Companion Planting?

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DizzyDaff

DizzyDaff

New Member
Is anyone else interested in companion planting? You know, like planting marigolds around your veggies to help keep the bugs from eating them? There are always little things, such as planting sunflowers with your vining beans and using the sunflower stalks for stakes/trellises for the beans - could do the same thing with tomatoes or other plants which need staking too. :)

I've found a few sites with some great info about this old "tried & true" method of gardening.

Here's a great link to an informational site about Companion Planting !

And this one has a great companion chart for Beneficial Herbs halfway down the page

*I thought this one had the easiest to read chart for all Plant Companions

And here's the Wikipedia chart - herbs are halfway down the page.

Ooops! Almost forgot - we're not supposed to call it "Companion planting" anymore - old fashioned I guess - supposed to be called "Planting with polyculture" or something tweaky like that! LOL!!! :rolleyes:

Do you have a link or information to add? What's something you do in this area? :)
 
I started looking into this when my husband decided I should have a vegetable garden last year. I found these site and also a book called Great Garden Companions. That's what I used for the model for the garden. It had really great info.
 
Great stuff diz! I have a really cool companion chart I got from Organic gardening years ago. It's on my home computer which is sick in the hospital right now. I'll try to remember to add that chart to this thread when I get it back.

I keep my garden ringed with marigolds and mint/pennyroyal . It keeps a lot of pest away .
I also plant sacrifical plants so when the bugs do get in the go to those plants. It works pretty good.
 
Plant Companion(s) and Effects

Basil Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor); said to dislike rue; repels flies & mosquitoes


Bee Balm Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor).

Borage Tomatoes (attracts bees, deters tomato worm, improves growth & flavor), squash, strawberries

Cabbage Family (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale,
kohlrabi) Potatoes, celery, dill, chamomile, sage, thyme, mint, pennyroyal, rosemary, lavender, beets, onions; aromatic plants deter cabbage worms



Catnip Plant in borders; protects against flea beetles

Chive Carrots; plant around base of fruit trees to discourage insects from climbing trunk

Dead Nettle Potatoes (deters potato bugs)

Garlic Roses & raspberries (deters Japanese beetle); with herbs to enhance their production of essential oils; plant liberally throughout garden to deter pests

Horseradish Potatoes (deters potato beetle); around plum trees to discourage curculios

Hyssop Cabbage (deters cabbage moths), grapes; keep away from radishes


Marigold The workhorse of pest deterrents; keeps soil free of nematodes; discourages many insects; plant freely throughout the garden.

Mint Cabbage family; tomatoes; deters cabbage moth

Nasturtium Tomatoes, radish, cabbage, cucumbers; plant under fruit trees; deters aphids & pests of curcurbits

Onion Beets, strawberries, tomato, lettuce (protects against slugs), beans (protects against ants), summer savory


Petunia Protects beans; beneficial throughout garden


Pot Marigold Helps tomato, but plant throughout garden as deterrent to asparagus beetle, tomato worm & many other garden pests


Radish Peas, nasturtium, lettuce, cucumbers; a general aid in repelling insects

Rosemary Carrots, beans, cabbage, sage; deters cabbage moth, bean beetles & carrot fly


Sage Rosemary, carrots, cabbage, peas, beans; deters some insects


Sunflower Cucumber

Tansy Plant under fruit trees; deters pests of roses & raspberries; deters flying insects, also Japanese beetles, striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs; deters ants


Thyme Here and there in garden; deters cabbage worm


Valerian Good anywhere in garden

Wormwood As a border, keeps animals from the garden

Yarrow Plant along borders, near paths, near aromatic herbs; enhances essential oil production of herbs
 
My goal in life has been and will be to companion plant,you can never know it all!
My goal is exactly what is stated above.Various (certain) wormwoods, Basil, Parsley, Dill, Anise Hyssop, cilantro I plant several other annuals- most are on containers such as herbs, and geraniums is one of them. .
Garlic and onion are planted all over the land along with chive. in viewing older pics I haven't seen in a while I learned that I have had those good guys from when I threw hamster and bird seed on my land and grew lots of herbs/(*LOL weeds*lol ) .
They are there with no effort just playing around...

Companion Planting is what I do; I do not now where "Planting with Poly culture" Came from *LOL


I can't drink out of a hose any more, (don't want to die suddenly*lol) I do not foresee myself conforming to the Poly culture thingie*LOL Bad enough my zone changes nearly every year*lol


Kale
 
GardensAblaze was the first site I fell in! hummm....Years ago!
Absolutely loved it.
I looked for them again but didn't find them *LOL
Wonderful to know they are still up and running! On their home page you can see herb break down...may just see if I can find them...*** Oh how I loved that information.

I have tried and used and use some of the information, worked (s) well!

Thanks for the links they are great!

Kale:)
 
"Planting with polyculture" I love it. I think it speaks to the value of diversity in our world. I'm currently putting together a seminar on valuing and leveraging diversity. I think this is a great example that I will work in :) Thanks folks!

Dora/Garden Goddess
 
I really need to get on line at home. I have this very cool chart I want to post.
My garden has marigolds all through it. They reseed themselves every year. It's great
 
Chatty over the years I've used 2 different types of marigolds, Sparky and Himalayan, both are great for insect control. I also grow a lot of basil (all types) and let nasturtiums run through my veggie beds plus a host of other "good" insect and bird attracting plants, it works well for me.....
 
I have been planting herbs in my gardens. I have also planted lots of garlic, marigolds, nastursums, and basil to fill in around other plants. I do need to get back out in the garden when it warms up and get the garlic replanted. I just let it slip by last fall.
 
My grandma have planted a lot of herbs and also veggies in their backyard. It worth it because no need to buy veggies and you can be sure of your health.
 
They also taste a lot better, Phey. A lot of fruit and vegetables are in the market because they ship well and keep better than other varieties. The markets would like them to taste good as well, but that is not the major consideration. I just got home from the market a couple of hours ago and I saw some fresh strawberries there. They were from California. I figured they probably had come from Mexico, but they didn't. The tops of the berries were white so they obviously had not fully ripened when they were picked. But if you wait until they are fully ripened, they have a very short shelf life.
 
Randy said:
They also taste a lot better, Phey. A lot of fruit and vegetables are in the market because they ship well and keep better than other varieties. The markets would like them to taste good as well, but that is not the major consideration. I just got home from the market a couple of hours ago and I saw some fresh strawberries there. They were from California. I figured they probably had come from Mexico, but they didn't. The tops of the berries were white so they obviously had not fully ripened when they were picked. But if you wait until they are fully ripened, they have a very short shelf life.
Click to expand...

Hi Randy, They probably did come from here. They have been selling them on the corners that come from Oxnard. The strawberry patches will be opening next week, Im sure. I have seen them working out in them. I just buy mine from them. They are good! :) I can't wait!!!!! I am going to buy some and make freezer jam.
All of the fields around here have onions, garlic and all kinds of things around them.
I am planting basil with my tomatoes, and I am getting marigolds tomorrow! I have to do all I can to keep the plants healthy! Makes things pretty too!!!!

Kim
 
I don't remember where Oxnard is, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't around Sacramento. Here's something you may want to consider as fas as the jam is concerned. I was always pretty adamant about the strawberries I bought being picked the morning they appeared on the stand. But due to a set of circumstances that prohibited fresh strawberries, one time I bought frozen berries form CostCo. They are also California berries, but since they were contracted by a processing plant, the berries were fully ripened when they were picked, then trucked right away to the plant. I made jam from those berries and also some I had bought fresh from the corner stand here in Newberg. One day my daughter came home with the grandkids and two visiting kids and I ran a taste test. I gave each of them two spoons and asked them to tell me which strawberry jam was the best tasting. One kid was non-committal and said they could not tell any difference. One kid said the jam made from the fresh berries tasted best. The other four voted that the jam made from the frozen berries tasted the best. Now, I will say that the exact same recipe was used for both and I will also say that both were better jams than you can buy at the market. But it did surprise me that in the kids taste test that they preferred the jam from frozen strawberries. There are some advantages for using the frozen berries. They were ripe when they were picked. The cost per pound is very close or less than the cost from the stand. There is no waste from the frozen berries. And you can make the jam when it is convenient and not necessarily have to hurry to get fresh berries processed.
 
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Wow

I planted my garden all wrong last year. I had my tomatoes next to my asparagus, my potatoes next to my onions. My potatoes was so bad last year I got 1 potato and it was about the size of a quarter.

Now this year here is what I am going to plant. Help me plant next to the right thing. My asparagus is in the back corner of my garden along with my Rhubarb. I am going to plant corn, bush beans,tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, and radishes. Any advice will be very appreciated. Theresa :)
 
Start with Potato,I grow them alone!
You can plant them in a Cardboard box if you like!*LOL
I do.
Corn can go with beans, I tried one year,had a wonderful harvest that hardly made it to the table..My daughter nearly ate them ALL before I cooked them up*LOL
As I handed them to her through the fence she was eating them. I was tiring and asked hows it look and there weren't any there! ..I though it was funny and blessed that she loved them but....I did plan on having them for dinner.*LOL MIL had none:(

I can say that if your corn is going to be cages ..have fun, it was a killer to get in that cage/fenced in , and harvest. I didnt plant corn last year because I had furry critters stealing my harvest and then I had smutt and flipped out .So '08 no corn.
I may grow it this year and see if it squash will keep pest away.I did try it one year but the corn as like GLUE! I was thinking maybe that is why the furry critters didn't eat any they were bountiful and GLUE!
Bell peppers on their Own.Toms on their own. Radish on its own. I tried growing radish with toms..bad idea, didn't work out for me.
Know that they (radish) attract several pests.
I grow them to keep the pests off my Kales,Collard, broccoli and other greens.

Kale:)
 
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