I don’t really know why I haven’t ALWAYS grown tagetes in my veg patch. I did last year, and I decided then that I would plant a few extras this year. Here’s why:
- I put a few in the greenhouse and didn’t have any problems with aphids on my tomatoes – the scent really is quite strong and helps to deter aphids of all types. I only planted a few outside, but will be planting more, especially with my kale which seemed to get quite a few aphid problems last autumn.
- They come in an array of yellows, oranges and reds, and this helps to attract lots of ladybirds which are great for keeping aphid numbers down. It’s like a double aphid control – the scent helps deter aphids, and the ladybirds help eat up any that do sneak in!
- They help to attract bees for pollination, and you can’t really get enough bees these days, so the more tagetes, the better!
- They look so lovely and bring colour to the veg plot. That may sound silly and pointless, but it’s such a joy to see the splashes of colour amongst all the greens.
- They’re really good for filling little jam jars or small vases too – each plant produces so many flowers that you can easily afford to cut a few for decorating the home.