A nongardening friend, observing my front garden, recently exclaimed, “Oh, look, nasturtiums! But they haven’t taken over.” Well, of course they would like to take over, but my job as the gardener is to let volunteer seedlings grow only where I want this cheery and colorful flower. I also often put in some fresh seed of varieties with interesting colors and forms, to keep the mix vibrant. I especially like ‘Alaska,’ with its white-marbled leaves, and ‘Empress of India,’ with scarlet blossoms and leaves that are blueish, almost purple.
But I’m not just looking — I’m also eating both leaves and flowers. Both are spicy, the flowers with a touch of sweetness added by the nectar in the spur. I tear the leaves into small pieces for green salads and arrange some flowers on top, where they double as food and decoration. Leaves or flowers can also be added to a sandwich instead of lettuce.
For delicious hors d’oeuvres, stuff nasturtiums with a small dollop of (real or vegan) cream cheese into which you’ve blended some curry powder. Arrange on a blue or green plate for a handsome color contrast. (See recipe: Tara Duggan’s Dungeness Crab Salad With Asparagus and Nasturtiums)
Nasturtiums are annual flowers, easy from seed planted early spring to late summer. They’re good container plants, and attract pollinators and hummingbirds. (Before you eat the flowers, do look into them to make sure an insect hasn’t wandered in. Rare, but possible.)
A seed company with one of the widest selections of nasturtium varieties is Renee’s Garden (reneesgarden.com, (888) 880-7228). Colors range from almost white to pink or scarlet. There is also the newly reintroduced heirloom ‘Climbing Phoenix,’ which has fringed petals like a dianthus in a range of luscious colors, on plants that reach 4-6 feet tall.
Pam Peirce is the author of “Golden Gate Gardening: Third Edition.” Blog: goldengategarden.typepad.com E-mail: home@sfchronicle.com
Many gardeners (if not the world) will want to beat a path to the purveyors of Grow Master Gopher Baskets. These stainless steel wire mesh baskets will protect plant roots from gophers, voles and tunneling rats. The baskets are soft to the touch, easy to handle and available in many sizes. They are also less expensive than the more rigid wire baskets that were our only option in the past.
Directions from the manufacturer show using a basket the size of the rootball and fitting it on snugly. I prefer to buy baskets somewhat larger than the rootball. I spread a basket into a hole, partially refill the hole within the basket, set the plant in the center and finish filling around the rootball, thus giving the roots some protected space in which to grow. If the pests are munching tops of plants, you can unroll the basket farther, over a small plant, or onto the lower trunk.
To see sizes and find a store that carries Grow Master Baskets, see westernplantingsolutions.com or call (530) 751-3366.
Gray water discounts and rebates
As the dry summer approaches, perhaps you’re wondering about reusing household water in your garden. Water from the clothes washer, bathtub, shower or bathroom sink, called gray water, is safe to use in garden irrigation as long as you use “plant friendly” soaps that don’t contain sodium or boron.
Local laws vary, but in San Francisco a one- or two unit-residential building can have a laundry-to-landscape (L2L) system using water from the clothes washer, without a permit, if the system does not alter plumbing and follows a list of guidelines.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission offers a discount on an L2L kit, redeemable at the Urban Farmer store in San Francisco. The discount is $125 on a kit worth $175. The offer includes a design manual, a mandatory (installation, design and maintenance) class, access to a tool kit and an optional on-site consultation, all free.
To learn more about this offer and obtain an application, see sfwater.org/graywater, or call (415) 551-4730. You can also obtain a Property Owner’s Notice and Release, a necessity if you’re a renter.
Want to recycle gray water from your bathtub, shower and bathroom sink? These sources require a permit. Use the contact information above to obtain an application for a rebate of up to $225 on a permit.
Pam Peirce's classic regional book, "Golden Gate Gardening," has been helping California gardeners grow food since 1993. Its third edition, released in spring of 2010, includes much new material, including new planting calendars that carry its usefulness much farther inland than previous editions. Her book "Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California" provides basic instruction in ornamental gardening while profiling 50 heirloom plants that are easy in regional gardens. Pam also helped to found the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, or SLUG, an organization to support community and home gardeners, and served on its board from 1983 to 1999.
She taught horticulture at City College of San Francisco for 30 years, and continues to lecture and teach independently. Her Q&A column, "Golden Gate Gardener," appears in the San Francisco Chronicle, and her website, pampeirce.com, links to the columns online as well as to her blog.