Outside of inviting a pair of roving mountain lions into your garden to act as deterrents, installing a deer fence is your best option to keep deer out of your garden.This installation isn’t for everybody! It requires a good am
12.06.2023 - 00:58 / gardenerspath.com / Matt Suwak
Tips for Deadheading MarigoldsAs far as satisfying gardening experiences go, I think I’ve got my top three favorites settled: biting into the first jalapeno of the season, watching my heuchera really wake up and shine in the early summer, and deadheading marigolds.
I can’t say there’s a more satisfying chore than deadheading these annuals. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it produces almost immediate results.
Even though it’s such a rewarding task, there are many folks who aren’t familiar with the practice at all, or who have never plucked a spent bloom from a marigold plant.
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Without further ado, let’s get into how to take care of these carefree and glowing annuals.
Here’s what I’ll cover:
Do I Really Need to Deadhead Marigolds?In a few words, no, you don’t need to deadhead marigolds. Your plants will continue to grow without this bit of maintenance and they’ll still bloom, and they’ll keep on keepin’ on until the first frost.
But should you deadhead your plants? You’ve got two schools of thought on the matter to consider.
The first and overwhelmingly large majority will say that, yes, you absolutely should deadhead. This is because marigolds don’t respond very positively to fertilizers – they tend to get leggy and flop over – so it is the best and easiest way to ensure strong and consistent blooms.
By removing the fading and spent blooms, you encourage the plant to produce more buds that will shortly become those sunny flowers we know and love.
It also encourages a generally healthier plant because the flowers wither as they go to seed. This process is much more energy-intensive than producing a few more flowers.
Deadheadi
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