I’m sure you know how versatile pot marigolds are as garden flowers. They are not only beautiful to look at, but useful as well. They attract bees, hoverflies and other beneficial insects. They make good companions with other plants and vegetables in the garden. And you can also use them as a culinary spice or even as a medicine or cosmetics!
Now before you go ahead and start growing them, it’s good to ask yourself:
- Where in my garden should I plant them?
- How do I prepare the soil in my garden for growing them?
The answers to these questions can help you get off to a good start. If you act on them and prepare your garden well prior to growing, the plants reward you with healthy growth as well as with abundance of cherry bright flowers throughout the whole gardening season.
Don’t know the answers? No worries. I’m about to present them to you. As you’re about to discover, it doesn’t take much at all to bring the best out of these plants…
Find sunny spots in the garden which get afternoon shade during hot summer months…
Pot marigolds love sun. The more sunlight they get, the faster and stronger they grow. However, there’s an important catch to it…
While it’s true that these plants enjoy sunbaths, they only do so when it’s cool or cold outside. That’s during spring and autumn in my part of the world. If you leave them exposed to sun during hot summer months, things are likely to end up badly. If you’re lucky, the extreme summer heat will only stunt their growth and blooming. And in worst case scenario, it will kill them!
This isn’t surprising if you consider the fact that pot marigolds are cool seeason plants. They tolerate cold much, much better than the heat.
You should keep this in mind when deciding where to plant them. If you want them to thrive, definitely go for the sunny spots of the garden. However, make sure the chosen spots get shade in the summer, especially in the afternoon when it gets really hot.
You should also avoid fully shaded areas. While some shade is alright, too much of it isn’t really a good thing because it makes plants leggy.
Avoid waterclogged spots of the garden…
There’s another thing pot marigolds hate nearly as much as extremely high summer temperatures. That’s perpetually wet growing environment.
You see, these plants are susceptible to root rot. If you grow them in those spots of your garden where water drains poorly, you basically risk losing them after every heavy raining. In wet soil the plants’ roots soon start to decompose. At first, their growth stops. And, if the conditions don’t improve, they eventually die off as well!
If you do not want to put them at risk every time it rains, you need to grow them in well-draining areas of your garden. Observe your garden after heavy raining. Are there certain spots where water stays at the surface even days after? Then those spots are definitely not appropriate for these type of plants. Stay away from them.
Enrich the garden soil with organic matter prior to planting…
Now that you know which spots of your garden are the most suitable for growing pot marigolds, it’s time to say a word of two about the soil preparation…
You’ll be happy to hear that these plants are very undemanding. They usually do well in both rich and poor soils. There’s a good chance they will grow and bloom no matter what kind and type of soil you have in the garden!
It does help, though, if your garden soil is rich in organic matter. Hence, it’s never a bad idea to spread some well-aged compost over the intended growing area. Of course, you can enrich your garden soil with organic matter in other ways as well. For instance, a combination of coffee grounds and leaves works great.
So when should you start work on your soil?
Obviously, you have to do it prior to planting. The sooner the better. I usually do it in late autumn, towards the end of my gardening season. This way, the organic compound has enough time to decompose itself and thus release plant food into the soil. You can also do it in early spring, at the very beginning of the gardening season. It’s not as effective, but still does the job.
You are now ready for the next step…
As you can see, it’s not really that much about preparing the garden. Its more about choosing the proper growing spots. Pot marigolds don’t need much to flourish. Give them sunlight, well-draining soil and some love and you can expect plenty of pleasing yellow and orange blossoms in return. Now go ahead and start planting pot marigolds …
