How to Grow Nasturtiums in Containers

This is the definitive guide on how to grow nasturtiums in containers for your small balcony or patio garden. Nasturtium are great because they’re not only beautiful, they’re edible as well — plus they’re a great pest repellent!

Type

Annual

Planting

Everything you need to know about how to grow nasturtium: plant nasturtium in a medium to large pot, leaving 15-30 cm (6″-12″) of space between them. Cover with 0.5-1 cm (1/4″-1/2″) of soil. Keep the soil moist, and seeds should sprout in 7-12 days in warm weather. If temperatures and soil are cool, expect germination to take longer than this.

To eliminate the guesswork in selecting the right size containers for your plants, we’ve put together a list of commonly grown herbs, veggies, fruit and flowers along with the minimum pot sizes required by each.

Starting a container garden? Grab my free guide on choosing the best sized pots for each veggie, fruit, and herb in your container garden – Veggie Garden Potting Guide

Seeds can be planted indoors 2-4 weeks before the last spring frost date, or planted directly outdoors in early to late May when the soil has warmed up.

 

Watering

Keep nasturtiums well watered during hot, dry weather. Otherwise, water when the top 1″ of soil is dry to the touch.

Nasturtiums thrive in poor to average soil, so they do not need to be fertilized.

 

Where Can I Grow It?

Grow nasturtium outdoors in a sunny location, or partially shady location if full sun is unavailable. Just keep in mind that nasturtium grown in a shady location will put on more leaf growth and produce fewer flowers than ones grown in full sun.

There are many different varieties, but you can get them in two basic growing patters: climbing or trailing nasturtium or bush nasturtium.

 

How to Grow Nasturtiums: Growing Tips

Both the leaves and the flowers of this plant are edible! Add some visual appeal to your salads by sprinkling some of these flowers over top.

Nasturtium are vigorous growers. This can be great as they will fill out their containers quickly, but may need to be trimmed back occasionally to keep them under control.

Pruning off dead flowers will encourage nasturtium to produce more flowers.

 

How to Grow Nasturtiums with Companion Plants

Nasturtium is one of the best all-around companion plants for the urban garden as it attracts many predatory insects and therefore helps to repel a lot of common garden pests. A sample of some of the pests nasturtiums help to repel include: cabbage worm, carrot fly, cucumber beetle, whitefly and squash bug.

Nasturtium actually attracts aphids to keep them away from your other plants. These edible flowers are beneficial to have growing alongside beans, squash, tomatoes, brassicas (such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage), fruit trees, cucumbers and radishes.