Why Your Garden Needs Nasturtiums

Check out the many benefits on why your garden and containers can benefit from planting and growing nasturtiums this gardening season!

Why Your Garden Needs Nasturtiums

There are just some plants that should be grown in every garden. Nasturtiums are one such plant!

Technically, Nasturtiums are perennials (which means they come back year after year), but most people grow them as annuals (yearly) from seeds. Nasturtiums like it a little on the warmer side, planted in full sun, but they can be grown in almost all plant zones. Nasturtiums come in a wide variety of colors ranging from orange to red and yellow to green and white.

Read on to learn why you need to grow Nasturtiums in your garden:

Edible Flowers

Nasturtiums have edible flowers that chefs have been using for centuries in main dishes to salads. Nasturtiums have an intense peppery taste and give your dinner salad a little bit of a punch. Not only are the flowers edible, but so are the buds and young leaves. The leaves are very tender and full of flavor, just not as peppery as the blossoms. Nasturtiums come in so many colors they can really add a bit of pizzazz to your salad plate! Nasturtiums are also high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D. So eat up!

Pest Control

First off, Nasturtiums do not repel insects. With that said, what they do for the garden is even better: they attract pests and insects. I bet you are wondering why attracting bugs to a garden would be a good thing? Well, take this gardening scenario for instance… You have planted your favorite herbs and vegetables and are so excited that you can get healthy food right from your backyard. Then the insect infestation of the century happens in your garden. First come the aphids, then the whiteflies, and then the caterpillars. In two days flat your garden is one big insect infestation and they have ruined your organic garden.

This is why you plant Nasturtiums. All of those pesky insects that you are not a fan of absolutely love Nasturtiums. Seriously, Nasturtiums are one of the insect world’s favorite plants. Instead of eating your cabbage, the insects will all go eat the Nasturtiums. You can use this plant as bait and then eradicate all the insects at once.

You can also plant Nasturtiums and just let the insects do their thing. Sometimes instead of beating them, you can join them.

Nasturtiums: every garden should have them!

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