Sow Beauty & Abundance: Spring Flowers to Companion Your Garden 🌸
When we think about spring sowing, vegetables often take center stage—but adding spring flowers to your garden plan is one of the most powerful ways to bring pollinators, beauty, and balance to your homestead.
This time of year, I’m sowing zinnias, asters, alyssum, calendula, and chamomile—each one adding a layer of support, color, and purpose to the landscape. And while I tuck those seeds into soil, I’m also planting my beans and lettuces, letting flowers and food grow side by side, as nature intended.
Let me show you how.
🌿 Why Sow Flowers with Your Spring Veggies?
Flowers aren’t just pretty—they’re functional. The right blooms:
Attract pollinators for increased fruit production
Repel pests or act as sacrificial plants
Boost biodiversity and soil health
Make your garden feel like a thriving, sacred space
When you add flowers like alyssum or chamomile alongside tomatoes, peppers, or greens, you’re cultivating a garden that’s not just productive—but alive.
🌸 What I'm Sowing Now (And Why)
🟣 Zinnias
Easy to grow, sun-loving, and beloved by butterflies.
Where I plant them: In sunny borders or between rows of beans
Why: They attract pollinators like crazy and bring pure joy with their vibrant blooms.
💜 Asters
Late-season bloomers that feed pollinators long after summer crops fade.
Where: Alongside tomatoes or in the back of raised beds
Why: They're resilient, beautiful, and extend color into fall.
🤍 Sweet Alyssum
A low-growing groundcover with fragrant white or purple flowers.
Where: At the base of peppers and lettuces
Why: It attracts beneficial insects like hoverflies, which feed on aphids.
🌼 Calendula
Golden petals with medicinal power and pest-deterring properties.
Where: Interplanted with leafy greens or near garden paths
Why: It draws in pollinators while repelling some garden pests—plus, it’s a healing herb!
🌾 Chamomile
A gentle companion for brassicas and greens.
Where: Near lettuces or in herbal corners
Why: It calms the soil (literally—anti-fungal), repels unwanted bugs, and gives you fresh tea blooms by midsummer.
🫘 What I’m Sowing Alongside
While my flower trays fill with hopeful green shoots, I’m also sowing:
Beans (direct in the ground or grow bags)
Lettuces (succession-sown in partial shade)
These early crops pair beautifully with the flowers above. While beans stretch upward, zinnias and calendula bloom nearby. Lettuces stay cool and shaded next to chamomile and alyssum.
Together, they create a garden ecosystem that’s not only beautiful—but smart, diverse, and supportive.
🌱 How to Sow Spring Flower Seeds
Most of these flowers can be direct-sown or started indoors. Here's a simple approach:
✧ Step 1: Prep Your Soil
Loosen the soil, amend with compost, and ensure good drainage.
✧ Step 2: Sow with Spacing in Mind
Zinnias & Calendula: ¼" deep, 8–12" apart
Alyssum & Chamomile: Broadcast or lightly press into soil
Asters: Start indoors for best results, then transplant
✧ Step 3: Water Gently
Use a fine mist or bottom water trays to avoid disturbing seeds.
✧ Step 4: Label Everything
Future you will thank you. 😉 Use wooden plant tags or painted stones for an herbal touch.
🌼 Final Thoughts
Adding flowers to your spring sowing routine isn’t just for show—it's a strategy rooted in permaculture and pollinator care. These blooms do more than feed the eye. They feed your soil, your ecosystem, and your soul.
So this season, as you tuck your tomato and pepper starts into warm beds, make space for a few handfuls of flower seeds. They’ll thank you all summer long—with color, fragrance, and life.