12 hours Ago By Sydney Evans
Spring is that time of year when we get to sit back and watch our gardens come back to life after winter. Seedlings planted in the autumn begin to bloom, their colourful petals transforming outdoor spaces, and if you planted any leafy greens early on in the winter, you might have already started enjoying these in meals. But it’s not just flowers and plants in the garden that come to life during spring; it’s also the time of year when a number of animals come out of their long winter hibernation in search of food.
A natural part of the ecosystem, these animals can also be a nightmare in the garden, and watching them chomp their way through flowerbeds full of crops is nothing short of disheartening. If you’re looking to keep your vegetables safe from pests this spring, a horticulturist has shared one plant you can easily add to the garden that will “draw pests away” from your crops. A post shared by Jamie Walton | Nettles & Petals (@nettlesandpetals) Garden expert Jamie Walton, who runs the Instagram account @nettlesandpettles, advised followers that there’s one plant they should be adding to their garden to protect it.
“If you only grow one flower for your vegetable garden this year, make it a nasturtium,” he said in the video posted on Instagram. The edible flower, which makes for a peppery addition to salads, blooms from the summer through to the autumn months, keeping your seasonal crop protected from pests when they’re planted nearby. Jamie explained that the flower is “loved by many garden pests such as green and black flies and cabbage whites”, meaning nasturtiums can be used as “sacrificial crops”.
Attracting garden pests, as well as beneficial insects like bees, gardeners can use them to create “barriers that draw pests away from other susceptible crops” and as they’re a vigorous plant, they “generally outgrow the onslaught”. The plant isn’t only easy to care for, it’s also easy to grow. “Just pop a seed into a pot, water well and they will germinate in no time”, said Jamie.
However, he also cautioned that nasturtiums require a well-draining soil mix. You can easily ensure that your soil is well draining by adding organic matter like compost, leaf mould or shredded leaves to it, and the seeds are readily available and sold for £2.99 at both Wilkos and Dobies.
They also reseed “really easily”, so Jamie urged gardeners to choose a location for them where you don’t mind them coming back into bloom each year, but this also means you only have to grow them from seed once..
