{"id":560,"date":"2014-06-19T08:52:05","date_gmt":"2014-06-19T14:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/?page_id=560"},"modified":"2016-03-18T08:08:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-18T14:08:10","slug":"nasturtiums-edible-and-friendly","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/companion-planting\/flowers-beautiful-additions-as-companion-plants\/nasturtiums-edible-and-friendly\/","title":{"rendered":"Nasturtiums – Edible and Friendly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Type:<\/span>\u00a0 Seed (annual, freely seeding)
\nSoil Type: \u00a0<\/strong>Prefers well-drained soil; recommend weakly acidic\u00a0to weakly\u00a0alkaline\u00a0<\/span>soil with pH between 6.1\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>7.8; \u00a0does not like fertile soil – soil with too much nitrogen will produce fewer blooms
\nSun Requirements:<\/span>\u00a0 Full sun; in hotter areas, plant in partial shade
\nBest Planting Time:<\/span>\u00a0 Indoors \u2013 4\u00a0to 6\u00a0weeks before last frost date – beware of damping off; Outdoors \u2013 14 days before last frost\u00a0– thin to 30 cm apart
\nImportant Characteristic:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0Can become invasive if not controlled; blooms are edible
\nAttracts:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0Hoverflies
\nRepels:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Aphids and white flies; secrets thiophene, which may kill\u00a0\u2018root-knot nematodes\u2019 –\u00a0<\/em>if you leave the root system in the ground, the effect against nematodes can last up to three years
\nPests:<\/span>\u00a0 Aphids, caterpillars, flea beetles, slugs, whiteflies
\nCompanion Plants: \u2013 FAVORABLE –\u00a0<\/span>apples, beans, cabbage family, greenhouse crops, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, squash<\/span>\u00a0– UNFAVORABLE \u2013\u00a0<\/span>there do not seem to be any plants which act unfavorably when nasturtiums are near
\nSoil Benefits:<\/span>\u00a0 N\/A<\/p>\n

Nasturtiums\u00a0are an easy-to-grow edible annual flower which will flower quite nicely in poor soil. \u00a0It prefers neutral soil with a pH rating of between\u00a0between 6.1\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>7.8, so weakly acidic to weakly alkaline. As stated in the summary above, nasturtiums\u00a0can be started indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost or outdoors, 14 days before the last frost. \u00a0Germination is easy and will generally occur within a few days. \u00a0 You can make germination easier by soaking the seeds 24 hours prior to planting.<\/p>\n

Water regularly, but do not over-water. \u00a0Nasturtiums\u00a0thrive in full sunlight and prefer well-drained loamy or sandy\u00a0soil and will even perform better in poor soil. \u00a0If your climate is fairly hot, you can plant nasturtiums in partial shade to protect them from excessive heat. \u00a0The hoverflies these plants attract will gobble up aphids on your other plants\u00a0and vegetables. \u00a0Seed pods containing 1 to 3 seeds will form at the base of the blooms and can either be allowed to drop, producing new plants the next season, or can be harvested and dried to plant in another area. \u00a0These beauties will flower well into autumn and dead heading will ensure flourishing blooms. \u00a0The blooms have a peppery flavor so can add spice to salad dishes or sandwiches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Type:\u00a0 Seed (annual, freely seeding) Soil Type: \u00a0Prefers well-drained soil; recommend weakly acidic\u00a0to weakly\u00a0alkaline\u00a0soil with pH between 6.1\u00a0and\u00a07.8; \u00a0does not like fertile soil – soil with too much nitrogen will produce fewer blooms Sun Requirements:\u00a0 Full sun; in hotter areas, plant in partial shade Best Planting Time:\u00a0 Indoors \u2013 4\u00a0to 6\u00a0weeks before last frost date … Continue reading Nasturtiums – Edible and Friendly<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570,"parent":352,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-560","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2f0m9-92","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/560\/revisions\/571"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phantomimages.com\/blogs\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}