Calendula: cultivation for various purposes.

Nails, or calendula officinalis - one of the most common for us annual flower crops. Modest orange flowers are usually grown for several purposes:

• Decorative,
• Therapeutic,
• Commercial (calendula needed pharmacological industry for the production of essential oils and dry raw materials, so in some regions it is grown for sale).

Calendula. Cultivation for decorative purposes.

Calendula is modest, but its brightness sometimes becomes that color accent, without which the Moorish flowerbed, curb or dropship lose their charm. Another great advantage is unpretentiousness and endurance. With proper care, the nails are pleasing to the eye with their flowering from early June to late autumn. To maintain an elegant plant species, one must adhere to certain rules:

1. Despite the fact that the nails can grow on almost any soil, for better growth and larger inflorescence they need some conditions. First of all, the site where they will be, should be well illuminated by the sun, the soil must be prepared from the fall: dig and add a sufficient amount of organic fertilizers.
2. Calendula. Landing. To land on a flower bed and other flower groups, calendula makes sense to grow through seedlings. Seeds for planting are collected no later than 6 weeks before the onset of frost. Germs peck on the 7-14 day after disembarkation. As soon as two real leaves appear, the plants are planted in permanent places. In order that flowers do not oppress each other and receive sufficient growth for sufficient growth of light, water and nutrients, the distance between individual specimens must be at least 20-25 cm. The weak plants are discarded.
3. If you planted marigolds in scanty soils, do not forget to bring in the root of the plant complex fertilizers every 4-6 weeks.
4. To prolong the flowering and promote the increase in the size of the flower basket, it is necessary in time to break off small and fading flowers, and also to prevent the seeds from ripening. If this is not done, the flowering will stop in July.

Calendula. Cultivation for medical purposes.

As you know, marigolds have anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, spasmolytic and healing effect, and since it is very easy to grow and prepare medicinal raw materials from them, many use this opportunity.

Of course, you can take the petals of those marigolds that grow on the flowerbed, but, as a rule, there are not so many of them. To collect the right amount of raw materials for the needs of one family, it is preferable to grow a medicinal calendula on a separate bed. The main requirement: in time to break the inflorescence, not allowing the formation of seeds. The soil is also desirable to fertilize, the seeds can be deepened (2-3 cm) into the soil in the fall, and in the spring to thin the shoots, but the distance of 20-25 cm can not withstand.

The petals of flowers can be dried or used fresh in tea, soups, salads, rice and meat dishes. Due to its strong aromatic taste, calendula replaces saffron. You can also prepare calendula oil and use it to treat skin inflammations and rashes or to add to cosmetics. From dry petals make decoctions and use to rinse with sore throats, bathing children, syringing.

Calendula. Cultivation on seeds.

Since decorative and medicinal nails on a private farmstead must be constantly torn off and prevent the formation of seeds, the sowing material for the next year is best cultivated in the third group of plants. For breeding, we sow a small group of calendula away from related plants (to avoid over-dusting). In the process of growth we leave only the largest flowers, when sorting seeds, we also choose the strongest and healthy ones. A little effort - and next year, calendula will please you with beautiful and large flower baskets.

Calendula. Cultivation for sale.

Before you do commercial cultivation of marigolds, you need to find a sales market. In some Balkan countries (Romania, Bulgaria), calendula is cultivated in large areas, and appropriate agricultural technology has been developed. The main task is to prepare the soil in order to avoid mass death of plants from fungal diseases, for which deep plowing is carried out. Complex fertilizers are also introduced. It is necessary to observe a crop rotation: nails are planted on the same field no more often than once every 4-5 years.

In this article, we tried to answer the question of how to grow calendula correctly, and get the most out of this decorative and at the same time medicinal culture.