Flowers & companions
Marigold
Pest deterrent among tomatoes and peppers.
- Outside
- Direct mid May, or set six-packs
- Where
- Bed edges, among tomatoes and peppers
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Even while young; water when dry a knuckle down
Care
- Water
- Keep the soil evenly damp while the seeds sprout and the seedlings root in; after that it laughs off dry spells, so water only when the bed has dried a knuckle down, then give it a deep soak.
- Sow
- French types, a quarter inch deep, one or two seeds a hole, thinned to eight to twelve inches apart. Sow them straight into the bed come mid May, or start with a nursery six-pack.
- Feed
- A light feeder that does fine in ordinary or even lean soil. A shovel of compost worked into the spot at sowing is plenty; skip the liquid feed and you will still get flowers clear to frost.
- Ready
- No crop to gather, just deadheading: snap off the spent, browning heads and the plant keeps pushing fresh ones right up to frost. Leave them on to set seed and it starts winding down instead.
- Trouble
- Slugs on the seedlings: they go for the tender starts in the first couple of weeks, so ring each one with bare, dry soil and no mulch until it toughens. Spider mites or Japanese beetles: occasional, just pick or hose them off.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 2–3 gal bag.
- Water
- A bag dries much faster than the bed; check it daily in July and water until it runs from the base, letting the top dry between soaks.
- Feed
- Every watering leaches a bag, so a light monthly top-dress keeps it going; even then it stays a modest feeder.
- Sow
- One or two plants per bag.
Marigolds hold the edges of the tomato and pepper rows, part pest management and part morale. The French types are the working ones, compact and unkillable from June to frost.
Growing
Direct sow in mid May or set out nursery six-packs; either way they bloom by late June and continue to frost if deadheaded. Poor to average soil is fine and drought barely registers. Below ground, French marigold roots suppress root-knot nematodes; that much is documented, and the rest of the reputation rides along. Slugs, ironically, adore marigold seedlings, so the deterrent spends its first two weeks needing a bodyguard: a dry, mulch-free collar gets them through.
Varieties
Durango and Bonanza are sturdy French series for edging; Lemon Gem and Tangerine Gem are the single-flowered ones the beneficial insects actually visit.