I have grown around 50 Nasturtium from seed - what do I do now?

Each are around 15cm tall, they have been in a plastic Greehouse in the garden for the last 2 weeks. Am I ok to plant them outdoors now. Do I need to cane them for extra support - not sure what variety they are - did loads of seeds just for a bit of colour to my garden and now running out of space, never grown from seed before, I also have Marigolds, Salvia, Sweet Peas and Geranium (have about 50 of each) - are they safe to plant outdoors.
I have grown around 50 Nasturtium from seed - what do I do now?
Out of your plant list, the Marigolds, Salvias and Geraniums are the most tender, though they will all be more tender than if they had been grown outdoors from seed. For this reason, they need some transitional treatment, to get them hardened off, ready for soil planting outdoors. You've done really well to have so many plants from your first seed sowing - well done! Now you just need to keep them in good condition, so that they can go on to flower all summer long for you.



The key thing with greenhouse grown plants is to gradually acclimitise them to the outdoors. Do this by letting them have a couple of hours a day outdoors space, increasing this over a couple of weeks, until they are outdoors 24x7 - though watch for frosts, as they may still be a little tender.



Most, but not all Nasturtiums are climbers, though some are bush or trailing. They will all trail, if not short bushy varieties, like the red Empress of India type. They will rample over some old shrubs, up canes, etc, once you've hardened them off.



Watch out for slug and snail damage on your plants too, as these love many of these plants, especially French or African Marigolds. You can get animal friendly pellets, that will get rid of them.



The sweet peas will be the safest, and won't need such a long time hardening off, they should be good after around a week, leaving them out half a day or so at a time the 1st day or so. But, no need to worry too much about these at all.



If you get any ground frosts later in May, when they are outdoors planted, cover them with some horticultural fleece, or even half drinks bottles, and this should keep them snugly warm under cover. Get some bottles from your friends now, just in case they're needed.



Hope this helps. Good luck! Rob
Reply:You didn't say where you live!



If the danger of frost is passed, then you can plant anything you want outside.



If you counters are bursting, and you might still have frost, maybe plant the hardy ones anyway (Sweet Peas can take frost), or even the tender ones, and be prepared to cover them if you get a frost warning.
Reply:Hi Wendy,

Don't forget you can add your Nasturtium leaves to your salads for a peppery taste, so the more the merrier. I am going to put mine in a hanging basket. Kind regards - Becki