Growing Marigolds

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Marigolds were the very first flowers I ever grew from seed, so I suppose I have a never ending love affair with them. I bought a packet on a whim and I’ve had so much luck with them, that I will always grow these blooms.

If you are looking to add some colour to your life, and you want something that is tolerant to the Lowveld heat and occasional dryness, the wonderfully warm marigold is without a doubt the easiest flower you will ever grow and if you let it go to seed, it will just keep coming back, provided it has enough water and sunlight.

It is no lie or exaggeration when gardeners tell you that if you grow just one marigold plant, you’ll have them forever.

Marigolds come in an assortment of varieties and they are absolutely show-stopping when they start to bloom. Marigolds are part of that old-timey cottage garden collection of flowers.

Although they are considered to be annuals, meaning they last a season before they go to seed, and with our stunning Lowveld weather, you won’t have to wait for the return of spring weather. Marigolds growing well and flower all year round in the Lowveld, just leave them to seed themselves.

Marigolds are not just a must-have for the garden but they also make for a fairly long lasting cutflower. The downside is that marigolds don’t have the most appealing of smells. The fragrance won’t linger in your home but it can stick to your hand for a while (wear gloves when cutting if you have sensitive nose).

Types of Marigolds

Except for the Eskimo Marigold, which is white, all of the Marigold varieties are yellow, orange and red, or a combination of these colours. You get big marigolds, with gorgeous double blooms, and tiny marigolds that add perfect pops of colour to garden borders. Some marigolds can grow to a height of 1 meter or taller, and can become incredible garden features. These are also your cutflower variety, which are perfect for bouquets.

In the Lowveld, popular varieties of marigolds include the Sunset Giants Double Mix (these were the first types I grew, I love them, they are amazing), Naughty Marietta (these are small plants with yellow petals and a red center), Lemon Drops (they are, ah, yellow), the Petite Mixed (these include a combination of small yellow, orange and red double flowers), Boy ‘o Boy (a small bushy mixed marigold pack with blooms which include reds, yellows and oranges, some with a different colour edging), Crackerjacks (another gorgeous double flowering marigold) and Aquarius Mixed (these are mostly yellows and oranges with some variations).

Sowing

It is a little too easy to grow marigolds, which makes them the perfect choice for new gardeners. Both direct seeding and starting seeds in containers will give you happy little seedlings which will grow into beautiful flowers, if you remember to keep them moist in the early weeks.

If you want to direct plant, prepare a spot in the top soil and mix in some compost. Then dampen the soil, toss in some seeds, lightly cover them, and make sure that you keep the soil moist. Within around a week or so, you’ll have seedlings, and after that within a little more than a month, your marigolds will bud up and bloom.

Direct sowing is the easiest method, but you are going to have a lot less control over how many seedlings come up and how many actually survive to maturity.

If direct sowing is not for you, or if you want a guarantee that your seeds will be productive, you can sow in trays or buy your plants already grown, although this is a more expensive route to take, especially when you consider how easy it is to grow these plants from seed. If you plan on buying your marigolds already half grown, my advice would be to check the tag to see what variety you are getting (you don’t want to end up with a tiny plant when what you wanted was a cutflower) and to look for those plants that have no flowers and only a few buds (ideally no buds), this way you will get a plant that still has lots of flowering time, which means you get more time to enjoy the flowers before the plant puts all of its energy into making seeds.

Marigolds are quite versatile. You can grow them successfully in the Lowveld all throughout the year, but they will be most productive from around August to May. In June and July the plants will stay alive, but they won’t give you as many flowers as they would during warmer months.

If you want the plant to self-seed, just let the flower heads go to seed and you will more than likely get more seed than you received in the packet. You can let the seeds naturally fall when they have completely dried out, but keep in mind that by allowing just a single head to do this, you will have more than 10 seedlings come up in a tiny spot. Unlike other flowers, marigolds will start making seed the moment the first flower dies, so you will have blooms in all their glory putting on a show next to dry seed heads. The upside of this is that if you let the seeds fall, you will be succession planting without having to put in any effort.

I like to collect the flower heads and sprinkle the seeds in the area I want to plant more marigolds and I lightly cover them.

I also try to collect specific seed heads from those flowers that are most beautiful. This way I can create my own selection of marigolds that I really love.

Another thing that you can do is collect the seeds for later use. Marigold seeds store very well. When you have grown a couple of marigolds to maturity, you will never again have to buy seed, unless of course you want to grow a different variety.

Growing

Marigolds are all chill and no fuss. You can forget to water them for a few days and they will still bloom happily. They also don’t need to be fertilized as often as other plants do, and will just thrive in the heat.

If you want to prolong the flowering time and if you are keen to have a little bit more control over where the next generation of plants grow, you should remove the dead flowers.

Depending on the type of marigold you are growing, the space between the plants will vary. Your big Sunset Giants can be grown about 10 centimeters apart. They are going to give you multiple long stems and will become giant bushes. Smaller types should be grown closer together than 10 centimeters, to create a tightly packed border.

Companion Planting

One thing that marigolds have going for them that few other plants have, is that they are a fantastic companion plant.

Companion plants are those which offer certain benefits to the plants around them and in the case of the marigolds, they are a must for growing next to tomatoes.

If you opt for the small, dwarf type such as Boy ‘o Boy, the marigold will stay compact which will make it the perfect size for growing underneath or close to your tomatoes. These plants will benefit the tomatoes by fending off root-knot nematodes and some other parasites such as tomato worms, slugs and snails. Just keep in mind that if you are growing the smaller marigolds near tomatoes, the tomato bush will need to be watched because it can stunt the marigold by giving it too much shade

Marigolds are also very attractive to bees, especially the type of marigolds which open up fully, revealing its pollen.