In Praise of the Nasturtium from the Bridge Cottage Garden

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Nasturtiums in the Bridge Cottage Garden

I’d like to take a moment to sing the praise of the humble nasturtium, which is such a useful little plant, and one we love to grow in the Bridge Cottage garden.

Nasturtiums grow well in borders, pots and hanging baskets, and will creep and crawl, up trellises and over walls, bringing vibrant colour to the garden throughout the summer months. They are quick to grow and easy to grow from seed – a great plant to get children to grow, to introduce them to gardening.

This year, my hanging baskets have been filled with the simple nasturtium, grown from seeds saved from last year. Due to lockdown, I didn’t fill my salt-glazed hanging pots (thank you Errington Reay) with the usual mix of annuals bought from my local garden centre, but instead, as many of us had to do, started thinking out of the box, to what I could use that we already had. Saved nasturtium seed to the rescue and I’m loving the bright, sunny display they are putting on.

Nasturtium Pesto

The bees are also loving the trumpet-shaped blooms and can be seen taking their fill of nectar. A far more sustainable practice and they are giving me nutritious food for free in the shape of nasturtium leaves and flowers for salads, nasturtium pesto and I’m now collecting the seed pods to make ‘poor man’s capers’.

Hop over to the Bridge Cottage Kitchen to find out more about eating nasturtium:

• 4 Ways to use Nasturtium in the Kitchen

Companion Planting with Nasturtium

We also plant nasturtium as a companion plant and have planted them alongside our courgettes and squash. If I consult my handy companion plant poster, bought from the Herb Society UK, I see that as well as being pals with squash, courgette and marrow, the friendly nasturtium is also buddies with apples, pears, radish and tomatoes. We’ve got a few in pots, so might well move them under the apple trees, which are heavily laden with fruit at the moment.

• Companion Planting

Nasturtium Seeds

Start your nasturtiums off in early Spring, in seeds trays in the greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill. Transplant and then plant out in late Spring. You might want to keep an eye out for caterpillars – brush off any eggs that appear, and go out regularly to remove caterpillars.

August is seed collecting time for many of our flowers and saving your nasturtium seed for next year is a great plan. You may well find that they self-seed, but just to be on the safe side, collect some in a large brown envelop and leave somewhere warm and dry. Don’t forget to write on the envelope what they are, especially if you have different varieties. I was sent some nasturtium seeds by the writer Sarah Rayner, aka The Creative Pumpkin on Instagram after attending a writing workshop in her beautiful garden in Brighton, which was festooned with nasturtiums. We love a seed swap!

Do grow nasturtiums and do you have a favourite variety?

We’d love to hear from you – just pop a comment in the box below.

Nasturtium

Hop over to the Bridge Cottage kitchen to find out 4 Delicious Ways to Use Nasturtium 

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You might enjoy some of the writing and ideas in other sections of this website, as we look towards leading more sustainable lives by growing our own food and creating dishes in line with seasonal eating, or head to our handy ‘Month by Month’ guides to find out what we have been doing here at Bridge Cottage as the months go by:

• Sustainable Living
• The Bridge Cottage Garden
• The Bridge Cottage Kitchen
• Month by Month
• Seasonal Recipes
• Foraging – Food for Free

Many thanks for reading.

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