Nasturtiums - why?

[spud57]

Hi there, I have read somewhere that nasturiums are good for companion planting. Can anyone please tell me what they should be planted with and what they will benefit? I have sown some marigolds too - will they help?

[Flummery]

Nasturtiums are martyrs to black fly. The little perishers will come from miles around to throttle a nasturtium. The theory is, you put nasturtiums near the things you think might suffer from BF (e.g. broad beans) and they go for the nasturtiums instead.

Which marigolds have you sown? I think people companion plant with french/african types - I think it's to do with some toxin the plant produces that deters aphids. However, I plant pot marigold/calendula. I use both the marigold and nasturtiums in my salads. Marigold petals, nasturtium flowers and leaves. In my case it's not particularly companion planting, it's something colourful which is also useful. Attracts insects too.

No doubt someone who REALLY companion plants will come along and add more info.

[spud57]

Thank you Flummery but doesnt the nasturiums then attract the fly to your beans?? Or maybe I guess you have to assume they would come anyway, invited or not, and you hope you can deflect them elsewhere!

[zazen999]

Hi
A bit like basil with toms and greenfly; they will go for the one they like best [basil] and leave the toms alone. Sacrificial planting, if you like.

[bluemoon]

And Nasturtiums also attract butterflies which lay their eggs there rather than on your brassicas. Meaning you don't have to decimate the butterfly population in order to protect your broccoli and the caterpillars can be eaten by the birds too - a much more balanced system for the price of a cheap and easy annual. Just don't grow the yellow ones, they're horrible and look dead even when they're not.

[JennieAtkinson]

My nasturtiums around the door of the polytunnel are pretty well sacrificial. They never look pretty, but are bombarded with black fly. But I've never had any black fly in the tunnel.

I also managed to pretty well eradicate the white fly in the greenhouse last year by planting loads (and I mean LOOADS!!!!) of tagetes and marigolds. It looked very pretty and dead heading regularly meant they lasted well into the Autumn. I'm all ready to do the same again this year.

Like Flum I eat nasturtium leaves and flowers (not the blackfly ones!) but I'm not too keen on the taste of marigolds!

[shirlthegirl43]

I intend planting marigolds this year but I am confused by which ones are the right ones (there seem to be so many different seeds). Please can someone tell me which type so I can sow the seeds now, or am I too late and better to buy the plants? Also, how close to the crops they are to protect should the flowers be planted?

[seed addiction]

I use companion planting where ever possible.

Margolds are great as they give of a smell that some aphids and greenfly do not like.

They also attract hoverflies, so if there were still any aphids near by they would eat them.

If you have a plant that can suffer from greenfly/aphid attack, plant marigolds next to them. I've planted African Marigolds this year, which look great as well as forming a protective barrier!

[Vegetarian Fox]

I am planting both Nastutiums and Marigolds this year for the first time and had the same question about French or African marigolds a month or so agon on the forum...

Having readup a bit on the web and advice on here, the consensus seems to suggest it doesn't much matter, but French are probably more pungent and therefore slightly better.

This Wikipedia link was recommended by Sinta and is the best and most comprehensive I have seen on companion planting

List of companion plants - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[mrdinkle]

I got me some african and french marigolds and nasturtiums seeds today. When would be a good time to germinate them? Now?

[Eyren]

I think you can sow them indoors now - my seed packets say they need temperatures of 16-18 degrees to germinate.

[bramble]

Hi Shirl,Tagates and Calundula seem to be the most effective, or so i am told.

[Snadger]

I grow tagetes because they look pretty and attract pollinating hoverflies but mainly because the stink of the foliage MUST deter something!

I use the leaves and flowers of nastutiums to give a peppery flavoiur to salads but at the end of the season I harvested the seed pods and pickled them as a caper substitute!

[shirlthegirl43]

Cheers folks, will visit Wilkinsons tomorrow and see what I can find.

Now, what do I plant to keep the cat off the veg patch?

[Two_Sheds]

Now, what do I plant to keep the cat off the veg patch?

A Rottweiler