Gift-giving doesn’t need to be expensive, stressful, or hard! These sustainable DIY gift ideas will have you inspired to create more gifts from your garden – all year round! Whether you are visiting a friend or trying to find a Birthday, Mother/fathers day, or Christmas gift there’s something for all occasions in this gift guide.
Click to watch my gift guide ideas below
My thoughts around gift giving
I don’t always buy or give gifts for special occasions…It can seem strange at first to skip out on gift-giving. We may feel guilty, awkward, or just like a bad friend or partner! But if nothing is popping up as the perfect gift idea then I don’t waste money on consuming more “stuff” that they may not even like.
BUT….what I do is.. make more homemade gifts myself! It’s much more personalised and can spark inspiration in others. If you gift produce or create gifts from your garden you may even inspire the receiver to reconnect with their own garden. I also give small gifts from my garden each time I visit friends and family. In short, my gift-giving is sporadic and you may receive an amazing gift from me, regular handmade gifts, or nothing at all. But if I find the perfect idea later in the year I just gift it then. Who doesn’t love a surprise gift?
Garden to Gift Ideas
These gift ideas can be used all year round to create personalised gifts from your garden. The great thing is, they are free/low cost, low waste, and easy to put together for last-minute (oops I forgot ) gift ideas.
—- GET CREATIVE —-
1. Framed Art
Pressed flowers make beautiful garden art ideas. Mixed with small illustrations or paintings. TIP: Choose small frames as nearly everything looks cute in a small frame… You could also get second-hand frames and paint them for an extra thrifty option.
2. DIY Colouring in Book
Draw basic outline illustrations and create a custom colouring books for kids. They don’t need to be professional artworks just choose objects that they love and use their name to make them feel special. Choose themes such as Farm, Beach, Woodland, Food Forest, and Veggie patch!
3. Photography
Framed photos or prints make great gifts! They are low-cost and can be easily personalised. Close-ups from the garden, scenic landscapes, and photos of friends and family. I love getting printed photographs because it is something I rarely do anymore. In this digital age, we rarely take the time to sort through our hundreds of photos so sometimes it’s nice to do.
4. Custom Clothingand Plant Dye
DIY Jackets are a fun way to get creative and make custom gifts. Denim jackets can always be found at secondhand shops and upcycled. I love making jackets for significant events like weddings and first birthdays. They make great keepsakes too. Paint flowers from your garden or sew fabric patches. Get extra creative and make your own natural plant dyes from the garden.
—-GETPRESERVING —-
5. Homemade Jam, Chutney & Sauces
Homemade preserves make such great gifts! Especially if they are made from delicious fruit and vegetables grown in your home garden. Create fun, custom labels easily using Canva templates. You can also create DIY tags and notes using leaves and small bundles of herbs and flowers.
Herbs produce in abundance and drying them is a great way to preserve them to use throughout the year. Make your own mixed herb blends and gift them to others to use in their kitchen. Homemade dried herbs are so much better than the greyish uninspiring supermarket editions.
7. Dehydrated Fruit
Dehydrated fruit is one of my go-to garden to gift ideas! I make large batches and always have enough on hand to either pop in a recycled jar or cut up and mix with dried flowers for a tea blend or a cocktail garnish blend. Dried citrus can be used in teas, cocktails, cakes, and baking. Also, incredible in mulled wine! Try chocolate-dipped for something extra special!
8. Flavoured Sugar and Salts
Herbal sugars and salts are such a fun and easy way to incorporate produce from your garden in a unique way. Simply blitz herbs and mix through salt and allow to fully dry. Dried edible flowers, herbs and citrus can be added to sugar to create flavoured sugars. Try Mint sugar in a hot chocolate!
Tea blends make incredible gifts from the garden. See the list and mix and match to make your favourite blends. Dry herbs and flowers fully first either air dry or in a low-temperature oven or dehydrator (30-40 degrees Celcius). Dried fruit, herbs, and flowers also make great cocktail garnishes. Add to a nice jar and create a DIY Label.
—-GET BAKING —-
10. Bake Bread
Homemade bread is so delicious and makes a great gift idea. Baking great bread is not a skill everyone possesses so if you do, share the love and make a sourdough loaf or even a Garden Foccacia using herbs and fresh ingredients from your garden. Wrap it in brown paper with a note and place a small bundle of herbs or flowers. Done!
11. Sweet Treats
Who doesn’t love sweet treats? Homemade cookies, cakes and slices always make great gifts. Get creative and use edible flowers, herbs and fruit from your garden to create something special!
12. Savoury snacks
Savoury snacks are an entertainer’s dream. Try some botanical crackers for a great way to use herbs from your garden. Other delicious snacks could be scrolls, scones, slices, quiche or flavoured nuts.
—-GET GROWING —-
13. Cuttings and Seedlings
Take extra cuttings and pot them up to have extra gifts on hand at all times! Cuttings such as Sweet potato, mint, rosemary, fig and mulberry are easy to get striking. Check out my Cuttings Ebook for more ideas. If you have extra plants pop up in the garden, (hello volunteers!) simply pot them up to give as gifts.
14. Plant Extra Seeds
It’s always a good idea to plant extra seeds in case something happens to your others. I do this in stages so I plant extra seeds 3-4 weeks after my first lot. That means if my seeds have made it to the garden as seedlings but get eaten or damaged I have replacements already on the way. However, if I don’t need the backs up then I have plenty to gift to friends and family.
15. Edible Bouquets
I love picking wild vegetable and herb flowers that have gone to seed, herbs and edible flowers to create beautiful edible bunches to gift. There are so many great reasons to do this!
They smell amazing
Look beautiful and a little wild
Don’t cost anything!
Can be used to flavour meals and tea
Can be regrown in their own garden.
The great thing about keeping herbs such as Mint, Rosemary, Basil and Lavender in jars of water is that they will send off roots! Let your gift receiver know what they can replant.
16. Fresh Produce
Extra produce makes incredible gifts! This can be vegetables, herbs, flowers or fruit you have grown in your garden. Pop in a basket or box and deliver to your friends and family. The great thing about gifting produce from your garden is they get to try different things that may not be at the supermarket. You may also inspire them to reconnect with where their food comes from and start growing their own. You really don’t know how much you can inspire and make a change by simply gifting some homegrown produce.
17. Gifting Seeds
Once your gardens get established you will have plenty of seeds to start harvesting. Pop some in a brown envelope with a note of what they are, when you harvested them and who they were from. Seeds are great gifts because they bring with them so much inspiration and potential!
If you found these gift ideas helpful please share this post with others and help to inspire more people to create their own Homemade Garden to Gifts.
I grow a lot of edible flowers in my urban permaculture garden. That way, I not only have plenty of flowers for the bees, but also lots of beautiful edibles to brighten up any meal. Edible flowers have so many health benefits and valuable nutritional qualities. Flowers don’t often last long on the plant and a great way to preserve and harness their energy is to press or dry them. This way you can make infused oils, herbal teas and still have beautiful bright flowers to use throughout the year.
What Time of Day is Best to Pick Edible Flowers?
Pick your edible flowers in the morning but after the sun has come up. First thing in the morning the flowers will still be closed so wait until they fully open up. They will be at their best in the morning, full of life and well hydrated. Throughout the day they can lose moisture and become damaged by insects or wind. Make sure you select flowers that you know don’t have any chemicals or sprays on them. I only use flowers I have grown in my backyard as I can have more control over their surroundings.
Should you Dry the Whole Flower or just the Petals?
You can do both! If the flower has a thick base or bud I tend to remove the petals. Flowers such as Sunflower and Hibiscus, I usually remove the petals. The base will take a very long time to dry and most of the time will not be palatable/hard and bitter. Calendula has many healing properties in the base, leave this on if you are going to use it for infused oils and balms.
Air Drying Flowers Naturally
The main way that I preserve my edible flowers is to air dry them naturally. I keep a bowl or plate in my pantry and add petals and flowers to it regularly. Each time I go out to the garden to pick veggies, I will pick edible flowers as well. If I don’t use them fresh in my meals I will just pop them aside to dry. It is very hot and dry here in Perth, Australia during the summer, so they will dry within a couple of days. If you live in a humid or cool climate or it is winter, it would be best to oven-dry or use a dehydrator. You want to get the flowers as dry as possible with no moisture left. This is to prevent them from going mouldy or growing bacteria.
Oven drying flowers
Turn your oven on to 40-50degrees Celcius and spread your flowers out on a tray. If your flowers have thick buds or bases it will be best to separate them out and just dry the petals. This may take a while depending on the size and moisture levels of your flowers. It may take around 4-6 hours and gently turn and mix your flowers around during that time to help them dry evenly.
Drying flowers in the dehydrator
Lay your flowers out flat on a tray and turn your dehydrator on to 40-50 degrees Celcius. It will depend on the moisture levels and size of your flowers but it will take between 4-6 hours to dry. Make sure they are completely dry and they may sound crunchy to touch.
Pressing Edible Flowers
Another way I like to preserve my edible flowers is to press them. You can do this with any flower press or to press flowers without a flower press, simply place your flowers between sheets of paper or a notepad and stack some heavy books on top. Press whole flowers or petals but if the bud or base of the flower is quite thick, I would remove it and just press the petals. Pressing flowers will take a while to ensure that they are completely dry. Depending on your temperatures and climate it can take between 2-4 weeks to dry your edible flowers.
How to Store Edible Flowers
Once your flowers are completely dry you can store them in an airtight container out of sunlight. I keep all my air-dried flowers in jars in my pantry. My pressed flowers that I want to keep intact, I store in a glass container with a bit of paper towel. In dry conditions, these will last quite a while. I have some from a year ago that are still great.
How to use Dried Edible Flowers?
There are so many ways to use your dried flowers. Here are some of my favourite ways to use them.
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
I jump at any chance to use edible flowers in my dishes and this edible flower fairy salt is one of my favourites! Edible flowers are a great, easy way to add wow factor to any dish. Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) are so vibrant and have been abundance in my garden this summer. This recipe helps preserve their stunning colours and I can use them on my dishes throughout the year.
Fairy salt would be a great way to get kids involved with garden to plate cooking. Foraging for edible flowers, drying them and making fairy salt.
Edible Flower Salt is so EASY with only two ingredients!
You could use any edible flowers for this but cornflowers are the perfect size and colour. They lose their colour when they are left to dry on the plant so I feel better about picking them.
Edible Flower Fairy Salt
Yield: 1/2 cup
Prep Time: 5 days
Additional Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 5 days2 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 cup Salt Flakes
2 TBSP dried Cornflowers
Instructions
Pick cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) and gently pull the petals from the bud. Lay them out flat on a plate. Leave them to dry completely for 5 days turning them regularly to release moisture. To speed up this process you could put them in the oven on low (40-50degrees Celcius) to dry.
Place salt flakes into an airtight jar. Mix through the dried cornflowers.
Serve on meals as a finishing salt.
Serving Suggestions
I have been using this edible flower salt to brighten up so many of my meals. Simple eggs on toast become a little more magical with a dusting of this flower salt. I also made some delicious salt and vinegar beetroot chips and this salt was the perfect addition.
Salt and Vinegar Beetroot Chips with Edible Flower Salt
DIY Gift Idea
I have also made up small jars as gifts to friends. A small simple gesture can go such a long way. I want to get in the habit of taking a small gift whenever I visit friends and family. Whether that is some preserved produce, cuttings, seedling or some saved seeds. You never know how much a spark of inspiration can cause a ripple effect in someone’s life.
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
In this video are 10 of the best edible flowers I grow because they are not only my secret ingredient to make all food look magical but, are also great for attracting pollinators to your garden. If you want a thriving, abundant permaculture garden, it is so important to create diversity and attract beneficial insects and pollinators. Important: Make sure you clearly identify which flowers you can eat and are safe before eating.
Watch My Top 10 Best Edible Flowers to grow
Why Grow Edible Flowers?
Edible flowers offer so much to your permaculture garden. Here are a few of the MANY reasons I LOVE growing them:
Create beautiful aesthetic dishes
Attract beneficial insects to your garden for pest control
Aid in pollination by attracting insects
Create diversity in the garden
Add colour to your garden
Have subtle, delicate flavours
Add nutrients to your meals
Flowers for the Bees
The best edible flowers are ones that have multiple benefits and interconnected relationships within your garden. Creating diversity in flowers will help bring in a diversity of beneficial insects and become part of a natural integrated pest management system in your urban permaculture garden. A diverse ecosystem is a healthy one.
How to use Edible Flowers?
Edible flowers are amazing natural ingredients that add nutritional value and will elevate any dish to create magical food. Create a “wow factor” by just letting nature shine. They are great for natural cake decorating, salads, cocktails, baking, pasta and just anything really! Add detail, pattern, vibrant colour, and celebrate your homegrown food. I believe that creating visually appealing food can make everyday meals so much more enjoyable. Every day should be special and celebrated and this is just one way I like to spark joy in everyday living. Add some to your peanut butter on toast and BOOM you have a masterpiece!
Important: Make sure you clearly identify which flowers you can eat and are safe before eating.
Which are your favourite? It was so hard to even narrow it down to 10!
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
Garden toast is something I created one day when I was scraping together something for lunch and all I had was a crust and some cottage cheese in the fridge. I didn’t have any avocado, eggs or anything special to have with it. So I went out into the garden and found some inspiration! I picked two small tomatoes, herbs and edible flowers. It looked like a mini garden on toast and now I can’t stop making these beautiful, tasty creations!
Here are the creations I have made so far..
Original Garden Toast
My first addition with the last piece of bread I had left! I had fun making this and it definitely tasted delicious! Ingredients: Rye Multigrain toast, Cottage Cheese, Fresh tomato, Parsley, Rosemary, Rosemary flowers, Zinnia Petals and Basil leaves.
Fairy Garden Toast
It’s amazing what a little bit of Beetroot juice can do! Natural colouring and plenty of beneficial nutrients with an array of micro herbs and greens. You may even be able to convince your kids to eat more greens with this Fairy Garden toast. Get them involved in the process by having a bowl each to go outside and collect herbs. Ingredients: White Multigrain Toast, Cottage Cheese mixed with beetroot juice or fresh grated Beetroot, Baby Nasturtium leaves, Parsley leaves, Basil leaves, Sweet Violet flowers, Rosemary Flowers, Baby Pink chard leaves, Pink Zinnia Flower petals and Dill Flowers.
Jungle Garden Toast
Packed full of herbs and flavour! Ingredients: Country Grain Toast, Basil Pesto, Orange Nasturtium petals, Tiger Eye Viola Petals, Strawberry Flowers, Parsley leaves, Rosemary Flowers, Pea tendrils, Burgundy Marigold Petals and Purple basil leaves.
Summer Garden Toast
Summer on toast! Homegrown tomatoes are so sweet and delicious and tomato on toast is one of my favourite ways to eat them! Ingredients: Rye Multigrain toast, Red, yellow, orange cherry tomatoes, Purslane, Red basil leaves, Strawberry Flower, Sweet Violet Flower, Dill flowers, Rosemary Flowers, chopped Purple Kale, baby Nasturtium leaves and Fresh Chilli.
Botanical Garden Toast
Pest on toast is so delicious! I made extra pesto and if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen that I ate this for breakfast for an entire week! It was also so good with a poached egg on top. Ingredients: Sourdough toast, Basil pesto, Cottage Cheese, Chopped walnuts, Fresh Chilli, Basil Leaves, Fennel Flowers, Pink and White Dianthus, Baby Pumpkin Tendrils, Parsley Leaves and Strawberry Flowers.
Unicorn Garden Toast
My latest creation and maybe my favourite yet! Purple sweet potato spread is a vibe! Ingredients: Sourdough Toast, Mashed Purple Sweet Potato and Cottage Cheese, Overnight Pickled Red Cabbage and Red Onion (1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, a teaspoon of sugar heated to dissolve. Pour cooled liquid over Cabbage and Onion), Purple Kale, Grilled Baby Eggplant, Purple Pansy, Multicoloured Dianthus, Rosemary Flowers and Red Basil.
Get Inspired by your Garden
There is always something in my garden to make a toast topping and I love how easy and creative it is! Each piece is so unique and full of fresh garden nutrients! Having these ideas tried and tested means I know I can always whip up something even when my fridge is looking very lean.
Get creative and inspired by your own garden. There is something so satisfying about being able to walk outside and make a meal from your own fresh, homegrown veggies. This is a great meal idea for beginner gardeners who don’t have many established edibles. Just look out for baby leaves and edible flowers (make sure you research and clearly identify they are edible). Baby leaves and flowers can add subtle flavours and turn any dish into a work of art!
Be sure to tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can see your creations!
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
