Where are you located? In many places these grow and bloom at very different times. What kind of bulbs have you planted?

New Jersey, Zone 6b. I have 5 varieties of alliums, which bloom from late spring into early summer. I would like to start the nasturtiums from seed indoors to get an early start, and I want to put them perhaps within 4" of the bulbs. But, I've heard that some plants' roots can actually go into the bulb to take its nutrients. I planted nasturtiums this past year and they thrived and bloomed beautifully right up until the first frost. So, I know their bloom time will extend well beyond the alliums. I'm just mostly concerned about protecting the bulbs is nasturtiums are "parasitic". Do you know if they are?

Correction: I'm in zone 7b.

No, nasturtiums are not 'parasitic'. Indeed I've never heard of any plant roots 'going into bulbs and stealing nutrients'.

I have rampant self seeding trailing nasturtiums and the foliage is so dense that they smother anything growing amongst them. They cover many square feet of space. But I doubt that named more compact varieties will have much effect on the Alliums if they are the taller types.

Agree with floral. You have nothing to worry about.

depth of the bulb vs depth of the N roots might dictate whether they are in the same soil area.. to have any effect on nutrient sharing ...

some allium are small plants and barely and inch or two down.. whereas some of the huge ones.. should be down 6 inches or more ...

what allium are you growing???

welcome to the forums .... if you plan on sticking around .... plz go to the members page and add your location to your name ...

do you have any experience with growing seed indoors .... sweet and short.. dont start too early ... and dont start them all at once ... just in case your timing is off ...

ken

Thank you, everyone.

The alliums are tall and layered, with big bulbs 6" down and smaller bulbs 3-4" down.

I'm ripping out the dead nasturtiums this week. I'll check to see how far down their roots went, if possible. But, overall, it sounds like it will be ok to plant them close together.

I've been doing a lot from seeds over this past year and so far so good. I started the nasturtiums I have now from seed, and I've collected the nasturtium seeds throughout the season and will be using them to start indoors this coming spring. I was hoping to let them grow in cups/pots outside until they flower so I can only use the yellow ones (I'm trying to color-coordinate with the alliums). I'll just give away all the orange and red ones! Thereafter, I thought I could let them self-seed. Does anyone know if they self sow well in freezing climates like mine?

The roots don't go far. I don't even bother to remove the dead plants any more. They turn to mush at the first frost and i find they protect the soil from winter rain compaction. And even if you do remove them you need to leave them long enough to drop their seed. By spring you can just dig them in or mulch over them. They self sow in my climate, which although not very cold does get some temps below freezing.