Marigolds are an attractive addition to any garden. Their brilliantly coloured blooms are ideal for summer borders and pots – often lasting well into autumn.
But, as well as being decorative, marigolds – or Tagetes to give them their scientific name – have a practical purpose for veg growers.
Speaking on the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast, expert Sonya Patel Ellis explains: “Early sowings are also useful for cultivating a crop of Tagetes that have been grown as companion plants, plugging the areas around tomato or cucumber plants to help deter white fly, which are naturally repelled by the distinctive aroma of the leaves and flowers.”
Sonya adds that Marigolds “also attract beneficial insects such as ladybirds, hoverflies and lacewings that prey on pest species such as aphids”.
“Plus,” Sonya adds, “they are a magnet for pollinators including bees and butterflies, so can actively help increase yields of insect-pollinated crops, including your tomatoes and cucumbers, but also squash, cane fruits and berry bushes.”
She adds that as well as helping protect food crops, marigolds are themselves edible, with a citrusy, slightly spicy flavour: “I love tossing a handful of fire-coloured petals in a salad or using them to garnish cocktails or cakes,” Sonya says.
A word of warning though: slugs find marigold leaves absolutely delicious, so if you’re planting them, you will need to plan ahead with some sort of deterrent for the slimy invaders.
Some gardeners report that slugs will devour store-bought marigolds, but barely touch plants that are grown from seed.
If you do decide to bring some extra colour into your garden, bear in mind that marigolds don’t tend to survive frost, so are grown as half-hardy annuals in the UK.
Marigolds do best in a sheltered site, especially the larger African varieties, which can suffer badly in strong winds.
They should be planted in a part of your garden that regularly gets full sun, with reasonably fertile, but well-drained soil.
You should use peat-free, multi-purpose potting compost if you’re planting your blooms in pots, and remember that pots will need plenty of watering – especially at this time of year.
It’s technically a little late to be planting marigolds for the Summer now – peak time is from early May to mid-June – but even if planted now, you can expect them to flower within a few weeks of sowing.
Sonya adds that she often doubles up with an autumn sowing between September and October “for an earlier flush of flowers from May to July the following year.”
You can encourage lush flowers by applying a liquid fertiliser every fortnight in summer. Removing dead and faded flower heads will keep plants looking good and encourage more flowers to develop