Monday, April 20, 2009

Nasturtiums

One pot contains Spitfire Nasturtiums (bright orange climbers), and the windowbox holds Empress of India Nasturtiums (scarlet with blue-green leaves). These are growing faster than any of the other seeds, which is really rewarding! I plan on using them to spice up salads... the flavor has a bit of a kick, and both greens and flowers are edible.

They're prolific and easy to grow, repell certain things like beetles, and are often used as a "trap" for pests and will attract pollenators which is very important around gourd-pollenating time. They're definitely working at being tastier than the vegetables and herbs... already I caught a slug munching this poor Spitfire (far left leaf).



The Empress of Indias are in a windowbox attatched to the railing because they're more bushy than climby, and they're likely to be the most beautiful color so I wanted to be able to see them easily from my room. You can already see the red tint along the edge of the leaves on this 1-inch seedling.


I nibbled one of the spitfires... tastes a lot like spicy watercress, but with more heat!

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