Home › Plants › Nasturtiums

How to grow Nasturtiums in the UK

Flowers you can eat! Peppery leaves and bright petals.

• DifficultyEasy peasy
• WhereBeds or Pots
• Sunfull sun or part shade
• Grows to30cm
• Spacing30cm
• Time to first pickabout 8 weeks
• Typeannual

When to sow, plant and harvest nasturtiums

Dates are for central England. Sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland, and up to two weeks earlier in the south and south west. Get the dates for your postcode.

Starting it indoors

1. Fill a small pot or tray with seed compost
2. Push the seeds in (2cm deep) - a couple per pot
3. Water gently, then put them on a bright windowsill
4. Keep the compost damp but not soggy - check it every day
5. When they have 2 proper leaves, give each seedling its own pot

Sowing it outdoors

1. Pull out any weeds and rake the top of your bed until it's crumbly, like cake crumbs
2. Make a little line in the soil (2cm deep) with your finger or a stick
3. Drop the seeds in, about 30cm apart each way
4. Gently cover them with soil and pat it down
5. Water with a watering can that has a sprinkler head
6. Push in a label so you remember what's there

Planting it out

1. Toughen them up ('hardening off'): put them outside in the day for a week, bring them in at night
2. Dig a hole a bit bigger than the pot
3. Tip the plant out gently, holding the leaves, not the stem
4. Pop it in the hole, firm the soil around it, and water well
5. Space the plants about 30cm apart each way

Top tips for growing nasturtiums

• They like poor soil - don't feed them or you get all leaves and no flowers.

Soil and feeding

Poor soil - really!. Nasturtiums flower best in poor soil. Feed them and you get all leaves and no flowers.

Pests and problems

• Blackfly & greenfly: tiny bugs that crowd the tips and suck the sap
• Cabbage white caterpillars: hatch under the leaves and eat them to lace

• Leave them - nasturtiums are a decoy that keeps pests off your other plants

Harvesting and eating nasturtiums

Pick flowers and young leaves whenever you like.

How to eat them: Scatter the petals on a salad - they taste a bit like watercress.

Storing nasturtiums

Keeps 2-3 days.

• Keep in a box in the fridge with damp kitchen paper

Don't freeze - pick them fresh.

Good varieties of nasturtiums

• Empress of India: Deep red flowers, dark leaves.
• Tom Thumb mix: Compact plants in lots of colours.
• Alaska: Leaves splashed with cream.

Companion planting

Grows well with

• Big tomatoes: nasturtiums lure greenfly away from tomatoes
• Butternut squash: nasturtiums bring in bees to pollinate squash flowers
• Summer squash: nasturtiums bring in bees to pollinate squash flowers
• Cherry tomatoes: nasturtiums lure greenfly away from tomatoes
• Courgettes: nasturtiums bring in bees to pollinate courgette flowers
• Pumpkins: nasturtiums bring in bees to pollinate pumpkin flowers
• Cucumbers: nasturtiums bring in bees and lure away greenfly
• Runner beans: nasturtiums lure blackfly away from the beans
• Broad beans: nasturtiums lure blackfly away from the beans
• Kale: caterpillars go for nasturtiums instead of your kale
• Purple sprouting broccoli: caterpillars go for nasturtiums instead of your broccoli
• Cauliflower: caterpillars go for nasturtiums instead of your cauliflower
• Brussels sprouts: caterpillars go for nasturtiums instead of your sprouts
• French beans: blackfly go for the nasturtiums instead

Saving your own nasturtiums seed

Late summer and autumn, as the flowers fade.

1. Stop deadheading a few flowers - let them fade on the plant
2. When the seed heads are dry and brown (and the seeds rattle), snip them off on a dry day
3. Shake the seeds into a paper bag
4. Spread on a plate to dry for a week

Where to buy nasturtiums seeds

Thompson & Morgan · Suttons · Amazon

These are affiliate links: we may earn a small commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. Read more.

Nasturtiums questions

When should I sow nasturtiums in the UK?

In the UK, sow nasturtiums indoors from early April to mid May or outdoors from early May to late June. These dates suit central England; sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland and up to two weeks earlier in the mild south and south west.

When do I plant out nasturtiums?

Plant nasturtiums out from mid May to mid June, once the last frost has passed.

When can I pick nasturtiums?

Nasturtiums is ready from mid June to mid October. Pick flowers and young leaves whenever you like.

How long do nasturtiums take to grow?

Roughly 8 weeks from sowing or planting until the first harvest.

Are nasturtiums easy to grow?

Nasturtiums are rated 'easy peasy' for beginners, and can be grown in the ground or a raised bed or in pots and containers.