[rowlandwells]

i know growing marigolds is one of the easiest plants to grow and i've grown plenty the question is it better to remove the first flower bud to get a better flower when it buds a second time

and does this apply to all marigolds i know you dead head through the season when the flowers are over also does anyone use a plant regulators i don't think plant regulators are for sale to the general public?

[mumofstig]

I don't know about all that fancy stuff.....I just let them get on with it 

[Trillium]

Any flower plant that is still young and getting spindly (skinny) should have the top pinched off so it will bush out and flower more profusely. Marigolds are the same - pinch out the single top flower and the rest will flower lushly.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about regulators unless you're doing a public landscaping where plant control is needed.

For me, the heavier flowering my marigolds are, the happier I and the bees are.

[Jamie Butterworth]

I don't know about all that fancy stuff.....I just let them get on with it 

Me too, they seem to do fine, when i worked in the parks formal gardens they had loads and didn bother doing ought with them and they looked brill

They are very simple plants, which is what i like about them

[tallulah]

I bought 6 marigold plantlets from a roadside stall in the village early last summer.  Plonked them in, watered when needed, no tweeking or pinching out (only deadheaded) and got a fantastic showing the entire summer through to autumn!  Cost pennies too 

[Trillium]

I'm one of the few people who don't even mind their smell. In fact, summer isn't summer without the smell of marigolds and alyssums.

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

I'm one of the few people who don't even mind their smell. In fact, summer isn't summer without the smell of marigolds and alyssums.

I love the smell of Marigolds too - for me it reminds of learing about growing plants with my grandad when I was small enough to need a box to stand on to be at the right height for the shelving in the greenhouse.  Happy days indeed.

I also love the smell of geraniums 

[Goldfinger]

Is it marigold's you use as companion planting around beans and peas to keep the black fly off??

What should I do, buy the plants or the seeds when it's time??

[Kleftiwallah]

I think those are tagletes Goldinger.  I always pop a few in among my tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Cheers,   Tony.

[DD.]

Tagetes.

Seed is cheap & they're easy to grow.

[Trillium]

Depends whether or not you've space to start seeds. they're dead simple - simply stick the dark pointy end into the potting mix just up to the top of the lighter wider end, then water. Seeds should be started soon so they'll be ready for planting out around April if weather is warm enough.

Or you can simply buy plants but a packet of seed is a far better value since you can have dozen and dozens for little cost.

As for repelling insects, you can try marigolds but the reality is that very little repels them short of squishing them or attracting hoverflies and such to eat them.