The nasturtiums had a large growth spurt after I fed them with fish emulsion. I have them in last year's strawberry pot, and I was hoping it'd become a bush of peppery salad additions. Instead, only the climbing type survived (Spitfire), and long vines began invading the path. We left on a 3-day vacation, and returned to see that a vine had grown across the entire bottom of the doorway! I kept pushing them aside, and wrapping them around the pot. Then as a joke I hung a few strands over the porch light... by morning the nasturtiums were jubilant in their newly found access to sunlight, and within a few days there was a flush of flowers.
So I hung more, and more, and eventually some grew long enough to reach a hook above meant for christmas lights. I had thought the sudden change in position would stress the plant, but it only keeps getting happier.
Streeeeetch!
You can see the small terracotta strawberry pot in the bottom right-hand corner in the above picture. I hardly ever water it... the only explanation is that the roots must've gone down into the soil where the drip system is active, so I am loathe to move the pot.
4 comments:
Turned out to be a cool looking plant that way. Very nice!
My husband just implored me to "do something" with it... there's so much bare vine & dead leaves at the bottom (where it's oldest... hard to tell in the photo) that it is looking too odd to be encroaching over the front door. Haha, personally I like it to look creepy and messy... keeps the neighbors away. ;)
Hmmm... I may attempt to move it into the backyard, and weave it into the scaffolding (it's like chicken wire, but with little rectangles instead of hexagons) on the back fence. I had planted some nasturtiums there hoping they'd climb, but they never did!
I could take some cuttings too to make it bushier. Hmmm. My only concern about moving it is that the roots are probably through the pot into the ground, which is probably why it is flourishing so well.
Oh yeah, I need to remember to put some of it into salads too! Mmmm, spicy.
Could you just clip away the dead ones? Would that make peace with the husband? I really like how it spills over and around the entry away. =)
I have reached a middle ground... this weekend I'm cutting off all the dead stuff and trimming it up a bit. If it still looks too messy for his tastes, I'll slowly hack away at it... but everything chopped off will end up in our salads. Yum!
I do like how it spills over, but I also realize that we have to maintain appearances out front for the neighborhood and landlord. But the backyard is my domain! I'll probably make some cuttings of the nasturtium and transfer it into a sunnier spot in the backyard too.
Speaking of which, my coleus cuttings are way overdue for planting... so many roots! I "borrowed" them from the greenhouse at work. ;)
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