Marigolds

By Christine Tailer
HCP columnist

Every year, I float start the marigold seeds I've saved from the year before. It is so easy to save them. As the flower heads begin to wither and die back, I simply snap them off. This not only encourages new growth, but also allows me to save their seeds, sometimes as many as 50 per flower.

I then simply spread the freshly snapped flower flower heads out in a single layer across several sheets of newspaper that I've weighted down with rocks and set out in the sun. Every night, I bring the drying flowers inside to avoid them getting wet in the valley's heavy dew. It usually takes no more than a day or two for the flowers to become perfectly dry. I then store them in a large manila envelope that I place in my sock drawer. It is so wonderful to pull open this drawer and be greeted with the sweet scent of marigolds during the cold days of winter.

All throughout this past summer, I gathered a copious amount of the seeds, enough to fill two large manila envelopes. There was simply not enough room for the bulging envelopes in my sock drawer, so I placed them someplace else. Alas, this spring, as I was starting all my garden seeds, I could not find that someplace else. It seems that I had misplaced what was assuredly my 14th generation of saved seeds. I was sad, and had no choice but to go online and order a new batch.

When the seeds arrived, I set them floating, along with all the other garden seeds I had already started in the greenhouse float bed. In time, I planted my garden, thankfully protected from marauding pests by this new generation of marigolds. I stepped back and sighed. I missed my old friends.

Then, on a rainy late spring day, I decided to clean out my closet, and yes, you have likely guessed what I found. A small antique chair rests in my closet. I occasionally set things on it, such as one of my treasure boxes or a photo that brings smiles when I enter. I must have set the bulging envelopes upon it. These rounded envelopes apparently slid off the chair towards the back of the closet, and there they lay hidden, all throughout the winter.

I was now confronted with a wonderful dilemma. What was I to do with my new-found old friends? I did not ponder long. I tilled up a large patch of ground down by the creek road and broadcast the seeds across it. I gently raked the ground to lightly cover the seeds. Once again, I stepped back to see what might happen.

I am now glad to report that almost two months have passed since my scattering, and that every single one of those thousands of seeds has sprouted and happily grown. My old friends now comprise what is assuredly the most dense patch of marigolds you could ever imagine.

There are two lessons I have learned. First, it is wise to periodically clean out one's closet, and second, broadcast marigolds can not only survive, but thrive.

Christine Tailer is an attorney and former city dweller who moved several years ago, with her husband, Greg, to an off-grid farm in Ohio south-central Ohio. Visit them on the web at straightcreekvalleyfarm.com. 

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