Below is an abbreviated chart you can use (1). Click on the link at the end of this article for further ways to use companion planting.
| Plant | Companion(s) and Effects |
Asparagus | Tomatoes, parsley, basil |
Basil | Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor); said to dislike rue; repels flies & mosquitoes |
Bean | Potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage, summer savory, most other veggies & herbs |
Bean (bush) | Sunflowers (beans like partial shade, unless you live up north, sunflowers attract birds & bees for pollination), cucumbers (combination of heavy and light feeders), potatoes, corn, celery, summer savory |
Beet | Onions, kohlrabi |
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 |
Carrot | Peas, lettuce, chives, onions, leeks, rosemary, sage, tomatoes |
Celery | Leeks, tomatoes, bush beans, cauliflower, cabbage |
Corn | Potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash |
Cucumber | Beans, corn, peas, radishes, sunflowers |
Dill | Cabbage (improves growth & health), carrots |
Eggplant | Beans |
Garlic | Roses & raspberries (deters Japanese beetle); with herbs to enhance their production of essential oils; plant liberally throughout garden to deter pests |
Onion | Beets, strawberries, tomato, lettuce (protects against slugs), beans (protects against ants), summer savory |
Pea | Squash (when squash follows peas up trellis), plus grows well with almost any vegetable; adds nitrogen to the soil |
Potato | Horseradish, beans, corn, cabbage, marigold, limas, eggplant (as a trap crop for potato beetle) |
Pumpkin | Corn |
Radish | Peas, nasturtium, lettuce, cucumbers; a general aid in repelling insects |
Spinach | Strawberries |
Squash | Nasturtium, corn |
Strawberry | Bush beans, spinach, borage, lettuce (as a border) |
Tomato | Chives, onion, parsley, asparagus, marigold, nasturtium, carrot, limas |
Update
I took my fence down. I don’t want to buy metal fence posts this year; however, I do intend to fence in my corn. There are just too many critters that love corn as much as I do, and I don’t want those danged marauders beating me out for corn.
I’m almost ready to transplant my spinach. There is a bed ready down in the garden. By the time you read this, I will have harvested the last of the fall garden spinach, Swiss chard and kale. There might be enough to blanch and freeze a couple of quarts each.
All my tomatoes have germinated. Bell peppers, herbs, cabbage, and broccoli are also doing well so I will be transplanting the last two within a week.
What’s next
I still need to buy seed potatoes. I won’t be planting too many of these as my root cellar didn’t protect last year’s crop from the intensely cold winter. I just loved going to get some potatoes and they were frozen solid. Well, at least I had a chance to practice my over handed pitch.
Some folks in the county have their early vegetables out. Up here in Trade, we’re at 3200 feet so I don’t put out much of anything until mid-May. You folks at the lower levels can begin putting out the cooler weather veggies now. But wait until mid-May or later for most of your summer crops.
It’s best to not put out tomatoes until the last week or so of the month. We just get too many late frosts, and you don’t want to lose the plants. I’ve lost all my tomatoes in the past. I cried the morning I went outside to see really, really green tomato plants. It didn’t take long for me to realize the reason was the plants were frozen. As they thawed, they melted and turned to slime. Yuck!
I’ve been saving gallon jugs to use as mini-greenhouses. Cut off the last inch of the bottom. Make sure you keep the lids to keep the heat in your greenhouse; you’ll want them if we have cool nights or a bit of frost. When you put out tomatoes or peppers, take the jugs and push the bottom down about an inch or two. Mound three inches of soil around the outside of the jug. Finally, carefully water through the top as needed. When I put out transplants, I always drench them in the morning and evening for three days. That helps prevent stress and gives the roots a chance to acclimate to real soil. You do not want to leave the lid on during the day, or you might cook the tender transplants.
There are only two vegetables I wait to plant the first part of June. That is corn and okra. Both need the soil warm for proper germination.
Prevention starts now
There are three garden headaches you need to prevent from even starting. They are disease, pests, and weeds. If you start as you turn over your garden soil with prevention, you will spend a lot less time fighting the elements.
If you have a healthy garden with healthy soil, you will be ahead of disease. Cleaning out the old, leftover plants from last year is the first step. Any diseased plants from the last season should be taken far away from your garden and either burned or buried. The rest of the leftovers can be stacked a little distance away and allowed to compost. I usually layer plant matter with a sprinkle of lime to help the composting process.
Mulch helps keep the soil from getting too hot and dry. It also helps prevent disease. I use red mulch with my tomatoes and have been pleased with the results. On the other hand, if it is a wet summer, be careful with the mulch. It can become a disease breeding ground with continued high humidity. You can always pull the mulch back if the wet period isn’t going to last too long.
Pests like unwanted bugs are the bane of most gardeners’ existence. However, having healthy plants makes a difference. The right amount of water and nutrients help the plants protect themselves. Companion planting is a helper too. I usually plant marigolds in my garden as they help repel many pests. Iron Weed draws those nasty Japanese Beetles away from your garden. We encourage its growth away from the garden. As a matter of fact if you come up my driveway during the summer, you’ll see it all along the sides.
Insecticidal soap is easy to make and works. I mix one gallon of water with one tablespoon of canola oil, a pinch of ground cayenne pepper, a pinch of powdered garlic, and three tablespoons of Ivory dry detergent. Why Ivory? It is very gentle and the formula is always consistent. You pour this mix into a quart spray bottle or us a one gallon pump sprayer. It works folks!
To help keep potato beetles away, I dust my potato plants with burnt lime when the plants are between one and two feet tall. The lime discourages pests and helps prevent the fungus that attacks potato plants. Additionally before planting potatoes, I always dust the pieces with garden sulfur and let them sit in a paper bag for a day or two.
If you have an invasion of Japanese Beetles, another way to take care of those really nasty bugs is to go out twice a day with a jar of water with salt, vinegar and dish detergent in it. Pick them off and dump them in the jar. They die instantly. I go out beetle hunting in the morning and before dark. I always drop a few on the ground so I can jump up and down on them. I hate Japanese Beetles.
Weeds can make you grind your teeth in frustration. They don’t have to, and you don’t have to buy poisons to get rid of them either.
Smothering. Yes, you read that right. You can smother weeds with mulch. When I pull up plants at the end of the growing season, I lay them down in the garden. When I’m ready to use that space, I collect the plant matter and add it to the compost pile. You can even take cardboard and lay it down between rows and cover with mulch to keep weeds off the paths. When you use even a light layer of mulch, you can easily pull unwanted weeds. Many people use their hoe to mound soil up next to their garden plants to smother weeds.
Hoeing. The right hoe can make all the difference. I keep a stirrup hoe in the garden area, which if kept sharp can cut weeds off at ground level. A regular hoe or pointed hoe is what most people use; just be sure it’s sharp. I have a friend who ground his regular hoe so it is only about two inches deep and has rounded edges. He swears by it as his number one garden tool.
Stop tilling. You might need to till your garden space the first couple of years or if you have a really big garden. However, if you make permanent beds and rows, you don’t need to till. Use a pitchfork to loosen the soil. Get a long-handled garden cultivator with three or four curved prongs and use it to turn the soil and pull out weeds. If you till, that process brings up weed seeds and roots. Then they start growing. You know the rest.
Vinegar works too. Mix half apple cider vinegar and half water in a quart spray bottle. Spray weeds at the root and you’ll kill them off. Be careful to not spray garden plants because vinegar will kill them also.
Let’s get at it
I go out every day, weather permitting and do a little to get my garden going. Everything is just about done. By next week, I’ll be planting. All I need is some good, organic compost to place on the garden and turn it into the soil. By being very careful to nurture my garden space, the soil is fluffy and easy to work. It holds water but doesn’t compact. It is full of the nutrients needed to grow healthy plants. Now it all depends on the weather and a little will to keep up with the work to have a productive garden.
I would love to hear from you folks. Do you know a garden tip that really works? Share it and I’ll pass it on. Do you have a garden problem you just can’t solve? Let me know. If I don’t have the answer, I’ll try to find out. Perhaps you want to share a garden story? Send me an email for tips, problems and stories. If possible I’ll include them in the Grow It column.
Endnotes:
© 2011, Katherine B. Hegemann (kittyhegemann@gmail.com)
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