Nasturtiums

I consider myself to be a fairly normal person. On the whole, (at least when I am out in public..) I try to avoid doing strange things. Occaisonally though, one forgets that what one considers "normal" others may consider "strange".

One of the things I've discovered is not considered normal is eating flowers. I don't eat all flowers (something I would never advocate since some can be poisonous!), in fact I really only eat one flower... Tropaeolum majus. Nasturtiums.

I have very few memories of my maternal grandfather; he died when I was very young. He always had a very large garden, and always grew and ate nasturtuims. I remember picking the flowers as a little girl, eating the peppery petals and sucking the nectar out of the bell at the back. Not only can you eat the flowers straight out of the garden (though I do recommend checking for bugs first), they make a delightful addition to salads, and I'm told they can be used in soups and dressings as well.

Ever since I was old enough to garden on my own, I have grown nasturtiums. In our cold climate, they are considered an annual, but if the weather is mild enough they will self-seed. Typically I will buy a little seedling 6-pak from the greenhouse, and that will supply my nasturtium needs for the summer. Last year, however, I attempted to let my leftover flowers self-seed, and I collected the remaining seed pods to try to plant this year.

In the spring (before the crazy onslaught of mosquitos and rain) I planted some seeds, since there was no sign of the self-seeded germinating. When that also showed no promise, I resigned myself to purchasing another batch, and planted away.

Apparently I should have waited, as both the newly planted seeds and the self-seeded ones shot out of the ground after the crazy amount of rain we got in July! Patience in gardening has never been my strong suit. In addition, I accidentally bought trailing nasturtiums rather than the normal variety... and now that we've had a few weeks of nice sunshine-y weather my garden has exploded with nasturtiums! They are everywhere! The trailing ones are growing stems about 3 feet long and taking over other areas of the garden!

Note to self: jumping the gun when it comes to planting means more work down the road.

Anyone in need of some lovely edible flowers or seeds to grow their own? I seem to have a lot...