Seasoning

What you’ll see at a farmers market (click on the photo for a larger view).

Spitfire grew best in bad dirt

With the end of the growing season in sight, I can begin to think about taking a rest from all the work involved with gardening. Yes, work! And I don’t do near as much as most folks do in the garden. I let the weeds do what they will in a lot of my flower beds and in the vegetable garden, I don’t trim the roses and meatball shrubs as I should, there’s always a spot needing mulched that I never get around to mulching, and I don’t keep up with The Jones and their golf course lawns. When September gets here, and I start seeing the reddish tints on sedum, the pinkish colors coming in on peegee hydrangeas, and the night air gets ever more nippier I know it won’t be long until…

And another season passes, and I wonder where it went, thinking morbid thoughts of how many more I might see before I return to where the roots grow. There really is a time for all things to end, but being a Christian I like to think that there’s something bigger and better beyond the here and now. And I hope the garden there grows no weeds, only flowers, roses mostly, I hope.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that little spiel outta the way, lets get on with the Nasturtium ‘Spitfire’ GROW project report shall we? Yes, we shall…

I’ve discovered that some heirlooms just don’t like to be coddled. And one of them is ‘Spitfire.’ I had to remind myself when looking at it that it was an heirloom after all, and why did I expect it to perform like a hybrid? So, feeling guilty, I changed my expectations to those more suitable to how heirlooms should look … not like hybrids, all perfect and whatnot, but more like how things used to grow, before they made all that artificial fertilizer junk and other unnatural stuff that a lot of folks dump on their flowers and vegetables. This is my fourth year as an organic gardener, and when you make that switch, you have to stop doing certain things. You also have to learn a few new things too, like how not to coddle heirlooms.

So, I quit coddling and ‘Spitfire’ responded.

N. 'Spitfire'

N. 'Spitfire' bloom

There is something else you should know about growing any type of flower or plant…

Aphids

Some plants and flowers are more prone to attracting aphids than others. It seemed to be that they loved ‘Spitfire’ over everything else in my garden. And this is the first time I’ve had such an infestation, but only on ‘Spitfire,’ which was the only nasturtium I grew this year.

Double Cosmos 'Rose Bon Bon'

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

PeeGee Hydrangea (Hydrangea Paniculata)

“I’m growing Nasturtium ‘Spitfire’ for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee’s Garden for the seeds.”