, adjust temps
Leaf Spotting
Causes – Poor ventilation, overwatering, pests
Fix – Increase air circulation, water correctly, apply insecticidal soap
Enjoy a Bounty of Edible Blooms
Growing edible flowers indoors is deeply fulfilling and offers exciting flavor possibilities. With the right care and growing conditions, your home can become a floral paradise that makes every dish atrue work of art. Get creative garnishing your next salad, dessert, or cocktail with vibrant homegrown blossoms!
Plant Physiology 101: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Photosynthesis
Okay, time to channel your inner Bill Nye (minus the bow tie, unless that’s your jam). Plants, like kids, have some basic needs:
- Light: Essential for photosynthesis, aka plant food-making magic.
- Water: Because plants, unlike my kid, actually enjoy being hydrated.
- Nutrients: Think of it as multivitamins for your leafy friends.
- Temperature: Goldilocks zone – not too hot, not too cold.
- Air circulation: Nobody likes stale air, not even plants.
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How to for Edible Flowers – Part 1 | Hydroponics | Indoor Gardening | Indoor farming
FAQ
Can you grow edible flowers inside?
What is the easiest edible flower to grow?
How long does it take to grow edible flowers?
Can you grow edible plants indoors?
How to grow edible plants indoors without supplementary light?
Natural daylight is the best light for plants. It is hard to simulate real sunshine with electric light bulbs. If you want to grow edible plants indoors without supplementary light, you will need a bright, sunny window. North of the equator the window for winter growing has to be facing south.
Can you grow edible flowers?
Add a little pizzazze to your salads by growing edible flowers. These flowers pull their weight since they add tons of flavor to meals and beauty to your backyard and kitchen. You can grow edible flowers in small spaces such as your kitchen, a hanging basket, a window box garden and in your backyard.
How do you grow edible flowers?
You can grow edible flowers in small spaces such as your kitchen, a hanging basket, a window box garden and in your backyard. Plant them early in the spring, and they will thrive throughout the summer.
What are the best plants to grow indoors?
Beets, radishes, clover, spinach and herbs work well for this endeavor. Once you’ve succeed with your first edible garden indoors, experiment with other edible plants, such as avocados, turmeric, strawberries, lemons, and even mushrooms.
What vegetables can I grow indoors?
Romaine lettuce, arugula, kale, spinach, turnip greens, celery and broccoli are just a few of the salad greens you can grow indoors. Mix and match varieties to keep your menu interesting. Harvest outer leaves first to encourage continued plant growth. When growing vegetables to eat, be sure to get quality plants or seeds from reputable sources.