The marigold in the garden: sowing and care instructions

Content

• The marigold in the garden: sowing and care instructions
• Sow the marigold directly in the bed
• Prefer the Calendula officinalis in the house
• Simply harvest the flower seeds yourself
• Tips

The seeds of the marigold look a bit funny

The marigold in the garden: sowing and care instructions

In the common marigold or garden marigold (Calendula officinalis), even the name points to the characteristic shaped seeds with their ringed sickle shape. Thanks to its simple care, the widespread flower has become indispensable in Central European peasant and monastery gardens for several centuries.

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Sow the marigold directly in the bed

Because the marigold grows very fast in full sun to partially shaded locations with not so wet soil, you can simply sow the popular dried flower and medicinal plant directly in the garden bed. However, you should wait until April or May, so that the sensitive young plants can not be damaged by late night frosts. At a germination temperature of 15 to 20 degrees Celsius, the germination of Calendula flower seeds takes about 8 to 15 days. There are many reasons to sow the seeds of the pretty-looking marigold in the garden:

Prefer the Calendula officinalis in the house

The marigold can also be preferred in the house for a particularly strong start to the outdoor season. In each case, sow three to five of the seeds in a pot with as little nutrient-poor soil as possible and cover them only lightly with substrate. Moisten the fresh seeds well and place them in a bright and evenly warm place. The use of nutrient-poor seed soils is important because otherwise the plants can shoot too early and too strongly upright and then tolerate planting in the field less well. You can also regulate growth to vigorously alert young plants by making them either slightly warmer and lighter or colder and less bright in the house.

Simply harvest the flower seeds yourself

Many hobby gardeners still remember playing as children with the curled flower seeds of the calendula and sowing them themselves. After all, the crescent-shaped seeds are relatively large and much easier to grasp than many other flower seeds. Therefore, the harvest is pretty easy: just wait until the withered flowers of the calendula have turned into a gray-brown wreath of dry seeds. These are ripe if they can be easily detached when touched. Of course, you must leave at least some withered flowers on the herbaceous plants and not remove the flowered baskets during the flowering time for all optical reasons.

Tips

You do not necessarily have to decide on either of these things if you want to harvest the petals and seeds of the marigold for use for nutritional and healing purposes. The regular cutting of individual flower heads stimulates the calendula to form further flowers. Harvest petals for drying as a tea base as early as possible in summer, so you can leave the later flowers to full seed maturity.