Gardening : Nasturtium: Edible and Needs No Feeding : Plant will provide colorful flowers and once seeded, requires little care.

If you’ve been looking for a flower that will thrive in poor soil, doesn’t need to be fed or pampered and is almost pest-free, the familiar nasturtium may be it.

An added bonus is that nasturtiums have become the darlings of trendy chefs who value the peppery tang of its flowers, seeds and leaves, which are loaded with Vitamin C.

In most parts of the country, nasturtiums must be planted in the spring, but here in Southern California you can sow the seeds now (late summer or early fall) for color during the cooler days of autumn and winter.

You won’t find nasturtiums growing as bedding plants at the nursery. Because the plants dislike being transplanted, you must sow the seeds where you want the plants to grow. Luckily, the knobby seeds are large enough for even a child to handle easily.

Directions usually suggest a location that gets full sun, but I have had good luck growing nasturtiums in spots that receive sun for half a day. They will drape attractively over the edges of a raised flower bed, and will add color to planters and window boxes.

Don’t Enrich Soil

You don’t have to enrich the soil before planting. If you do, you will have a lot of leaves, but few flowers.

Space the seeds 10 inches apart, and plant half an inch deep. Dwarf varieties called Tom Thumb or Whirlybird should be planted closer together. The dwarfs grow 6 or 7 inches high and make a decorative border. They also will fill in bare spots between bedding plants. The seeds will sprout in about 10 days and will begin to flower in about 10 weeks. Nasturtiums do not require a lot of water.

Once the plants are established, your main job is to keep faded flowers picked to encourage more bloom. Pinch the plants back if they start to get leggy, and be sure to clean up the seeds or in a few years, nasturtiums will take over your garden.

Aphids may attack the plant, but these can be controlled by washing them off with a strong jet of water. If you plan to eat the seeds, leaves or blossoms, you will want to avoid pesticides.

Some gardeners, believing that nasturtiums help repel harmful insects, plant them next to vegetables. In my garden, they grow next to a patch of squash. Occasionally, they attract a few snails, but these can be removed easily by hand.

Variety of Colors

Nasturtiums also are called Tropaeolum because their golden flowers flecked with red and their distinctively shaped leaves resemble a trophy pillar set up on a battlefield in ancient Greece and Rome. Actually, the plant is a native of Peru.

Today, nasturtiums come in a variety of colors ranging from deep mahogany to cream. When left to their own devices, they hybridize into new hues.

Golden Gleam, one of the most popular varieties of double-flowering nasturtiums, was developed by an early Southern California nurseryman, J. C. Bodger, who discovered the plants growing in a neighbor’s garden. The large yellow double flowers were cross-pollinated with single varieties to produce an assortment of colors.

Sends Out Runners

Canary bird vine or Tropaeolum peregrinum is a cousin to the common nasturtium. The seeds of this plant, which produces bright-yellow flowers on an 8-foot vine, may be ordered by mail from Park Seeds, Greenwood, S.C. 29647-001. A mixed-color nasturtium that sends out 8-foot runners in shades of crimson, scarlet, yellow, orange and bicolors can be ordered from Harris Seeds, Garden Department, 961 Lyell Ave., Rochester, N.Y. 14606. The vines will grow along fences and trellises.

If you would like to experiment with the peppery flavor of nasturtiums, here are a few suggestions. (All parts of the plant except for the root is edible.)

Chop tender leaves and stems and combine with lettuce in a salad.

Stuff the blossoms with cream cheese as an appetizer.

Shred the blossoms and add to cottage cheese or toss in the salad bowl for color.

Use the flowers and leaves to garnish individual plates or platters of food.

Pickle the seeds for later use as a substitute for capers. Caution: These are quite hot!