At weedom there is freedom to ignore the calendar. Last Fall it was the chamomile that we overwintered. This year, its the Calendula, to which we are attending instead. Despite their slow start, these plants are able to bloom during the short days and low light, so we don’t have to wait ‘til spring as we did with the chamomile. Our Calendula began life from some old seeds that were scrounged up from a prior summer’s planting, stuck into some cells of potting soil in August. The little plants languished awhile, totally hating on their formulated substrate, ‘til they were moved to the greenhouse, where they experienced an immediate growth spurt in the cow poo fortified soil. Then some verminous creature ate them all down to a nub. The calendula recovered quite well, in a couple weeks, but the cursed creature came back for a second meal. With the normal growing season at an end, we gave up hope, but decided to cover them at the same time as the salad greens which were sprouting up.
I observe it to be more of a sacrificial crop than actual repellent. The aphids, whiteflies, etc tend to favor it, and tend to attack it more than the nearby garden plants. For example we've had some nice looking pepper and tomato plants growing next to some really sad looking, bug-eaten calendula. Wintercress is sort of a similarly sacrificial plant which can help protect other brassica crops. https://weedom.substack.com/p/wintercress
Thanks for this. I grow calendula and use whole dried flowers in oil for a nice skin soother in these dry months, but I did not realize the leaves were edible.
A lot of herbalists don't mention that. It also is missed in foraging books since it's cultivated. Kind of an amazing taste and mouth feel, especially eaten raw. But usually they're cooked.
Jan 21--my calendula maintained (most of) its integrity until this week past in SE Pa.. We now have some 6" snow atop the plants, and temps in the upper teens at night, fairly detrimental to anything out in the open. The flowers had ceased perhaps in early Dec., but leaves and stems continued to soldier on.
That snow might save your calendula. Hope so. I covered mine in the green house (plastic covered hoop house) when it went down to 3 degrees here, but haven't checked to see what's left. It was still blooming slowly all the way til last weekend, and had more buds on it when I covered it.
Hi, Just a question. While tagetes marigolds are good as pest deterrents in the garden, is calendula?
Thank you!
I observe it to be more of a sacrificial crop than actual repellent. The aphids, whiteflies, etc tend to favor it, and tend to attack it more than the nearby garden plants. For example we've had some nice looking pepper and tomato plants growing next to some really sad looking, bug-eaten calendula. Wintercress is sort of a similarly sacrificial plant which can help protect other brassica crops. https://weedom.substack.com/p/wintercress
I grow it as a companion in the food garden.
Thanks for this. I grow calendula and use whole dried flowers in oil for a nice skin soother in these dry months, but I did not realize the leaves were edible.
A lot of herbalists don't mention that. It also is missed in foraging books since it's cultivated. Kind of an amazing taste and mouth feel, especially eaten raw. But usually they're cooked.
Jan 21--my calendula maintained (most of) its integrity until this week past in SE Pa.. We now have some 6" snow atop the plants, and temps in the upper teens at night, fairly detrimental to anything out in the open. The flowers had ceased perhaps in early Dec., but leaves and stems continued to soldier on.
That snow might save your calendula. Hope so. I covered mine in the green house (plastic covered hoop house) when it went down to 3 degrees here, but haven't checked to see what's left. It was still blooming slowly all the way til last weekend, and had more buds on it when I covered it.