in bloom: marigolds

I bought marigold seeds intending to plant them in and around the vegetable garden because they smell strongly and (supposedly) ward off critters. You know, things like cute little bunnies that seem precious and delightful until they eat all your lettuce in the span of three hours. We put up fencing around the veggies, though, so there hasn't been a need to employ marigolds as an anti-bunny force. Rather than let them go to waste (anything but that!), I planted some in the front flower garden and some in a little patch of questionable dirt -- sand, really -- at the end of our driveway.

Now, I'll give marigolds this: they're not kiddin' around. They germinated in that patch of sand and grew themselves a foot and a half tall. Everyone has their limits, though, and actually flowering when grown in sand is apparently too much to ask of marigolds. We have a rather bizarre looking plant all by its lonesome at the end of the driveway now. No pictures. Trust me, you're not missing much.

Not surprisingly, the ones I planted in actual soil with compost have done much better.