Garden to Garnish: Build your own herb and edible flower container garden
We’re still dreaming of this gorgeous night spent with friends old and new, led by Juli Bertucci of The Nonesuch LLC where we created our own herb and edible flower planters.
We recently enjoyed a delightful evening learning about edible plants with Juliana Bertucci of The Nonesuch LLC. The workshop, focused on container herb and flower gardening, kicked off with refreshing rosé sangria and personalized charcuterie boxes. Juli then walked us through a brief overview of companion planting, exploring its history and practical benefits.
Companion planting is an ancient concept in gardening where different plants are grown close together for their mutual benefit. This can aid plants in a variety of ways including: pest control, pollination, providing a habitat for beneficial insects, improving soil fertility and maximizing space. *See below for more detailed information on companion planting.
Juli highlighted the advantages of incorporating herbs near or within vegetable gardens. These benefits go beyond just adding flavor. Herbs can act as a magnet for pollinators, like bees and butterflies, which are crucial for a productive harvest of vegetables and fruits.
Certain herbs boast natural pest-control properties. For example, marigolds effectively repel common garden pests like aphids with their strong scent. Companion planting can even take advantage of this by using "trap crops" like nasturtiums. These attractive plants lure aphids away from your vegetables, allowing for easier removal and management of the pest population.
Confronted with the dazzling spectrum of edible plants, it was time for our guests to taste their way through the variety of edible plants as they picked out favorites for their individual planters. Some guests chose to theme their pots with an overarching concept like crafting a miniature taco garden, which included fragrant herbs like cilantro, oregano, and chilies. Others went for a seafood or meat theme, incorporating herbs commonly used in marinades or spice rubs.
“Don’t think of yourself as a bad plant parent if something dies. They are not meant to live forever!”
The next time you build a charcuterie board for entertaining at home try adding some fresh herbs like thyme or rosemary. The bright greenery adds a wonderful pop of color and will help complete the look of your board. You can even toss on a few edible flowers to add that extra wow factor. **Fun tip Met Market sells edible flowers in the herb section.
With plants chosen, it was time to get our hands dirty and transform those pots into mini gardens! Juli guided us through the process, recommending we fill our pots 2/3 to 3/4 full with soil. Then, we added two handfuls of fertilizer and mixed it all in with gloved hands. Finally, we carefully filled in around our chosen plants, ensuring they were settled and secure. The best part? Seeing the unique creations come to life! Each planter emerged as a beautiful expression of its owner's personality.
Juli's thoughts on watering: Check soil every day during warm weather and every other day on overcast days. Touching the top of the soil does not tell you enough - you really need to stick a hand further down to get a true sense of your plants moisture level.
Juli’s favorite edible plants:
Looking to add edible herbs and flowers to your garden at home? Here is a list of some of the many plant varieties that Juli had on hand for our guests to choose from:
Herbs and Vegetables: french tarragon, cilantro, rosemary, savory, thyme tabor, greek oregano, wintergreen, italian parsley, rebaudiana stevia, thai basil, cuban oregano, black pearl showy pepper, moroccan mint, curry, berggarten sage, salem rosemary, trifolium, red rubin basil, parsley, salva tri color, red shiso, beach strawberry, white alpine strawberry, red fire lettuce, purple sage, sweet majoram, foxtail rosemary, italian oregano, oregano thyme, goldfinger sweet potato vine, redwood sorrel, wintergreen, citronella, catnip, tomato, horehound, spearmint mint, lovage
Flowers: tagetes patula, flora-ace white, senator pink begonia, senator rose begonia, floral lace crimson, dianthus, wonderland purple alyssum, floral lace purple, floral lace picotee, prelude white begonia, baby rose nasturtium, french double bee marigold
Rosé Sangria:
Yield: 12 servings
INGREDIENTS: 2 ½ cups mixed red and pink fruit of your choice (ex. raspberries, halved strawberries, grapes, cubed apple with red or pink skin, peeled pink grapefruit, blood orange sections, pomegranate seeds), 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, ½ cup triple sec, 2 (750-milliliter) bottles chilled rosé wine, 1 cup chilled pomegranate juice
PREPARATION: Place the fruit, sugar and triple sec in a pitcher and stir to combine; let rest in the refrigerator until fruit softens and absorbs flavors, at least 4 and up to 8 hours. Add wine and pomegranate juice; stir to combine. Serve over ice in wine glasses.
**We like to add edible flowers or citrus to our ice molds for an elevated touch!
Benefits of Companion Planting:
One classic example of companion planting is called the Three Sisters, which includes - corn, beans, and squash. The corn provides height for beans to grow up, the beans produce nitrogen that feeds the corn, the squash helps protect the soil.
Pest control: Certain plants can deter or repel pests that bother other plants (ex. strong-smelling herbs like mint, catnip and chives can help to repel aphids from tomatoes).
Pollination: Some flowers attract pollinators like bees and butterflies, which can help to improve the yield of fruits and vegetables (ex. planting borage near strawberries can help to increase the number of berries that are produced since it attracts pollinators and pest-killing wasps).
Providing habitat for beneficial insects: Some plants provide a habitat for beneficial insects, such as ladybugs and lacewings, which can help to control pest populations (ex. planting dill can attract ladybugs, which eat aphids).
Improving soil fertility: Some plants, such as legumes, can help to fix nitrogen in the soil, which can benefit other plants (ex. planting beans near corn can help to improve the growth of the corn by aiding in nitrogen production).
Maximizing space: Some plants can be used to provide support for other plants, which can help to save space in the garden (ex. planting pole beans near corn can allow the beans to climb up the corn stalks).
Juli’s Favorite Garden Supply Vendors
Juli always recommends nurseries over big box stores like Home Depot or Fred Meyer. The plants are of higher quality, the customer service is more responsive, and they are more likely to use sustainable practices (and fewer harmful chemicals).
Sky Nursery: Has a practical selection of plants and tools in addition to their bulk landscape products like mulch. Their products are very reasonably priced and their staff is highly knowledgable. Sky Nursery
Pottery Land: Juli’s favorite place to shop for ceramics; nice selection but not too overwhelming. Pottery Land
Our top picks for gardening at home
Now that you’re ready to let build your own edible herb and flower container garden at home let’s talk supplies. We’ve rounded up some of our team’s favorite gardening products. We hope you love them!
Herb Plant Markers: Mark your herbs but make it beautiful. These are so gorgeous that you'll enjoy looking at them just as much as your plant babies!
Bamboo Garden Work Gloves: Good gloves are tricky to find because there still aren’t a lot of great work gloves made for women. These are Juli’s recommended gloves.
Plant Snips: Let these snips do the work for you with their carbon steel blade and soft ergonomic handle. The single-hand lock makes closing them up after use a breeze.
Swanson's Gift Card: While we continue to mourn Molbak's, treat yourself to another local nursery with a great gift selection beyond their quality plant options.
Supergoop Play Sunscreen: Don’t forget to protect your skin while you’re working in the garden. We love this sunscreen because it’s light weight and free of harsh chemicals.
Until we gather again!
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