A MUST HAVE flower!

[Lillia]

I've been researching Nasturtium. Not only is it pretty and edible, it's self seeding, grows in almost any soil, likes sun but grows in shade too, works as a natural antibiotic, is high in vitamin C and planted next to any vegetable, it repels aphids, vegetable worm and slugs! Sounds like a miracle flower to me. These are at the top of my list and are something I will put out the money for!

How many of you have Nasturtium? I'd like to hear more about it.

Oh, BTW, I've put it here in the vegetable garden because it seems more people use this to keep the insects off the veggies than for the flowers themselves~

[lancashire lass]

... flowers and young leaves in the salad, and you can use the seeds like capers Tastes peppery and not unpleasant.

Sorry if this doesn't agree though with your research findings, but after having grown nasturtium on the vegetable plot, I'm a bit dubious of the claims - my experience is that self seeding meant they became an invasive weed (every year thereafter I was having to clear seedlings and under my breath utter "why why why did I grow nasturtiums"? ), and it actually attracts blackfly (supposedly away from crops such as climbing beans but just usually means it becomes a breeding ground) and the slugs were very much still around. They are also food for cabbage white caterpillars.

However, the flowers really are very pretty and do lift your spirits, not to mention much of the plant is edible so is still worth growing.

For companion planting, I think french (or mexican) marigolds have got a lot going for them, closely followed by lavender both of which I've had a lot of success. Pot marigold are in that so-so category - I tested the theory that they repelled asparagus beetle ... didn't work. However, petals of pot marigold can be used to make a skin salve for burns.

[Lillia]

... flowers and young leaves in the salad, and you can use the seeds like capers Tastes peppery and not unpleasant.

Sorry if this doesn't agree though with your research findings, but after having grown nasturtium on the vegetable plot, I'm a bit dubious of the claims - my experience is that self seeding meant they became an invasive weed (every year thereafter I was having to clear seedlings and under my breath utter "why why why did I grow nasturtiums"? ), and it actually attracts blackfly (supposedly away from crops such as climbing beans but just usually means it becomes a breeding ground) and the slugs were very much still around. They are also food for cabbage white caterpillars.

However, the flowers really are very pretty and do lift your spirits, not to mention much of the plant is edible so is still worth growing.

For companion planting, I think french (or mexican) marigolds have got a lot going for them, closely followed by lavender both of which I've had a lot of success. Pot marigold are in that so-so category - I tested the theory that they repelled asparagus beetle ... didn't work. However, petals of pot marigold can be used to make a skin salve for burns.

Thanks much~ I really appreciate your opinion and input~ I'm trying to write down as much info as I can, to have a better garden this year. I'll learn more and more, as I go, and hearing from others is always helpful.

[Benny&Co]

I didn't know all that Lillia and LL, thank you both

I've learn't so much from all you lovely folks on here

[Annie]

I can 2nd LL on the black fly and caterpillar comments. One year I had them growing in a flower border just by my front door, I went out to do my weekly shop and on returning about 2 hours later the plants (or what was left of them) were covered in cabbage white caterpillar, that had gorged so much on the leaves that when I pulled the plants up for the bin, the caterpillars actually BURST , IT WAS DISGUSTING !

[Lillia]

I can 2nd LL on the black fly and caterpillar comments. One year I had them growing in a flower border just by my front door, I went out to do my weekly shop and on returning about 2 hours later the plants (or what was left of them) were covered in cabbage white caterpillar, that had gorged so much on the leaves that when I pulled the plants up for the bin, the caterpillars actually BURST , IT WAS DISGUSTING !

Eeew, Annie, that's horrible, isn't it? I suppose if I have lots of them though, they may keep the pests off my veggies~ I had so many aphids last year.

[manda]

Do you think planting them in a large pot would work to stop them from spreading?

[LittleBrownFrog]

They will grow out of the drainage holes at the bottom
I think that nasturtiums are the cockroaches of the plant world.

[Lillia]

They will grow out of the drainage holes at the bottom
I think that nasturtiums are the cockroaches of the plant world.

So....you're saying you don't like them?

[LittleBrownFrog]

No, I love them, but they are pretty much indestructible!!

[manda]

I suppose the trouble would be as well if they drop those seeds outside of the pot then they'll be off doing their thing and before you know it ...

I can remember when I was a kid there were some in the garden (I think it was at home) and I can always remember that carpet of oranges and golds .....and those fat little caterpillars all over them!!!

[LittleBrownFrog]

We have some really ugly retaining walls in our garden, and nasturtiums are fabulous for making them look prettier. We get lots of seedlings at the foot of the wall - mostly they get munched by the chickens, but if not, I just pick them up and drop them at the top of the wall and they do their own thing.

[sazchops]

We used to have Nasturshums ( pre chickens ). A lovely flower but VERY invasive. It took me 2 years to get rid from the veg patch! You need to seive the soil to remove the seeds.

[lancashire lass]

I can 2nd LL on the black fly and caterpillar comments. One year I had them growing in a flower border just by my front door, I went out to do my weekly shop and on returning about 2 hours later the plants (or what was left of them) were covered in cabbage white caterpillar, that had gorged so much on the leaves that when I pulled the plants up for the bin, the caterpillars actually BURST , IT WAS DISGUSTING !

what I discovered about cabbage white caterpillars is that when their food source is used up, they simply walk along the ground to the next source ... my cabbages and swedes which I had carefully netted against the butterflies but obviously caterpillars just went under it. I was amazed by how quickly they moved along the ground too, and then also learned that birds don't eat them either. The source of that outbreak had been the nasturtiums hence my determination to rid the plot of any that had managed to self seed.

[rhubarb93]

I have them on my allotment - I've only planted them once and they pop up all over the place every year, but I don't mind them. They are quite good as ground cover - keep down weeds - the flowers taste delicious and look really pretty in salad, and if they grow too much you can just rip them out by the handful. They are not invasive, to my mind, as they spread by seed and the roots are not persistent.