Wanted - poor soil, plenty of neglect! (Nasturtiums)

Member Name: werewolf2

Product:	Nasturtiums
Date:	18/06/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good in hanging baskets,

Disadvantages: annual plant so need to get more each year

My father and I like growing Nasturtiums in our hanging baskets, as they trail quite nicely and are extremely brightly coloured, with mainly oranges, reds and yellows.

The leaves can be quite large and look rather like a water lily. They can grow quite tall - my father has some soil in old chimney pots and the plants are almost the same height! This year, my dad bought some seeds and just planted them straight into the old soil from the previous year. This is because he has been told/read in a newspaper article that they prefer poorer soil. He therefore was experimenting as to whether they'd sprout and/or survive. They are one of his best plants this year!

We bought another set of seeds and planted them in trays, which have then been transplanted into pots and then eventually at the end of May into the hanging baskets (the ones that my brother didn't take for his garden), to see which were best. I believe that the best ones are in the poorer soil, but my hanging basket just outside my back door is now flowering quite well - with mainly red flowers. My dad appears to have a much more mixed set of colours at his house.

The two packets of seeds were both set about the same time and I think that almost all of them germinated because between us we must have got nearly a 100 plants. The ones that are left over I intend to sell on a St John stall sometime soon, if possible.

As I didn't put them in poor soil because I used new compost, and they can be put in old compost, in the hanging baskets, I neglected to water my baskets for a couple of days (although it did rain one day) to give them a chance to adapt to their surroundings. This doesn't appear to have harmed them in any way and they are thriving! Lots of leaves and less flowers but if they were in poorer soil the opposite would be true. For some inexplicable reason, they like to be neglected - possibly to prove how well they can cope on their own!!!! LOL.

I have never tried eating them but am aware that the flowers (not sure about the leaves) CAN be edible and are often added to salads to add colour, variety and texture. I don't think that I'll be trying that though!

In conclusion, if you are not much of a gardener, then I heartily recommend trying these to encourage your "green fingers" to sprout.

Werewolf1

Summary: Good plant to fill in gaps or put in hanging baskets