Flower · Edible Flower
Nasturtium
Tropaeolum majus
An easygoing edible flower with peppery, watercress-like leaves and blooms. Actually flowers more freely in poor soil, making it one of the few plants that benefits from being under-fed.
At a glance
Water
Low
16–28 fl oz/wk
Light
Full sun
6–8 hrs/day
Space
Small
11 in
To maturity
35–60 days
Edible parts: Flowers, Leaves
Family: Aster
A huge family including lettuce, sunflowers, and marigolds. Recognizable by composite flower heads made of many tiny florets packed together.
Harvest
Pick flowers and young leaves as needed; frequent picking encourages more blooms.
Growing conditions
- Temperature
- 50–85 °F
- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Soil type
- Average to poor, well-drained soil - rich soil favours leaves over flowers
- Climate
- Frost-tender annual; a light frost will kill it.
- Growing season
- Direct-sow after the last frost.
- Nitrogen
- Low (≈10–25 ppm)
- Humidity
- Medium (≈40–70 %)
- Planting unit
- Seed
- Feeding schedule
- Little to no fertilizer needed; excess nitrogen produces lush leaves with few flowers.
- Pest resistance
- Low - often used as a “trap crop” for aphids, drawing them away from other plants
- Pests
- Aphids: Small, soft-bodied insects that cluster on new growth and undersides of leaves, sucking sap and excreting sticky honeydew.
- Pruning
- None beyond Deadheading: Removing spent flowers from a plant to prevent it from setting seed, which often encourages it to keep producing new blooms. spent blooms to encourage more flowers.
Where it grows
- Container / PotIdeal— Does well in pots and hanging baskets; poor soil is fine.
- In-Ground GardenIdeal
- Raised BedIdeal
- HydroponicPossible— Can work in media-bed systems, though it's grown far more often in soil.
- Vertical / TrellisPossible— Vining varieties can be trained up a support.
- WindowsillPossible— Trailing varieties do well in a bright window.
Companions & antagonists
- Beneficial: Green Squash — Classic trap crop for cucumber beetles and squash bugs on cucurbits - nasturtiums draw the pests away rather than repelling them.
- Beneficial: Kale — Reported to draw cabbage moths and aphids away from brassicas when planted nearby as a border or trap crop.
- Beneficial: Broccoli — Same trap-crop role for cabbage moths as with other brassicas.
- Beneficial: Cauliflower — Same trap-crop role for cabbage moths as with other brassicas.
Sources
- Nasturtium Growing Information — Johnny's Selected Seeds
- Companion Vegetable Garden Plants — Ask Extension