Marigold - Tiger’s Eye

DESCRIPTION

The marigold is a long lasting, self seeding, and flexible companion flower, great for attracting bees and other beneficial insects to your garden later in the summer. It's important to maintain at least some flowers and other habitat in the veggie garden all year round, so that the insects remember where you are! Your patch should never be cleared and left empty. Introducing marigolds to your garden makes that job a breeze, because although it dies off in winter, the seeds left in the soil are the first flowers to germinate the following spring - the new plants soon acting as a beacon for pollinators to start getting busy.

POT CARE AND PLANTING

Marigolds are easy to care for in a pot - transplant into a larger pot or a garden bed within 7 days. Soil level should be up to 5mm below the start of the lowest leaves.

WATERING

Marigolds are average water consumers - water this one an average amount, once per day (early morning or late afternoon is best in summer). More water will cause insane growth, but too much water will cause the roots to rot away.

SUN EXPOSURE

Marigolds like plenty of sun - I recommend planting it in an open and sunny area of the garden, but towards the back or side of your plot, because it'll be a little tall by the end of its life cycle.

COMPANION PLANTING

This plant can get pretty big - maybe 30cm wide, and up to 80cm tall. It will be most helpful to the pollination of cucurbits, solanums, and strawberries, and will also attract beneficial predatory insects when planted near brassicas. Make sure you leave some space for everything to expand.

HARVESTING AND EATING

Marigold leaves can be consumed as an iron-rich bitter green, added in small amounts to salads and soups. The brilliant orange and red flower petals are also edible - they taste delicately sweet and have a texture like lettuce. Each plant produces a myriad of frilly, planet-shaped flowers, with a honey-like fragrance. Marigold flowers are best when the petals are separated from the green “calyx” and used to garnish cold drinks and salads, and to decorate cakes and other sweets.

SEED SAVING AND PROPAGATION

Marigolds can start to flower quickly when the weather is warm. Its recommended to trim the majority of spent flowers to encourage more flowering, but leaving two or three flowers on the plant will allow you to collect quite a bit of seed. Wait for the selected blooms to finish flowering and dry out on the plant - when the whole flower starts to look brown, cut the blooms off and dry them in a paper bag. Shake and crunch the dried blooms in the bag to release the long, thin black seeds, and discard any larger pieces of material. You can sow some again right away, or save your marigold seeds over the winter in something airtight - they will last for at least 3 years. They're easy to germinate - simply cover with about 1mm of soil and keep moist, when daytime temperatures are above about 18 degrees.