Climbing nasturtium, an easy flower vine

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Climbing nasturtium (Tropaeolum) races up a wall or arbour to ten or twenty feet in a single season, flowering from late spring right through to mid-autumn, and even its leaves and seeds are edible. Give it full sun and ordinary soil, and go easy on the fertiliser, since too much cuts the flowering.

Caring for it is easy and it is guaranteed to produce a great decorative impact!

Planting climbing nasturtium

Climbing nasturtium is usually grown as an annual flower, and are sown directly in the ground in May. It isn’t frost-hardy and will die off in winter. Typically, it sprouts back in spring either from seeds or from tubers.

Here is how to sow nasturtium from seed:

• Soak seeds beforehand for a whole night
• Space seeds 12 inches (30 cm) apart
• Water lightly

Pruning climbing nasturtium and care

It doesn’t need any pruning. If you let the plants self-seed and you’re aiming to cover a wall or arbor, thin the sprouts so that at most a dozen remain. That way, you’ll ensure they’re vigorous enough to climb higher.

As for care, you might need to water a bit if it doesn’t rain for a long time. The vine will bounce back in no time, though, so even if you don’t water it’ll survive.

In fall, when temperatures start dropping, the entire vine starts yellowing. Seeds fall everywhere and will hibernate until the next spring.

At times, you’ll notice caterpillars. These usually come from a white butterfly named Pieris brassicae.

All there is to know about climbing nasturtium

Beautiful climbers, nasturtiums can also be grown in pots like flowing plants. Aphids love this flower, so make the best of it by using it as a decoy to protect nearby flowers.

They are easy to care for and grow and need very little fertilizer. Too much fertilizer would actually reduce blooming.

An interesting fact is that Nasturtium is edible: leaves, seeds. For some species even roots are edible, as in mashua.