Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Myths about marigolds

After the White Rabbit posting…
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Church secretary: A reader wrote in pointing out that marigolds cannot actually turn rabbits to stone.
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Tagetes patula
Archdeacon: There’s a lot of myths mistakenly attributing supernatural prowess to marigolds.
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Church secretary: But they do kill bugs, right?
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Archdeacon: Gardeners do say that if you plant marigolds near your veges, it prevents pests. And they keep nematode numbers down.
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Church secretary: Intriguing. How many marigolds should I plant?
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Archdeacon: It takes a lot of marigolds to deal with insects. And you need bushes of the Tagetes marigold to have any effect on nematodes. Science is more complicated than popular wisdom.
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Voice-over
A little knowledge simplifies. But over-simplification obscures.
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