It really is an Indian summer!
‘Kushi’ marigolds have given me beautiful blooms and pest-free toms
As summer starts to fade, it’s time to start thinking about simple and quick jobs that can help you ripen crops or prolong your harvest. This not only allows you to get the most from your plot, but it also lets you assess what has worked well and what you will or won’t repeat again next year.
My tunnel has been full to the rafters for the last few months with tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and even yard-long beans, and to help protect them from aphids I’ve planted a few marigold plants. These act as a companion plant for my tomatoes, protecting them from insects which can sometimes affect your plants and their resulting crop.
I chose ‘Kushi’ Indian marigolds instead of the regular French ones, which are renowned for their protective powers. To my surprise, not only did I have a pest free tunnel (thanks to the strong smell given off by the plants), but I was also rewarded with dozens and dozens of beautiful, big flowers, which I could take home and put in a vase!
As tomatoes begin to ripen they need more air and sunlight to get to the fruit. This not only helps them colour up, but it also helps avoid botrytis from taking hold in wet, still conditions. To achieve this, I had to make the hard decision to remove some of the ‘Kushi’ as they’d become too rampant for the tunnel and were beginning to block some of the light with their large frame. It was a struggle to carry all the marigolds out, but they’d done a brilliant job at keeping pests away and my tomatoes now have lots more room to themselves.
For those of you who grow small French marigolds among their tomatoes, I’d certainly recommend trying Indian marigolds next year, as they sing for their supper in more ways than one! If you grow tomatoes outside, the Indian flowers also work well. They don’t succumb to water damage in the centre and stand up to a drab British summer better than their African cousins. So, with that said, here’s to a beautiful Indian summer!