Perennial Nastrurtiums

I’ve been looking for “Jobs to Do” this week in the garden.  The weather has been a bit warmer and although the long johns and hat are staying firmly on until the summer, it has been mild and dry enough for me to go out and at least do a bit of tidying as well as seeing what needs doing to welcome in the spring.

Spring Jobs to Do

I generally leave all of the seed sowing until the last minute. Generally I only plant seeds about one month after the recommended sowing dates on the package. This allows for our geographic northern location and cooler climate. Nature generally rewards me by having less seeds die off with botrytis, eliminates the need for any artificial light and heat and also gives me a chance to tidy up a bit before sowing. 

The polytunel is pretty much ready to go; all I need to do is expand the beds a bit as there isn’t much growing space n there at the moment because I got carried away with the carpet and black webbing. It’s just a simple matter of lifting it up and teasing the soil loose so I can plant seedlings so there’s no rush with that. 

I have a propagator in place in the tunnel with a transparent zip cover and have put some off shoots of chamomile plants in there for the time being. This is giving me a good idea how long it’s taking for plugs to dry out as well as getting me into the habit of going out and checking them every day in readiness for the seed sowing.

I’m finding that the ground is still too wet for grass cutting. It’s been so mild over the winter that the grass didn’t really stop growing. I won’t be trimming it back for at least another month though as it could do too much damage to the soil. 

I’ve managed to put off most things from my venture outside, but there is one thing I have done which has been on my mind for a while and that’s to dig up the perennial nasturtiums before the y take over the garden.

Perennial Nasturtium

Klaus gave me a few free perennial Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum tuberosum) two years ago and I happily planted them outside.  In the two years these prolific plants commonly known as Mashua, have taken over half of the vegetable patch. They grew up the pea and bean poles and managed to kill off everything they came into contact with. I wouldn’t have minded so much but they aren’t attractive plants either as the flowers appear just as the leaves go yellow at the end of the year.  

The tubers also seem to have the ability to pop out of the soil and throw themselves across the ground to every corner of the garden. I’m not sure if this is something they do themselves or if it’s the magpies in the garden playing football but it’s an efficient method of spreading around either way.

I have read that the Mashua tubers are edible. They can be cooked like potatoes or grate them onto salads. I would try it but for a couple of differing views.  Some say these tubers have an aphrodisiac quality and others say the opposite, that they have an anaphrodisiac effect. It’s said the tubers used to be given to the Inca armies “that they should forget their wives" I won’t be cooking them up any time soon.

The cultivar 'Ken Aslet' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, so it can’t be all that bad, but I’ll bet it wasn’t grown in the veggie patch.  

After an hour of gentle troweling I have managed a whole basket of the tubers and I don’t really know what to do with them. Should I give them away to friends? Throw them in the hedgerows? Sell them on ebay?  I just don’t know, but if we have a late frost I won’t have to give this another thought and needn’t have to make any decisions at all as they are just open to the elements.  And if the frost doesn’t get them straight away, the magpies will and have a good kickabout before the frost turns the tubers to mush and I can put them in the compost.

PS: I’ve just checked on ebay and the tubers are selling for £1 each…. I’m rich!  Thanks Klaus!