Allotments 4 All

I saw an article about remedies for invasive weeds in a gardening magazine ages ago (just found it again) that said someone had a horsetail  problem and were told Margolds could help.

"The Mexican marigold (Tagetes minuta) when grown well looks like a large African marigold with finely cut leaves.
It excretes chemicals from its roots that are toxic to horsetail, ground elder,couch grass and many other difficult to eradicate weeds."
Sounds almost too good to be true to me!! Anybody ever tried this to see if it really does work?
Wonder if it would help with my bindweed problem?

;D I've no idea Eileen ;D But have Marigold Boy O Boy growing in modules and can't remember where is best to plant them to protect my veggies or what veggies? ::) ;D

Any french marigold will confuse green fly and cabbage white buterfly and are thought to detere slugs through chemicals extracted through roots.  The African marigolds seem to have weed suprressing propertis and some of the pest prevention.

Hi Eileen,
               From personal experience I can state that Tagetes Minuta has a definate effect on Ground Elder. ;D

The Bindweed however used it as a climbing frame and the Horsetail ignored it completely. >:(

See my posts:-

The Basics/re: Mares Tail.   May 26th

Edible Plants/re: Japanese Knotweed anyone?  May 7th

                                                                   PREMTAL

Good for you  PREMTAL , I couldn't get the bl**dy things to germinate.

Premtal   I'm glad to hear about tagetes minuta helping with ground elder as I'm innundated with the stuff.  I'll get some seed and give it a whirl.  Ta for the info  :)

Hi Derbex and Wardy,
                                   For best germination results sow seeds in half trays 40 seeds to a tray in a cold greenhouse.

The compost mix I use is 3/5 general purpose compost to 2/5 sharp or coarse sand, only lightly cover the seeds with the mix(1/4")and keep moist.

Gremination should be evident within 8 to 10 days, prick out seedlings into modular trays and plant out when 4" high.

The better the weather during the growing season the better the results will be.

Being a hot climate plant it likes plenty of sunshine, the more sunshine it gets the deeper the root system.

I like the fact that this plant has medicinal and culinary properties as well as weed supressing properties.

Multi-tasking its the in thing, but as we all know women are better at it than us poor mortal men!

                                                            PREMTAL

Premtal   Ta for that information.  Did you get the seed from the Organic Gardening Catalogue?

Hi Wardy,
           
You can purchase the seeds from Chiltern Seeds at their website or by post.

In the country of origin the dried leaves are used to flavour soups and meat, recent research suggests that it has powerful anti-viral properties.

                                                  PREMTAL