Nasturtium - Moon

DESCRIPTION

A companion flower with a big personality, the nasturtium is just for summer. A rambling, slightly succulent and fully edible plant with big lily-pad shaped leaves, this variety has creamy white flowers which are perfect for attracting nocturnal pollinators. Both the leaves and flowers have a wonderful peppery flavour.

POT CARE AND PLANTING

Nasturtium is easy to care for in a pot, but I recommend planting it together with other things in pots, or underneath the larger vegetables in your garden, and using it as a living mulch - transplant into a larger pot or a garden bed within 7 days. Soil level should be well below the start of the lowest leaves.  

WATERING

Nasturtium is a medium water consumer - you can water it an average amount, once per day (early morning or late afternoon is best in summer). More water will cause insane growth, but too much water may cause the roots to rot away.

SUN EXPOSURE

Nasturtium is happy with a few hours to a full day of sun, because it will cheerfully find its own way into the sunniest patches of your garden bed.

COMPANION PLANTING

This plant stays fairly low - occasionally it might reach 25cm above the ground. You can forget about how much things like zucchini and tomatoes need to expand when planting nasturtium - it's helpful, and looks beautiful, when it encroaches on the stems of larger plants and grows among their leaves. Plant it in areas of the garden where other large plants grow, especially near plants that produce large white flowers, like broad beans and okra, because this nasturtium is a favourite of the nocturnal pollinators you want to attract, like moths. Its peppery smell also helps to disguise the smell of any brassicas (broccoli, cabbage) you might be growing, instead overwhelming and enticing the butterflies to lay their eggs on it instead.

HARVESTING AND EATING

Nasturtium has an edible flower with a sweetly herbal, mild pepper taste. Best used to garnish savoury dishes, you can also add the leaves to soups and stir fries like a fresh green herb (chopped fine and added in smaller quantities than other greens in the dish due to its potency). The flowers are delicious when treated like a zucchini flower - stuffed with a cheesy filling, twisted closed, and either battered and fried, or brushed with oil and roasted in the oven - just clear out the internal parts of the flower first because the pollen can be bitter or potently peppery.

SEED SAVING AND PROPAGATION

If you leave the plant in place until the frost kills it, you'll notice that the stems don't rot away quickly, and instead stay on the ground, covered in pea-sized lumps. Gather up some of these dead stems in autumn and place them in a big paper bag to dry out fully over winter - you'll probably need a few if you harvest all of them! The seeds are large and wrinkly, and there's no need to try to break them up - just shake the bag to dislodge them from the stems, and check them for seeds still attached before discarding he larger pieces of material. You should save your nasturtium seeds over the winter in something airtight - these seeds will be good for 3-5 years. They're pretty easy to germinate - simply cover with about 15mm of soil and keep moist, when daytime temperatures are above about 20 degrees. They'll start emerging after a week or so. In Armidale, experienced gardeners know that frost tender veggies can't be planted outside until Melbourne Cup Day. Heavy frosts return here at Easter time, so your Nasturtium will die back around that time each year.