Drowning in Marigolds

[Shanghaisky]

I scattered crackerjack marigold seeds from SeedsNow in an attempt to really scare off the bunnies (see: probably over-zealous, idiot move).. and they all came up pretty much immediately. Great! Only now, not only can I not quite tell what's what in the garden except the more obvious things like the squash and peas, it seems many of the seedlings may not be marigolds?

I have many clusters of these, which I am pretty sure are marigolds because some still have the seed attached to a leaf:

IMG_9577.JPG (110.02 KiB) Viewed 556 times

But I have many many more of these, and they are all over just outside the bed border as well:

IMG_9578.JPG (92.18 KiB) Viewed 556 times

Now, my 3 year old and my 15 month old helped me plant everything, so when we threw marigold seeds all over the bed (again, probably a bad idea.....), there may have been a few that didn't make it into the bed itself. However, there are a TON outside the stone border we have on the bed. I am really concerned these may be Canada Thistle babies shooting up, as the garden had a very bad problem with them and was under tarps for at least Aug-May (maybe longer, we moved here in August). I chose the spot of the garden when I took the tarps off that seemed to have no thistles, and tarped the rest back up. Are these baby thistles coming up trying to find sun to feed the root system? Or are these marigolds? I see the true leaves starting to come in on the flat-leaf ones that look like that may become fern-like, but the other ones that I'm almost positive are marigolds are not setting true leaves yet, so I can't tell.

Help.....

[jal_ut]

Can't tell from the picture. I am going to say: If you did not plant it there or if you don't want it there, pull it out. I suggest lightly tilling your area with a hoe then plant the garden seeds you want to grow.

[Amanda Doofenshmirtz]

The first pic is Marigolds, and the seed being still attached helps with the identification. But even without the seed I recognize them instantly. The second one is a weed, I see them all the time. I don't know what it is exactly, but I have a ton of it in my chamomile bed, and they're harmless to humans. I do not think it is canada thistle, which tends to reproduce using its roots (rhizomes) even though it does produce some seed (the plant does not rely on reproduction through seed, it's evil.) I have never let that unknown weed get bigger than a few inches so I don't know what it will turn into but they're easy to pull up if you pinch them by the base of the soil and wiggle them up. They have the fIbrous roots instead of 1 big taproot like dandelion.

You could put 1 into a small pot and see what it turns into, if you really wanted to. But I personally just pull them up and toss em. Since they're seedlings I put them in my compost bin. They won't pollute my compost with weed seeds, they're too young.

Good luck with your marigolds! I hope they help with the rabbits. In case it does not, I have been using a spray I get at
Menards. It's natural! It's not malicious or toxic. It comes in a red spray bottle and it smells like mint toothpaste. It has putrefied egg solids in it but you can't smell them over the mint and rosemary. It keeps the squirrels off my deck for sure, but you just have to reapply often, especially after rain. It smells fresh and clean and it works. It is called "Animal Stopper," but they have a similar formula with different names like "Squirrel Stopper" for specific animals. Compare the labels to find the best one for your situation.

P.s. It's great to get those young ones out in the garden! I think it is so important to get children to gardens and zoos so they learn how beautiful this planet is and cultivate a desire to conserve it. They can learn from you that rabbits have their place in the world, even if it isn't in your garden. I've also discovered that sometimes offering a "sacrifice" to pests can help. I planted 8 burgundy bush bean plants last year but left 1 as a sacrifice to my slugs (arrrrg, slugs!) and they really kept to the one plant and mostly left the others alone. It wasn't 100% but it was good. It was the one closest to the deck, where the soil was very moist and shady. Best wishes!
~Amanda

[imafan26]

I grow a lot of crackerjack. The first picture looks like a marigold seedling the second does not.
Using a tarp for more persistent weeds is a little harder. You put the tarp over the weeds before they go to seed. Take it off when the seedlings have died. Till up the soil water and let more of the weeds sprout, cover and repeat until you don't see any more sprout. Do not till after the last tilling, plant a ground cover over it instead. If you till again you might bring up more of the dormant seeds.

For me, I tried that. I was not diligent enough and I had way too many weeds flying in from the surrounding area I could not get to, so I went with round up instead. I can cover a wider area and in my case for most of it it does not involve tilling since I am rounding up mostly walkway and the ground under my potted plants. I just finished my 5th round in one section and covered it with weedblock. I can at least move on to another spot instead of weeding the same one over and over.

BTW, I know it is not organic, but I have nutsedge in my garden and of all the herbicides, round up was the only one that will allow me to plant a few days later. And you have to get all the nuts in nutsedge or more keep coming up. Pulling them just activates more of the nuts. In the past, I just planted over them. Corn and most of the vegetables can compete with the weeds if they are big enough and since I do a kind of French intensive planting, I keep minimum space between the plants and that helps in thinning out the weeds.