4 Secrets to Keep Marigolds Blooming Big and Nonstop All Summer

Marigolds are one of those hardworking bloomers that keep bursting into flower from May right up until the frost finally puts an end to the show. Their bright blooms — fiery orange, sunshine yellow, deep sunset red — crown mounds of finely cut dark leaves, lighting up the garden for months without needing much from you. They don’t slow down or make a fuss; they just keep throwing out fresh blooms, day after day.

They’re easy to please, too. Grow them in pots, garden beds, or right alongside your veggies (they’re famous for helping fend off pests), and they’ll reward you with blooms all season long. But — and there’s always a “but” in gardening — if you don’t give them a little extra care, they’ll start to lose steam, stopping new buds from forming and leaving half-open flowers stuck in limbo.

Here’s the good news. With just a few simple changes, you can coax even more flowers out of your marigolds — creating a non-stop, high-energy explosion of color that rolls straight through summer.

If that sounds good to you, you’re in luck. I’ve got four simple “trade secrets” to share — time-tested tricks that’ll keep your marigolds blooming big and flowering all summer long. Let’s get into it.

Keep Marigolds Blooming by Deadheading Spent Flowers

Marigolds are so low maintenance and easy to grow that, once we plant them, we often just forget about them. And they forget about us. Actually, what we do is shorten their life cycle, because we leave the spent blossoms on, and our energy-packed green and yellow-orange friends go to seed.

So, they stop putting energy into growing new buds, and opening new flowers, and because most of them are annuals, as soon as they produce new seeds, they start wilting and they approach a premature end to their lives.

So, always deadhead marigolds’ spent blooms. Because the petioles can be quite tough, it’s hard to do it by pinching the dry flowers. Use a small, sharp blade (like a grafting knife, or small scissors) instead; it will give your marigolds a clean, neat and -above all – healthy cut.

Next…

It’s a Matter of Sunshine and Water Balance

Marigolds are very forgiving and adaptable; on the one hand, they are drought tolerant, on the other, they manage well in part shade as well. However, don’t expect their best performance with these two conditions. Yes, they will still bloom, but they will produce fewer flower heads of course.

So, if your marigolds are in partial shade, they will never bloom as much as in full Sun. But how about dry spells? They will survive them, but, of course, they will flower less, simply because they don’t have the energy to do it!

Even worse, however, is if you overwater them; after a drought, marigolds recover quickly and they will start growing new buds soon. But if their roots are wet for a long time, the whole plant will suffer long term!

So, what should you do?

• Grow your marigolds in full Sun, and if you have them in containers, move them to a sunny position.
• Allow the soil to dry up between waterings, give them 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5.0 cm) of water once or at most twice a week, when it is very dry.
• Water deeply; don’t irrigate marigolds frequently with little water, give them lots but at long intervals.
• Water them from below; don’t get the flowers and the leaves wet!
• Irrigate your marigolds in the evenings, sudden changes of temperature can lower their “willingness to bloom”.

Moving on to another “trick of the trade”.

Fertilize Your Marigolds to Encourage Blooming

You can treat marigolds like any other plant, fertilizing them with compost every now and then, especially if you have them in your vegetable garden to fend off pests. But if you really want to enhance their blooms, you can “change their diet” so that you encourage new buds and flowers.

So, here’s the “seasonal menu” for your marigolds to get loads of blossoms!

• Feed your marigolds with either a slow-release balanced fertilizer (NPK 10-10-10) or compost when you plant them.
• Add 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt, bone meal and fish emulsion mixed (or any of them).
• After one month, switch to a fast-release, low nitrogen fertilizer, with NPK 5-10-10 or 10-20-20.

Alternatively, you can use a bloom booster with a very high phosphorus content, like 10-30-20, or even 10-52-10! That will certainly give you loads of marigold flowers!

Fertilize frequently with half dosage, rather than rarely but with lots of fertilizer. I suggest every two weeks. This way, you won’t give your marigolds “ups and downs” and they will bloom continuously.

• Add your chosen slow-release liquid fertilizer
• Once a month, you can also add Epsom salt, fish emulsion or bone meal to their diet.

And that’s the very best way to fertilize marigolds to get them to bloom like crazy and non-stop!

Finally…

Marigolds Repel Pests… Apart from These!!!

We all know that marigolds are great pest repellants. In fact, we grow them next to our greens in our vegetable gardens, but we also keep them in containers on our window sills, or near our homes, because they can even keep blood-thirsty mosquitoes away…

But this could lull you into a false sense of security… Many gardeners, in fact, take for granted that marigolds are immune from all pests, so they never check for them. And it can be a big mistake indeed!

Yes, because there are some pests that actually like your marigolds, as food, despite their pungent smell: snails and slugs! They will eat both the leaves and the flowers of your Tagetes plants, especially when they are young!

Later on in the season, snails and slugs won’t be much of a problem, because it is too hot and too dry for them, so they usually “go to sleep” and stop their super-annoying mulching activity.

But if they damage your marigolds early on, they will not have the energy to bloom as profusely as you would like them too.

So, protect your marigolds from slugs and snails, especially when they are young and the weather is mild. You can use any method you prefer, traps, salt (not good for your soil in the long run…) barriers etc.

Mine? I let some chili peppers rot in water for 2 days or more – the hotter the better. I keep them in a tank.

Then, when I need it, I pour it into a spray bottle, I add a squeeze of liquid natural soap and I spray away as if there was no tomorrow! Slugs and snails get really burnt by this simple concoction. They will never approach your marigolds with it on!

4 Secrets for Lots of Marigold Flowers!

That’s all, folks! 4 simple secrets to keep your marigold blooming profusely through the season, till frost indeed, and brighten up your days with their bright and energetic flowers.