Marigolds are good to plant in veggie gardens, because they not only attract pollinators, they repel nematodes, or rather, the nematodes like them better than the veggies.

No, planting flowers will not hurt. True potage, or kitchen gardens always have flowers interspersed to attract the bees.

Hi Savannah,

MsMarion showed me how to lighly flick a tomatoe blossom or three to encourage self pollination. She mentioned that she learned that from another forum member. Good luck with your veggies!

Marilyn

Hmm, that sounds like something I could do with my new favorite gardening tool - chopsticks. They're usefull for so many things.

Although with this wind, I suspect the blossoms that are open now are done for. But maybe I'll try that some morning this week when I'm out watching my tomato plants. I do a lot of watching. No serious bugs yet, so not much to do to them but watch them.

Maybe the watching helps since I didn't watch the broccoli very much, and now I can't find it!

Junkyardgirl,

All this time, I knew marigolds were good for tomatoes and had no idea it was because the nematodes preferred the marigolds. My marigolds always die quick deaths. Wonder if they were getting eaten by nematodes which spared the tomatoes at least as long as the marigolds were around?

Hmmm. Might be time to rethink marigolds. Anyone know a really easy marigold. The big box ones seem so delicate in my conditions. And I never have much luck with marigold seeds, but I don't try as hard as I do with tomato seeds. I've decided if I just paid attention to other seeds the way I do my tomatoes every year, I could probably grow a lot more things from seed.

Thanks.
Susannah

Marigolds don't draw nematodes away from tomatoes or any other plant. (See James Stephen's book on veggie growing in Florida, and numerous UF documents on-line for more info on this). Marigolds can reduce some varieties of nematodes if you plant a solid cover of a vigorous variety, such as Park's "Golden Guardian," and till them into the soil.

Still, marigolds are great plants for the veggie garden. I have found that it is best to avoid nursery stock and start from seed. The plants are much more vigorous, and you get much more choice. I like the big old fashioned varieties of French Marigold for the veggie garden.

African blue basil is a great bee attractor too.

Bill

Susannah
I have grown two kinds of marigolds: The African marigolds that are quite tall and bushy with strong scent. They usually come in orange or yellow.
And the smaller French marigolds that come in a variety of colors and sizes.
Both are easily grown from seed, direct sowing, full sun, keep them moist when young. Later on water when dry.
I usually plant them in masses at the planting borders and they fill nicely.
The seeds are fairly large so you can easily space them. Try them again, they are not only good for insect control but are also pretty as I have seen them in festivities in India.
Just decide on the right palette for your garden, I would recommend the French marigolds either from seed or starting with plants.

Willy

I live in Boca and have a Dombeya X Seminole, sometimes called a tropical rose hydrangea. It blooms this time of the year (long blooming period) and the bees love it...if you want to attract bees, it's better than honey. It makes a very attractive bush too.

Wow! I just googled Dombeya X Seminole - what a beauty!

Wow scogebear, I just googled it as well, and it is a beauty. With that name, is it native? Where do I get one? I'm not sure it would fit anywhere near the veggie garden, but I'm always finding room for things and I'd like one of those! Is yours pretty big? What about bugs? I don't use chemical fertilizers. Can it survive on the occasional compost tea infusion?

As for all the marigold advice, y'all have convinced me to try marigolds from seed again. Maybe watching them will do the trick. Might be a little late for at least the beginning of this year's tomato harvest, I'm hoping to be eating home grown shortly. But I harvested into May last year, so maybe it will help the later season bugs _ I'm surprised at how few I've had so far this year, fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I think I'll try flicking the flowers gently with my chopsticks. Oh so gently, I assume. Marilyn, any advice on that? Seems it would be easy to just knock the pollen off, which wouldn't do much good.

Thanks all
Susannah

Unfortunately, I can't help you with where to get one, although I have sen them rarely at Home Depot and I saw one more recently at Sunkist Nursery in Pompano. They can get quite large if you let them go, but I plan to keep mine trimmed back, hopefully that works. I've had absolutely no problems with the plant, no bugs and even when the rest of my lawn needs watered it is fine. I think I will try to propagate it and see what happens.