Sunday 3 October 2021

Nasturtiums.


 I took this picture this morning of the Nasturtiums flowering in the veg plot.  They self seed and come back with new plants every year.

We've been growing them in Europe since the sixteenth century.  They originate from South America and Central America.  No doubt they arrived in Ireland with the tobacco, potatoes and fuschia hedging that grows everywhere in the West of Ireland.

The Incas in Mexico grew Nasturtiums for salads.  You can eat the foliage and the flowers.

During WW1 Nasturtiums were used for a pepper substitute when kitchen table pepper was difficult to source along with Hoover bags and Sky TV remote controls and ashtrays on motor bikes😀.

Nasturtiums also have medicinal qualities and they have been used in dressings to help heal wounds and blemishes.

Winter is approaching very fast and it's nice to see some colour in the garden at this time of year.





20 comments:

  1. My garden is full of nasturtiums in the winter. I love their colour. We are still waiting for the first real rain and then ours will appear.
    Ashtrays on motorbikes?

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    1. Please post some pictures of your Nasturtium Poros garden Linda. Ashtrays on motorbikes, sky hooks, long stands, left handed screwdrivers and tartan paint. All attempts at humour.

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  2. They are colourful. A bright spot in the garden at this time of year.

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  3. Yes JayCee they are nice to be seen in our very mixed weather climate. They grow where ever they choose.

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  4. Do slugs and snails eat them?
    Briony
    x

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  5. I would think so Briony. They seem to like every other flower and vegetable.

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  6. Indian cress. You have the nice bright ones. We finally got some to self-seed in the waste ground in front of our apartment and got only pale lemon and pale peach colours.

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  7. Yes Tigger Indian Cress is the old name for Nasturtiums. The cabbage white butterfly and it's caterpillars love them.

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  8. I doubt that folk had much use for Sky TV remotes during World War One. Are Hoover bags women who spoil domestic peace by constantly vacuuming?

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  9. I would think they didn't have much use for Hoovers with electric flexes and plugs either YP. Oh to listen to the dulcet tones of a house brush and dust pan. I think you have invented another name for the Hoover bag. Perhaps Urban Dictionary will use it?

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    1. Take a look at my auntie...she's just a goddam Hoover bag. And another thing Dave, why are women always putting coloured liquid in the bog? I am always afraid it will burn my arse.

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  10. Fine. What's hair conditioner? Why can't they just sell shampoo?

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  11. I thought hair conditioner was something they gave to rabbits! Hare conditioner get it?

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  12. Chaz and Dave: Rabbit_ "You got more rabbit than Sainsburys"....

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  13. I love your photo and I love my nasturtiums! They are everywhere and make me smile. A local garden shop sold a new variety "candy red" or something like that. A smaller version. Don't care for it. It IS very small and doesn't perform like the old fashioned specimen. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I'm pleased you like the photo Oam. It's nice to see some red and almost gold flowers at this time of year.

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    2. Sorry Pan not Oam. Silly autocorrect.

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  14. poor mans capers. you can pickle the seed pods and use them exactly the same as capers. you can also make a condiment similar to tapenade from them (I cant seem to spell that today)

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  15. Hi Sol. Poor man's capers is a food name for them. My mum use to slice onions and place them in a dish of vinegar and call them poor man's pickles.

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