Picking varieties
One tip for a fuller nasturtium: don't over-feed the soil. Lean soil, better flowering.
Sowing
Sow directly where it will grow, April–June, once the soil has warmed up.
Care
Pick flowers regularly — it triggers new ones. The leaves and seeds are edible too!
Tips & lessons learned
Together with calendula and borage, nasturtium is one of our favourites to grow among the vegetables. Edible flowers in the beds give a wild feel and a proper splash of colour — and nasturtium pulls in bees and other pollinators.
A side note: its vitamin C made nasturtium a popular food plant in the 1600s and 1700s. Sailors brought the pickled flower buds along on long voyages to keep scurvy away.
From the log
Get the complete guide
The printable Nasturtium guide goes beyond this page — everything you need to actually grow it well, start to finish. It hasn't been made yet — it's coming as a printable PDF. Sign up for the Vegocracy newsletter below and you'll hear when it, and every other new guide, is ready.
Join the Vegocracy newsletterStep-by-step notes for every stage — sowing depth, spacing, care and what to watch for.
What to think about when picking a variety for your own garden, not just which ones earned their place in mine.
Do's and don'ts — what worked, what I'd skip next time, and the mistakes worth avoiding.
Full sow, transplant and harvest calendar for nasturtium.
The background knowledge behind the how-to — why it behaves the way it does, and what it actually needs.
Join the Vegocracy newsletter One newsletter for the whole site — you'll hear about every new guide there, not just this one.
A friendly reminder: every garden plays by its own rules. Zones, soil, weather and a hundred small things decide what works — so this is how I did it and what worked for me, not a promise. Try, learn, adjust, try again.. that's half the fun anyway.