When to sow Pot Marigolds outside for next spring?

Hello All

I've got a couple of hundred seeds I've gathered but not sure when to sow them. Tomorrow? Last week? In a month?

Also, what would you recommend I grow with them? I'm thinking nasturtiums off the top of my head.

 

If you're sowing outside nFrost, March and April. Sorry, I can't suggest what to grow with them but I think that Nasturtiums might swamp them.

 

Hmm, I thought you could sow them in Autumn?

 

You can, although it is getting a bit late - cold weather is just around the corner! I would try some now and save some in an envelope in the fridge, to sow in Spring if the first ones don't come up.

 

I also sow in the spring and last year I put them with Coreopsis and Rubekia.

Rusty

 

I like to see them on their own, forming a big orange carpet. Especially effective with home saved seed as they may not come true and you might have an interesting mix of heights and shades.

 

Can't see that you would gain anything planting them now as they germinate pretty quickly anyway. I also like to see them on their own.

Val

 

Just thinking on this again recently. What do you mean by not true to type? What will happen?

Thanks for the info all, on their own it is then.

 

Some of the selected varieties are bred for parks and formal display and all the plants are needed to be pretty uniform in size and appearance. They do this (I think) by carefully weeding out non-conforming plants the previous year before they produce seeds but also by breeding. (Someone who actually knows will come along, I expect.)

However, some seed mixes will not be so uniform, you'd get more of a variety of heights and flower shape/colour. If you save seed yourself, it will most likely be a mixture. Plants of different characteristics that have been allowed to freely interpollinate cannot be relied upon to produce offspring that look just the same as the original. Some plants are very prone to producing random and varied offspring, others less so. That is what is meant by saying that they won't breed true to type. If they have been highly bred in the first place to produce a uniform set of plants, this is very likely to happen.

 

I heard they are slug and snail magnets! Any suggestions to keep them away?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I planted some a 2 or 3 years ago in a patch of garden I must admit I pretty much neglect. It is poor soil and dries out very quickly because its at the foot of the south facing wall of the house. Despite the unfavourable conditions (being very dry, poor soil) they have just kept on going, looking after themselves. They must have been self sowing each year because they keep coming back. In fact they're out there now, although not currently blooming.

I suspect that if you sow the seeds now, they will just sit and wait until the time is right, although if you do that you might have a problem when they do start to germinate, in that the weeds will also start around the same time, and you'll have a job sorting weeds from marigolds.

@minki, that's my experience too. The slugs and snails love them, which is a bit unfortunate, but if you have them in sufficient number, they don't get devoured because the slugs can't eat them all, so they get a fair chance of recovering.

 

My Pot Marigolds didn't have the slightest nibble on them last year, strange. I think I'll give a month or so and sow and rake in the seeds.

 

Mine didn't either. There were other plants they preferred more!

 

When can I expect to see the seedlings come up please?

 

Any time now nFrost if this weather keeps up