Started April 1

Size: 6-12” high by 12” wide

Location: full sun, well drained soil

Matures in: 30-60 days

Native: French

Why did I Choose it? This is the preferred marigold for companion planting. It is said it has the tastiest petals.

Uses? Excellent companion plant, edible flowers and great for natural dyeing. The dried flowers are also a tasty treat for the chickens. 

Specifics: Bees love them! They prefer the single bloom varieties over the doubles. They are excellent for tomato protection repelling nematodes, slugs, tomato hornworms and other garden pests. The strong scent confuses many predators helping to repel aphids, potato beetles, cucumber beetles, flea beetles, Japanese beetles, cabbage maggots, corn earworms, squash bugs, bean beetles and hornworms. They have a high tolerance for sunlight, drought and heat making them very tough and hardy once established. 

Companion Plants: Tomatoes, bush beans, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, squash, eggplant, melons, lettuce, asparagus, onions and kale.

Avoid: ?

Personal Notes: I started these guys April 1. Hawthorn gives a 83% germination rate. I ended up with 34 plants out of 50 seeds. They took a long time to get established in the garden. The more sun they had the better they did. I didn’t really notice them doing well until later in the summer. They produced lots of blooms that I harvested and dried for soap making and natural dying. I was pleased with these marigolds and collected seeds to try and grow them again this year. 

I think I’m going to try to pot them up for better growth. I also noticed that the paper pots I used seemed to stunt their growth. Someone mentioned the peat or paper pots end up holding a lot of mold that can inhibit plant growth. It's better to just use plastic pots and reuse them.

Next up Peppers