Marigolds are light feeders, and too much fertilizer may result in green, lush foliage and few blooms. Always apply fertilizer to damp soil, and then water immediately after fertilizing as undiluted fertilizer scorches the roots.
Deadhead marigold blooms as soon as they begin to wilt and fade. To deadhead, pinch off the bloom, along with the stem, down to the next leaf, bud, or branching stem. Without deadheading, marigold goes to seed prematurely, and blooming soon ceases. Deadheading promotes continued blooming throughout the season. Sow seeds directly into the garden once the soil is warm in the spring. The exception is African marigolds, which are best bought as young plants or started indoors about 4 to 6 weeks before your last frost date.
Marigolds sprout within a week in warm weather and plants typically produce blooms in about 8 weeks. Choosing and Preparing a Planting Site Marigolds thrive in full sunshine and can often withstand very hot summers. African and signet marigolds are drought tolerant, while French marigolds are more tolerant of wet conditions.
Though they grow in almost any soil, marigolds do best in moderately fertile, well-drained soil. Prepare the soil by digging down about 6 inches to loosen it. Remove stones. How to Plant Marigolds French marigolds can easily be started from seed, while African marigolds are best purchased as young plants when started from seed, they can take a long time to flower.
Optional: If soil is nutrient-starved, add some slow-release granular fertilizer in the planting hole. A works fine. Moisten the soil, then sow seeds 1 inch apart and no more than 1 inch deep. While still small, thin the seedlings. Space French and signet types 8 to 10 inches apart. The larger African marigolds should be at least 10 to 12 inches apart. If planting transplants, thoroughly water each plant after planting in the garden.
If planting in containers, use a soil-based potting mix. Either mix in slow-acting granular fertilizer at planting time or plan to water with diluted liquid fertilizer periodically.
Take care to space properly; marigolds grown in containers can become crowded. How to Grow Marigolds Once the marigolds have established themselves, pinch off the tops of the plants to encourage them to grow bushier. This will keep the plants from becoming leggy and will encourage more blooming. When you water marigolds, allow the soil to dry somewhat between waterings, then water well and repeat the process. Water more in high heat. Do not water marigolds from overhead.
Water at the base of the plant. Excess water on leaves can lead to powdery mildew. Do not fertilize marigolds during growth. The dense, double flowerheads of the African marigolds tend to rot in wet weather. Add a layer of mulch between plants to suppress weeds and keep soil moist, especially when plants are young. How to Deadhead Marigolds Deadheading is about removing faded flowers by pinching off the flower head.
Marigolds as Companion Plants Farmers and gardeners have long known that marigolds make important companion plants all over the garden. The underground workings of the French marigold in particular are known to repel harmful nematodes microscopic worms that attack the roots of garden vegetables—especially root-knot and lesion nematodes.
Crops most impacted include tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, snap beans, squash, onions, and garlic. To take advantage of this effect, try planting a mass of marigolds in the spring in the area where you intend to grow a fall crop.
In mid- to late summer, remove the marigolds and plant vegetables and greens for a fall harvest. In flower arrangements, strip off any leaves that might be under water in the vase; this will discourage the overly pungent odor. Marigolds can be dried for long-lasting floral arrangements. Strip foliage from perfect blossoms and hang them upside down. Flowers from Tagetes marigolds may be irritating to the skin, so we do not recommend ingesting them.
French Marigolds T. Double carnation type flowers in 6 different combinations of yellow, orange, and maroon. Minimal scent. In the late s, Burpee president David Burpee launched an energetic campaign to have marigolds named the national flower, but in the end, roses won out.
Marigolds are one of the October birth flowers. The flower petals are sometimes cooked with rice to impart the color but, unfortunately, not the flavor of saffron. Vegetable Gardener's Handbook. What do you want to read next?
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Marigolds need at least 6 hours of full sun per day to bloom well. Too much fertilizer or soil that is too rich in nitrogen. Nitrogen promotes foliage growth over flowers, so if your soil is rich in nitrogen, your plants will look very happy but will not bloom well. Growing Marigolds Botanical Name Tagetes spp. Sign up for our email newsletter by entering your email address. Full Sun , Part Sun. Loamy , Sandy. Spring , Summer , Fall.
Multicolor , Orange , Red , White , Yellow. Attracts Butterflies. In fact, marigold plants create the most flower blossoms when the plants are grown in poor quality, low-nutrient soil. If you choose to fertilize your marigolds, the excessive nitrogen will prompt a profuse growth of foliage at the expense of flower blossoms. Inspect your plants. If they're looking green and lush but with few to no flowers, it may be a sign that you're feeding them too much.
Stop fertilizing your marigolds, and they'll start producing flowers again as they deplete the soil's nutrients over time. Deadheading is the practice of cutting off spent or dead flower blossoms as soon as the blossoms start to wilt.
This redirects nutrients back to the plant so it has more energy to grow more flowers, instead of spending energy on producing seeds, according to the University of California.
If your marigolds produced a great first set of flowers but then stopped blooming, the slowdown in flower growth may be because the plant is exerting all its efforts on making seeds.
Grab a pair of garden shears and remove all dead or wilted flower buds. This will prompt your marigold plants to start blooming again.
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