Nasturtium — Flowers

Tropaeolum majus

Full sun, light watering — fine in mild parts of the UK.

Photograph of Nasturtium — iNaturalist / GBIF

Sow: Apr
Harvest: Jul
In flower: Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct

Sun: Full sun
Water: Low
Difficulty: Demanding
Hardiness: H3
Season: summer,autumn
Height: 150–250 cm
Spacing: 250 cm
Pets: Safe around pets
Bee friendly: Bee friendly

Grows well with

Cabbage — In a trial, cabbages grown with nasturtium took less damage from cabbage looper and imported cabbageworm caterpillars.Brassicas — Grow nasturtium in among your cabbage-family crops. In trials it was one of the plants that reduced caterpillar damage from cabbage looper and cabbage white on broccoli and on cabbage.Squash and pumpkins — In a trial, squash and pumpkins grown with nasturtium took less damage from squash bugs and cucumber beetles.Tomato — Nasturtium is one of the plants whitefly will not breed on, and mixing it in with tomatoes brought whitefly numbers on the tomatoes down.Broad Bean — Nasturtiums work as a decoy: blackfly settle on them rather than on your broad beans. Pinch out the bean tips once the first pods have set as well.Broccoli — Nasturtiums grown with broccoli cut the damage done by cabbage looper and cabbageworm caterpillars in a field study.Brussels Sprout — Cabbage white butterflies like nasturtium too, so a patch sown next to your Brussels sprouts can take the egg-laying instead. It does not work every year.Cauliflower — Cabbage white butterflies like nasturtium too, so a patch sown next to your cauliflowers can take the egg-laying instead. It does not work every year.

Growing notes

Grows to 1.5-2.5 metres. Space about 150-250cm apart. In flower Jun-Oct.