French marigold
Tagetes patula
In a typical UK garden, sow indoors early March to early April, sow outside late April to early June, plant out early May to late May, and harvest early June to late October.
When to sow, plant and harvest
Last frost around 20 April, first frost around 31 October.
- Sow indoors
- early March to early April
- Sow outdoors
- late April to early June
- Plant out
- early May to late May
- Harvest
- early June to late October
Growing facts
- Spacing
- 25 cm apart, rows 25 cm apart
- Square foot
- 4 per square (30 cm squares)
- Sowing depth
- 0.5 cm
- Ready in
- 14 to 28 days from planting out
- Grows to
- 30 cm
- Hardiness
- Tender: killed by any frost
- Sun
- Full sun
- Crops for
- About 16 weeks
Growing tip
Dot them among tomatoes and in the greenhouse; their scent is said to deter whitefly.
Neighbours
Grows well with
Flowers are one crop rotation group. Try not to grow them where any of the family grew in the last two or three years. How crop rotation works
More flowers
Where these figures come from
Every crop in VegLog was checked against published growing advice. Dates are worked out from average frost dates, so they shift with your garden. For french marigold, we used:
Grow french marigold with VegLog
Add french marigold to a bed and VegLog reminds you when to sow, plant out and pick, timed to your own town's frost dates.
