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!

Pest Control

I'm sure there will be a Great Pest Battle at some point, but I plan on using purely organic methods, such as soap or garlic sprays, manual work (plucking, trimming, barriers), traps, or ladybugs. This is, of course, in addition to preventative measures using plants such as marigolds, thyme, basil, and nasturtiums to keep bugs off the veggies and herbs. It'll be interesting to see what works.

Pests/methods noted so far:
Aphids:
- Sage, 4/20/09... a pile of babies wilted one seedling, but recovered. Picked off by hand, squished.
- Mint (chocolate only), 4/26/09... oh dear, they LOVE this mint. For three days I've been squishing them, possible 3o total.
- Spitfire Nasturtium, 4/26/09... two babies found here. Squished!
* squishing aphids is supposed to release hormones that both attract ladybugs and freak out the other aphids. I will probably invest in some ladybug larvae a bit later in the season, 'cause for now squishing is keeping things under control but I can see this becoming a large job (not to mention gross).

Slug:
- Spitfire Nasturtium (pests are SUPPOSED to eat this one, it is a trap crop)... ate a third of a seedling leaf, easily recovered. Picked off by hand, tossed over fence (I can't help it, they're cute).
* will try the "stale beer pool" trap if these become a bigger problem.