The Rewards of a Seedy Garden

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If you don't let your edibles flower and make seeds you are missing out on some great perks: free seeds, spices, and pest management. But there seems to be an unwritten rule that in the tidy urban or suburban garden lettuce shouldn’t be allowed to bolt or parsley let go to flower. 

Who wants a seedy garden? I do, for one.

The Beauty and Power of Seeds

Landscaping with edibles sometimes involves shifting our ideas about what a garden should look like, especially the front yard. The first time I let my lettuce bolt I watched with fascination how it shot up several feet high in a vigorous tower, then quickly produced abundant tiny flowers. A passerby asked "What is that? It’s beautiful!".

Before that experience I had no idea that lettuce produced flowers and seeds that could be collected and saved for my next lettuce crop. It felt empowering - getting free seeds was in my grasp!

Green cilantro seeds (coriander) are spicy

Seeds with a Bonus - Stock Your Spice Rack

With some edibles, letting the plant set seeds provides an extra bonus.  Cilantro and dill are popular herbs whose leaves are what most gardeners and cooks are after, but by letting them go to seed we get a second product for our kitchen - their seeds for cooking. Cilantro, also known as coriander, has small green fruits that are incredibly fragrant and citrusy. 

Try cooking them in a stir fry or with sauteed vegetables.  They're especially good in curried dishes. Let some of the fruits dry completely and grind with a mortar and pestle to use them in recipes.

Other seeds to save for cooking are fennel and lovage seeds. Store the seeds whole in small jars with lids. Recycled spice jars are perfect. And the next time you are in the grocery store make sure you check on how much money you're saving by collecting your own spice seeds. Spices are expensive and they usually aren't very fresh unless you buy from a specialty supplier.

Flowering parsley is pretty and a powerful magnet for beneficial insects

Fight Garden Pests with Flowers

The flowers of many vegetables and herbs are highly attractive to pollinators and other beneficial insects. Parsley flowers are huge magnets for hover flies and tiny predators such as tachinid flies and parasitic wasps. Watch closely and you will see them going to work for you in the garden keeping pests under control. 

In fact, using certain plants to attract beneficial insects is a well-known strategy of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for organic and sustainable gardening, instead of using pesticides.

Enjoy the full benefits of your edible landscape by letting it go to seed. Once you experience the magic of your flowering edibles you'll become a convert, I promise!

A version of this post was published on Eat Drink Better 

Photos: Patricia Larenas, Urban Artichoke

What is Good for Bees is Good for Your Garden

The Pervasive Problem of Pesticides
 I spoke recently with Mace Vaughan, the Pollinator Program Director for the Xerces Society, about the grave issue of the effect of pesticides on bees, both wild and domesticated (honey bees).  You can read that post here.  My post was mainly focused on the neonicotiniods in agriculture, but Vaughan pointed out that their use by home gardeners is a serious problem as well.

The main problem (besides using them at all) is that there is no warning label alerting the gardener to the dangers to pollinators and other beneficial organisms in your garden. Gardeners who think it's necessary to use pesticides on their roses, for example, may have no idea that they are potentially killing bees and butterflies. Furthermore, pesticides and herbicides are usually used as a preventative, even when there may be no pest problem.

My personal experience is that roses are actually very hardy plants. Our home had over 20 rose bushes when we bought it about ten years ago, and we never pampered them. Most did very well and gave us years of incredible blooms, with no sprays at all- just yearly pruning and minimal feeding. We've gradually replaced most of the roses to make room for edibles, but I kept a few to enjoy their beauty, and if I use them for eating, I know they are safe and pesticide/herbicide free. 

A Bee Friendly Garden is a Healthy Garden
I'm a big fan of lots of herbs in the garden to help create a healthy garden ecosystem, and I always let my herbs go to flower- the bees go nuts! They especially love oregano, thyme, and lavender. The Pineapple sage is popular too, and spectacular in bloom.

Pineapple Sage is a spectacular garden plant popular with pollinators

So I took the opportunity to ask Vaughan my burning question- are culinary herbs (oregano, thyme, etc,) considered good bee forage? It's great to have flowers to attract pollinators to your garden, but they have to be the right kind, nutritionally. I was very happy to learn that yes, if you see lots of bees on your flowering plants, then it's a good indication that they are what bees need.

I'll be writing more about pollinator-friendly gardening and creating a healthy garden ecosystem that you can feel good about. Please go forth and educate your family, friends and neighbors about eco-friendly gardening. They may even sleep better at night. The bees will.

See the Xerces Society Pollinator Resource Center for  information about pollinator conservation by region.

Photo: Urban Artichoke