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Marigolds?

I have never been a fan of Marigolds.  I think the number one reason I have never liked them is because, well, they smell really bad.  When you think of a flower you think of something pretty and inviting that says "Hey, smell me I'm so pretty." I have never even thought Marigolds were that pretty.  


However, Marigolds do have their purpose they serve as a natural bug repellent.  Planted in your garden they help to keep the pest away so you don't have to use bug spray.  Yay Marigolds! As we all know pesticides on our food cause all kinds of harm so the more organic you can grow your vegetables the better off you are.


That being said when we planted our garden this year we decided that we wanted lots and lots of Marigolds.  The more Marigolds the less bugs the more produce.  So about six weeks before we could plant them outside we started them inside from seeds.  This was our first time starting anything from seed so we weren't very sure what we were doing and even when it came time to plant them in the garden we weren't sure that they were going to survive.


Today we have some of biggest and I must confess prettiest Marigolds you have ever seen.  The garden has grown to such a state now that it is hard to see where the Marigold plant begins and the vegetable plant ends.  They are all intertwined and the effect is pretty cool.  I have really enjoyed the Marigolds and look forward to repeating the Marigolds in next years garden.


This year we had to spray only one time for pest and that was before the Marigolds had blooms on them.  After they bloomed we didn't have to spray and we have lost little to no vegies to pest.  The other thing we did with Marigolds is we started some from seed in the garden.  There are some bugs that like to eat new plants that no matter how much you spray they eat the whole plant.  So this year we gave them Marigolds to eat they ate themselves full on Marigolds and didn't touch our vegies.


The total cost of the Marigold seeds was $1.98.  To start them indoors cost about $10.00.  If we had bought them already started it probably would have been about $40.00.  Pesticides are pretty expensive and we saved a lot of money on saved produce.  Marigolds may not be the prettiest smelling flower but they defiantly deserve points for being the prettiest working flower.
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