Our attempt at a nasturtium flower study fell short again this year.
Don’t you love nasturtiums? They are such a happy flower and they remind me of my grandma. Her garden seemed to just sprout them in all the corners and I always have thought they were easy to grow and care for.
I have not had much success in growing my own nasturtiums. I have tried a few times and this year I received nasturtium seeds (Little Firebirds) from Renee’s Garden. I read the back of the package and it said they would be great in a container so I planted them in a fairly large pot on my back deck. My seeds quickly sprouted and the leaves that formed were so pretty and lily pad shaped just like the package said. But, over time, the leaves started to turn brown which I thought was from lack of water so I stepped up my watering.
Things grew worse instead of better and now all I have is a pot of crispy leaves, no flowers.
Not sure what happened there…over-watering?
The rest of the garden is going strong and I am reaping some rewards in the form of zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and basil.
The zucchini is Astia from Renee’s Garden and the seed package says it will grow compact plants and yield an abundance of tender zucchini. I have picked about eight zucchinis so far and I think my dog or some other critter has eaten a few too. I am really liking this variety but I left too many plants in my pot…..next year one plant per pot.
The tomatoes are Litt’l bites Cherry from Renee’s Garden. The package says that this plant is perfect from pots and baskets and I can tell you that I have had huge success with this veggie. The problem is that some critter comes at night and eats anything almost ripe. I have put up a cage and netting around it to protect the fruits for us to eat!
The basil is Italian Cameo from Renee’s Garden. I love, love, love this variety and it is easy to pick a bunch really fast. I harvest some every few days and it just fills right back in for the next time.
The peppers are growing every day in our hot summer afternoons. These are Baby Belle Peppers from Renee’s Garden. They are a mini snack or salad pepper which they say I can pick either green or wait for them to get red before harvesting. I think I will try doing it both ways and see which I like better. I am having success with the plants in a pot on my back deck.
So there is a short update on the garden in pots! I so enjoy getting out there every morning to survey the progress and water, trim, pick, and taste something. I have decided I don’t need a big garden to get that “garden fix” that I need in the summer. Lesson learned!
One last new thing on the deck…a second hummingbird feeder! I placed a new feeder along with some red plants to attract a few more hummers to my yard. They love both the red geranium and the red petunias….great tip for those of you trying to establish a new hummingbird feeder. Use the natural colors to get them interested in visiting your feeder and then they will become regulars.
Summer fills my days with gardening and bird watching….and cloud watching. We are still in our drought here in California and every time there are clouds we hope for rain but so far….nothing!
Sorry about your nasturtiums. 🙁
I grew some in a container years ago and had no trouble with them. This year my son and I planted a packet along the front of our garden (it’s new to us, but obviously healthy with lots of worms). All I do is water with everything else and they all get their “vitamins” to encourage blooms once a week. Some of my nasturtiums are nearly drowning the geraniums next to them and are just covered with scarlet blooms.
I do have some where the down spout has messed up the soil that aren’t so happy. They regularly turn some leaves bright yellow if I don’t water them enough, but I’ve not had any brown up like yours. Someone out there should know whether yours got sick of if you did over water them.
Glad your veggies are doing so well. All we did was plant a package of sweet corn. None of the cobs grew very big (I think that’s the variety, not our soil), but it was such a sweet delight eating our own produce.
Happy gardening!
I am glad someone has some success with their nasturtiums. I am going to try a different variety next year to see if maybe it is just the particular seed I had. I never have much luck with corn either…it always ends up looking like those little cobs on the salad bar. 🙂
Nasturiums like to be grown cool and dry… Some years they do really well for me, and some years not. In any case, when the weather gets really hot they sulk and die off, usually to perk up when cool weather comes in autumn.
The one pest they get that can kill them outright is black aphids. Again, some years it’s bad and some not.