October: Nasturtiums: That's a wrap!

It's October in Chicago. The asters are blooming, the leaves are turning yellow, and the first frost is imminent. The cooler early fall weather has been a boon for the Spitfire nasturtiums, which rebounded from their bedraggled summer state and are still full and green. The nasties by the house filled in all around the purple aster that has just started to bloom. The purple and orange would make a striking color combo if only the nasties would produce more than two or three blooms at a time. Still, the contrasting foliage shapes look nice together. I like the idea of using nasturtiums as ground cover in the fronts of gardens and intend to try it again in the future.

The nasturtiums by the alley fence didn't like being trained up the fence, but the vines on the ground did well in their shady spot. Still very few flowers, but the foliage softens the boundary between fence and ground and has a cute woodlandy look. You can still see the sad yellow vines that I had trained upwards.
What have I learned doing this project?
1) I can't comment on other nasturtium varieties, but at least the Spitfires do best on the ground. Planting them in a crowded spot and hoping they'll fill out up on a trellis does not work. Even draping the vines upward doesn't work, as the vines soon become spindly and yellow. Mine also didn't do great in containers; the leaves were smaller and the vines stayed short.
2) The Spitfires didn't flower as much as I was hoping, which is too bad because I love their color. I'd like to try other nasturtiums, perhaps yellow ones, that flower more reliably. However, nasturtium foliage is very cool and is worth the effort by itself.
3) Wintersowing is totally the way to start these babies. Direct sowing, for me, was a complete failure, and I have no patience for grow lights and hardening off.
4) The hottest part of the summer is rough but with enough water, the plants will pull through and look lovely in the cooler late summer and fall. My plants survived both in full sun and mostly shade.

Special thanks to Mr. Brown Thumb and to Renee's Garden for putting this project together. I hope everyone had a good time and that the shared feedback has been useful! I've enjoyed seeing everyone's stories and hopefully we can do this again sometime. Cheers!

I'm growing Nasturtium 'Spitfire' for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

September: Nasties on the rebound

After an August with a little more water and a little less blistering heat and sun, the Spitfire nasturtiums are doing fairly well. The flowers are still more like occasional jewels than a full flush of color, but as I said last month, I'm thinking more of the foliage at this point.

The nasturtium in the planter has been in mostly shade for a couple of months. It's alive but small and the leaves are small. It does bloom sometimes but today it's shy. I think I'll put it back in the sun soon.


The nasty on the alley fence looks kind of silly and half-dead where I draped the vine up over the fencepost, but the vines on the ground make such a pretty groundcover! Well, okay, it looks leggy and scraggly in the picture, but from a short distance it actually looks pretty nice.


The nasties by the house still look best. They've pretty much filled in the area around the asters and spirea and make a cute groundcover. They're in full sun but the surrounding plants shade the roots, and that seems to help. Plus, they get watered most days because they're next to the veggie garden.


I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

August: At least the leaves are pretty

Hello, and welcome back to the GROW project! The foliage on the Spitfire nasturtiums has recovered from its crispy sunburned state of a month ago, possibly due to more watering or less intense heat and sun. My plants are still sparse on flowers, but I love the nifty peltate leaves of nasturtium and would almost be willing to grow them for that reason alone.

I moved the potted plant to a shadier spot, and it looks a little more alive now.


The plant vining up the alley fence looks good. It gets sun in the afternoon but the roots are shaded.


The plants I meant to go up the railing are also turning into a very pretty, yet flowerless, groundcover.


Part of that same plant, going where I meant for it to go:


And so you don't think I have zero flowers, here's one! (it's not quite that red in real life)


From the side... note cool nectar spur:

So how do your Spitfires grow?

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

July: Irrational exuberance

Happy 4th of July!!

The nasturtium 'Spitfire' I planted in full sun is growing like a weed, with vines heading off to foreign lands (the patio, the sidewalk, the veggie garden). I can't train them on the railing yet because we're waiting for the guy to come back and finish painting it.

Of course, on the day I took pictures, there was only one flower to be found.

The leaves are not enjoying this hot, sunny weather and look a bit faded and bug-eaten. (Pay no attention to those weeds!)

Still, the sunny plants are bigger and more viney than the nasties planted in shadier parts of the yard. This one is the best of the shady bunch...

...but it hasn't flowered yet.

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

June: Where are the flowers??

Not much to report this month. The seeds I direct-sowed last month did not germinate. The wintersown plants scattered around the gardens vary in robustness, with the nicest one growing in full sun and heavy clay soil next to the vegetable garden. Still nary a flower in sight. The anticipation is killing me!


"I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee's Garden for the seeds."

May: Planting out the nasturtiums

Milk jug crammed full of happy nasturtium leaves

Out of nine 'Spitfire' nasturtium seeds planted March 13th, eight germinated; time to sprouting was 20 days. They grew like weeds in their milk jug and I never had to do a thing for them. I am a believer; wintersowing is great!


I tipped out the soil and found a tangled mess of roots:

Now I see why people wintersow in individual peat pots! Luckily, the soil was nice and loose and teasing apart the roots wasn't very difficult.

I know I'm pushing the May 15th last-frost date a bit but 1) I'm in the Lake Michigan buffer zone, so am less likely to get frost in May than other parts of Zone 5, and 2) my urban backyard is a warmish microclimate. So, on May 1, I planted my seedlings out:

In the raised garage garden, by the trellis with the barely-flowering,
unmanageable, unkillable clematis...

In the back of the prairie garden, in heavy, rocky soil, next to the alley fence 

(and another on the alley side, to dress up my trash cans)...

In the recently top-dressed soil of the prairie garden, amidst downy sunflowers,
under the trellis with the white Henryi clematis...

In heavy clay soil next to a downspout by the veggie garden...

And the last two were potted up along with three more seeds because why not? I watered everybody and wished them luck. If they can escape being trampled by the resident beagle, I think they'll do well.

"I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee's Garden for the seeds."

April: Seed GROW project

I am excited to be participating in the GROW project this year with many other bloggers! The seeds were generously provided by Renee's Garden; the selected plant is the 'Spitfire' climbing nasturtium. I've never grown nasturtiums before and I rarely grow anything from seed because spring also is my busiest time with work/school obligations. Still, surely I can keep a few seedlings alive and healthy this year!

I have been gardening at this house for 15 years now but wintersowing is still an entirely new concept to me. Thanks to Monica and Kylee, I think I now have the basics down, and the GROW project is a perfect place to try it out. I started pretty late; I planted on March 13 when it was in the 50s and hardly "winter" in Chicago anymore. Still, the nights get cold and I fully expected more snow and bitter cold (and I was right!).


I washed a gallon milk jug, cut it in half, and punched holes in the bottom with an awl.


I then filled it with about two inches of potting soil. I use Miracle Grow potting mix with some perlite mixed in, and moisten it well in a bucket. I planted nine nasturtium seeds to a depth of an inch, covered the seeds, sealed the jug with duct tape, labeled it and set it outside.


I have lots of seeds left over, and some of those will be planted directly in the garden after the last-frost date of May 15.

As of April 1, no sign of seedlings yet.

"I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee's Garden for the seeds."