Marigolds may be hard to resist, but their blooms offer even more advantages for vegetable gardens than just aesthetic appeal. Marigolds attract helpful pollinators while repelling pests that could otherwise ruin them.
Plant them alongside carrots to mask the carrot rot fly’s smell or between rows of tomatoes to deter tomato hornworms, or in between rows of both crops in order to repel root rot nematodes naturally.
Attracts Pollinators
Marigolds draw bees and other pollinators into your garden, which ensures vegetables get pollinated as necessary. Marigolds also attract predatory insects like ladybugs and lacewings that feed off pests that could otherwise damage your vegetables – while their limonene helps deter aphids and other pests.
Marigolds with their bold blooms of yellow and orange hues are an easy choice to attract bees and other pollinators to any vegetable garden. Their long bloom period also helps bring them in throughout the growing season.
Marigolds can make great additions to any vegetable garden, but they make especially effective companion plants for lettuce. Their flowers help protect it from slugs, beetles and other garden pests; creating an abundant harvest from early summer through to autumn. In addition, their shade helps provide relief in the scorching sun of late summer days.
Marigolds can be effective tools in repelling nematodes when planted as a ring around problem areas of your garden. Their roots release toxic compounds which kill off or disable reproduction by the nematodes found there, helping control populations. Since there are different species and types of nematodes present, it’s essential that you identify which ones exist before using this approach to repelling them. Specific French marigold varieties such as Tangerine Gold and Petite Gold have proven their worth at controlling nematodes effectively in controlling populations in gardens.
Though it remains unknown exactly how marigolds repel nematodes, some indications point towards them emitting a substance from their roots that interferes with nematode’s ability to access nutrients in soil and thus reduce populations of harmful nematodes in the garden.
If you are experiencing issues with nematodes in your garden, try planting marigolds in a circle around the area in which there is an issue and see if that helps. For optimal results use this strategy along with adding compost or mulch as well as rotating your vegetable planting spots every year.
Deters Pests
Marigolds make cheerful additions to any garden and are an effective natural deterrent against many vegetable garden pests, including tomato hornworms, cabbage maggots and leaf blights. Furthermore, they’ve proven successful against carrot fly larvae, squash bugs, whiteflies and aphids; you can plant marigolds among your vegetables to drive these bugs away from other parts of your vegetable patch.
Marigolds can also serve as a cover crop, sowing and then plowing them under prior to sowing vegetables in your plot. This works particularly effectively against root-knot nematodes as their flowers release chemicals that kill these parasitic worms while simultaneously stopping their eggs from hatching. Planting marigolds as cover crops the year prior can significantly decrease nematode numbers in your area and make it less likely that future crops are plagued with these damaging organisms.
If time and effort is a consideration when planting cover crops, consider an all-in-one option like buckwheat which offers similar pest deterrence without needing tilling. It can be planted quickly in just one pass with germinating within two weeks for rapid coverage.
Marigolds are simple plants to care for, requiring just sun and regular watering. They thrive in most growing conditions – such as clay soil or depleted nutrients in soil – but they especially thrive in hot, dry climates. Starting seeds indoors 4-6 weeks before your last frost date allows can give them ample time to establish themselves before being transplanted out to your vegetable garden once temperatures warm up – they’re also affordable and easily found at garden centers and plant nurseries.
Marigolds make an ideal addition to your veggie garden for several reasons, as they’re easy to grow, attract pollinators and predatory insects, deter pests and nematodes, provide seasonal color, and can even act as borders around vegetable beds! Their wide range of cultivars makes selecting those most compatible with your vegetable crops easy – use them naturally throughout your gardens, in polyculture planting schemes or borders around beds!
No Need for Fertilization
Marigolds can be grown easily from seeds or nursery transplants and require at least six hours of direct sunlight each day for optimal growth. Though these flowers thrive in any soil type, amending it with organic matter and adding small amounts of phosphorus at planting time may aid root development and flower production. If your soil has excessive alkaline levels, adding soil sulfur could help promote root development as well. Nitrogen should only be applied sparingly, since too much can result in plenty of foliage but few blooms.
Marigold blooms with vibrant shades of yellow, orange and red attract pollinators who are essential for successful vegetable gardening. Their blooming period extends the blooming time of vegetables such as tomatoes, squash and peppers; due to the additional pollinators brought in, yield increases can occur while less pesticide use will be required for their care.
Marigolds can not only attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators but their vibrant colors will also help deter pests from your garden. Their colors have proven particularly successful against cabbage maggots and carrot fly larvae but will also deter other types of insect pests such as mosquitoes. In addition, their pungent scent deters deer and rabbits from making the garden appealing.
As your flowers begin to fade, simply pull and chop them up for use in compost piles or gardens as soil-enriching material. Marigolds also help suppress weeds and provide natural mulch around vegetables; their roots have even been shown to effectively deter nematodes!
Sow marigold seed 4-6 weeks before your last frost date in your area or purchase starter plants from a garden center or nursery for optimal results. To enhance drainage, amend your soil with organic matter and coarse sand in equal parts for improved drainage. As the plants develop, space them out 7 inches apart while watering regularly to avoid nutrient imbalances.
Easy Care
There is evidence that marigolds can help control nematodes in the soil. Nematodes are tiny roundworms that can harm vegetables like tomatoes. Marigold roots release compounds which kill local populations of nematodes, thus decreasing their prevalence and making it less likely that crops planted there will also become infected with these insects. Furthermore, marigolds may release chemical repellants against certain types of nematodes.
Marigolds can bring many beneficial insects into your vegetable garden, including ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, parasitic mini-wasps and dragonflies that feed off pests that damage vegetables. Utilizing marigolds as trap crops – like planting them around edges of beds as a “sacrificial” crop to draw slugs away from vegetables – can be another advantage; just make sure that any captured slugs are collected each day so as not to allow any escapees from further damaging your vegetables plants!
If you prefer not to wait, ready-grown marigold plants can be found at local garden centers or nurserys. Otherwise, seeds should be started indoors at least six to eight weeks before your last frost date by sowing on top of moistened commercial potting soil in a tray or small pot filled with ordinary commercial potting soil and covering them with vermiculite for additional insulation and sealing the container.
Once planted, marigolds require only minimal care – full sun and moderate to rich, well-draining soil are ideal conditions. When used as borders around vegetable gardens or plotted, water them only when their top 2-3 inches of soil dry out; when planted in vegetable plots or as borders, use regular irrigation schedule.
There are various ways that marigolds can be integrated into a vegetable garden: naturally scattered as single companion plants throughout beds; used in wild profusion between other plants in polyculture planting schemes; intercropped with rows of vegetables or fruit as neater intercropping; or placed as borders to present an orderly or formal look to your garden.