Did you know that marigolds are excellent deterrents for aphids? We discovered this last year in a handy little book called "Tips from the Old Gardener's" by Duncan Crosbie. We put this old wive's tale to the test and bought a large selection of French marigolds in spring last year, potted them and then placed the potted marigolds in between our tomato plants in the greenhouse. Well the aphids stayed very far away from our tomato plants. Result!
Apparently marigolds secrete an insect repellent that protects plants. I've always found the smell of marigolds very unpleasant and it seems I'm not the only one; aphids do too. The roots also secrete a repellent which is why it is recommended that you plant marigolds near your vegetable patch.
This last weekend, we've been on the hunt for marigolds and sadly most of the nurseries don't seem to have any young shoots of marigolds yet. We managed to find some African marigolds so that's a start. The plan is to plant rows of marigolds in between the vegetable plots this year and to also dot some around the garden and greenhouse again.
Another interesting fact we learnt from Duncan Crosbie's little book is that parsley encourages bees and borage helps strawberries to grow. Garlic and chives keep greenfly away from roses and lavender planted near roses keeps aphids away.
There's also a handy little table in the book which shows you which plants should be grown close to each other and which ones should be grown very far apart. For example, onions shouldn't be grown near peas. That might explain why our peas shrivelled up so quickly last year - we planted them right next to the onions! Potatoes shouldn't be planted close to tomatoes but beetroots and onions are supposed to be good friends.
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