Nasturtiums - feed or not?

I have gone for a load of nasturtiums this year, both trailing/climbing and upright varieties; I have two troughs (48-inch) on the flat roof of my outhouse, with one window-box style planter screwed to the trellis on the wall that faces the driveway - the idea being that the trailing plants will trail down from the roof, the upright ones behind them will give some structure to the troughs, and the same with the window box planter mid wall - the upright ones to the back will give height, whereas the trailing ones will continue the cascade started by the ones on the roof - - confused? You will be

Now, I am under the impression that nasturtiums thrive on tough love, so rather than plant them in nice new compost, I stuck them into the troughs with old/spent compost; the ones in the window box planter is fresh compost.

Now one of the troughs is doing quite well, the other looks a lot more straggly; the window box was only just planted at the weekend, so hard to tell how it is fairing yet. I also have a few hanging baskets with them in, and seem to be getting a lot of leaves yellowing and dying - - new leaves are coming behind, but its still a bit disconcerting.

They are all watered regularly (pretty much daily), so I don't think I have a hydration problem, but I am wondering about nutrients - should I throw some chicken manure pellets at them?

 

Hi F/Controller I never feed my nasturniums but I do eat them and use them on salad,just a lovely peppery taste

 

That was my thinking too - the ones planted in the borders under the tree are as healthy as can be, but the ones in containers just don't seem overly happy if you know what I mean?

 

Tomato food maybe?

 

There is the odd flower, but not many. Without buying anything specific, I have tomato food, fish, blood & bone, miracle grow pellets, growmore and chicken manure pellets - which of those would be best?

 

Why would one planter do better than the other - same seed packet, same sowing time, same location etc? I am in two minds with them to be honest, not sure whether to give them a wee feed to get them cracking and then water only, or whether to just keep watering them and hope for the best.

The latter is the easiest choice, as they are now up on a roof.

 

Possibly, but they were sat right next to each other on the patio until Saturday. I might give the chicken poo a go, as its been pretty good for everthing else.