Edible Flowers in the Vegetable Garden

We planted beautiful, flavorful flowers today among our vegetables.  We spoke in Garden Club about the importance of having flowers in the vegetable garden.  Pollinators find these flowers as attractive as humans do so it is beneficial to your vegetable garden to have colorful flowers interspersed.  Some flowers such as marigolds actually deter harmful insects from attacking certain vegetable plants.  The flowers do not necessarily have to be edible but we thought it would be fun.  We sowed heirloom varieties of calendula, nasturtium and marigold.  Look over to the left for more details about these specific flowers.

Garden Club Sowing Kale, Swiss Chard and Lettuces

This week the Garden Club sowed kale, swiss chard and lettuce.  This is what we learned:

Kales are believed to have originated during the Middle Ages from the wild Brassica oleracea, most likely in western parts of Europe. Kales are traditionally used in soup, but have similar uses to that of cabbage.  We are sowing Dinosaur Kale (also called Lacinato Kale, named after the Tuscan Town it came from in the 18th century).  It is called Dinosaur Kale because of its distinct bumpy green texture that looks like the skin of a dinosaur.

We are sowing Rainbow Swiss Chard today. It is an Australian heirloom. Beautiful technicolor mixture of shades of red, orange, purple, yellow and white. Very colorful, tender and tasty. Makes a great edible ornamental.

Lettuce is thought to have originated in Asia Minor, probably from one of the wild lettuce types, of which there are more than one hundred varieties. Lettuce graced the tables of Persian kings, Roman senators, and medieval lords. It has been food for peasant and noble alike for hundreds of years. Lettuce was also prized medicinally for its cooling powers and was used to tame fevers, liver inflammations, and lust. We are sowing:

Jericho Lettuce is a desert adapted variety bred in Israel with smooth sword shaped bright green upright leaves with a silky texture  Cimmarron Lettuce is an heirloom from the 18th century. Also called Little Leprechaun, it is a beautiful deep red romaine.  Paris White Cos Lettuce, also known as Romaine Blonde Marachier was grown in Europe since at least 1835.  Freckles Lettuce, AKA Flashy Troutback is a beautiful tender heat and sun tolerant romaine, having green leaves splashed with red. This heirloom lettuce variety dates back to Austria in 1793.