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a surprise nasturtium |
Maybe you remember that a year ago spring, I planted nasturtium seeds in some hanging baskets instead of buying annuals. Then this past spring, I planted red leaf lettuce in the same baskets. Whether or not I'd be comfortable picking the lettuce when the baskets looked full and pretty remained in question at planting time. I'm happy to report that we had no qualms picking that lettuce. This past summer, we cared more about feeding ourselves than what things looked like.
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the red leaf lettuce salad basket in summer |
Anyway, sometime in mid to late summer, I noticed one tiny nasturtium plant growing in one of the lettuce baskets. One of the nasturtium plants from summer 2019 reseeded in the pot without my knowledge (not that I'd do anything to interfere with a free plant growing in a pot).
So, I let the nasturtium plant grow for the rest of the summer and into early fall. This basket hung right outside the bedroom window, providing a beautiful view of cascading yellow nasturtium blossoms. They attracted a hummingbird on a daily basis, too, for my viewing pleasure (and I'm sure also for the hummingbird's gastronomic pleasure).
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one of the nasturtium seed pods |
Last Friday afternoon, I went outside to check on some plants on the deck and noticed that the weather had grown quite cold. It felt like we'd receive a good frost overnight, so I brought that basket into the kitchen. Sure enough, it did frost pretty heavily in our yard.
I am currently keeping the hanging basket on the kitchen desk while the new seeds finish ripening. If I can keep this plant alive for another few weeks, I should be rewarded with about a dozen nasturtium seeds to harvest for next summer's baskets.
While we enjoyed having the red lettuce in all of the baskets, I especially loved this one basket with both the nasturtium plant and the lettuce plants. I'm thinking that for summer 2021, I'll plant a few different types of seeds for edibles in the same baskets, including lettuce, nasturtiums, and perhaps some parsley and other herbs -- perhaps something like this:
Have a wonderful weekend!