Calendula (Mix)

Story: Originally growing primarily around the Mediterranean, the calendula is now grown widely around the world for its medicinal, ornamental and cosmetic uses as well as its edible flowers. Attracting many beneficial insects and repelling common pests such as white fly, it is a welcome addition to any garden and freely self-seeds so will stay around even though the plants themselves last for one or two seasons. They can keep flowering for a long time with regular picking, and will keep flowering till the first frosts

When to sow: Indoors from February and direct from March onwards

Requirements: Grows well in direct or partial sun, tolerates poor, light soil and irregular watering but will flower more profusely with some irrigation and feed

When to harvest for food: Pick the flowers as and when you wish for garnishes, salves, oils and more.

When to harvest for seed saving: Allow flowers to fully fade and become gnarled, dried seed heads which should be picked in dry weather when the seeds can be rubbed or shaken off the dead stems. Calendula produces varied seeds with different shapes to confuse predators and aid the seeds in dispersal. We grow many varieties of different colours and shapes and they readily cross so this seed mix should represent that.

Seed contributors: Omved Gardens

Isolation Needed: No

Saving Seed: These are insect pollinated and cross readily with different varieties of the same species 

Number of plants to save seeds from: one or two is fine but the more individuals the more diverse and resilient the saved seed will be.

Pollination: Self pollinated and insect pollinated

How to send seed back: Please label all seed with variety, type, date and your contact. If you didn't get a chance to fill out our online data collection form, you can also send us a few lines about how it grew for you/flavour etc. Please aim to send back 1 tablespoon of dried seed or more so that we can continue to share with network members. Send to: The Seed Saving Network, Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, N6 5JF.

Please remember, if you’re an individual grower you can order up to 4 packets of seeds. If you order more than this, you will receive just four packs to begin with. This is to ensure we get plenty of data in return and to keep our stocks sustainable for years to come.* 

*Community groups and Experienced Growers can order larger quantities, please email us if this is the case.

If an item is out of stock we will send a close alternative.