The Friend or Foe Woes!

It takes more than good soil, sun and nutrients to ensure success in your garden. Just like children learning to get along and play well together, so must the gardener learn how to help their plants grow well together. Some are plants are “friends” and some plants are “foes” to one another. Gardeners call this friend and foe planting, “companion planting.”

If you are a container gardener, you don’t really have to worry about companion gardening. That’s if you are only planting one plant at a time in a pot. Some container gardeners want function and fashion; so why not?

I mean why have this …

When you can have that …

Those who have a garden plot need to consider what they are planting next to what and after what as well. I didn’t think anything about what I was planting and where until I planted my squash next to onions and sunflowers in the same spot where I had planted and harvested peppers. No matter what I did, I couldn’t keep those squash plants alive. I was frustrated and disappointed until I saw a book title that read, “Carrots love Tomatoes, Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening,” this of course peaked my interest.

Did I rush out and purchase this book? No, I am cheap; I googled companion gardening and started reading everything I could. Then after doing that I decided to order the book and see if it helped me more. I have not read the book from cover-to-cover, but I have read sections of it that I needed to read at times that I needed it.

What I have learned is it is important to:

       1.       Know what you are planting next to each other.

       2.       Know what you planted in that same spot the previous harvest or season.

       3.       Make sure that you plant foes at least 4 feet from other foes.

       4.       Planning ahead of time is not a terrible thing.

So how do you know what to plant next to each other? Google it! Seriously, that’s what I did. I found simple lists like this done by the Farmer’s Almanac:

Plant Companions: List for Ten Common Vegetables

FRIEND	FOE		FRIEND	FOE		FRIEND	FOE
BEANS			CORN			ONIONS
Beets Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celery Corn Cucumbers Eggplant Peas Potatoes Radishes Squash Strawberries Summer  savory Tomatoes	Garlic Onions Peppers Sunflowers		Beans Cucumbers Lettuce Melons Peas Potatoes Squash Sunflowers	Tomatoes		Beets Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Lettuce Peppers Potatoes Spinach Tomatoes	Beans Peas Sage
			CUCUMBERS			PEPPERS
			Beans Cabbage Cauliflower Corn Lettuce Peas Radishes Sunflowers	Aromatic   herbs Melons Potatoes		Basil Coriander Onions Spinach Tomatoes	Beans Kohlrabi
CABBAGE			LETTUCE			RADISHES
Beans Celery Cucumbers Dill Kale Lettuce Onions Potatoes Sage Spinach Thyme	Broccoli Cauliflower Strawberries Tomatoes		Asparagus Beets Brussels   sprouts Cabbage Carrots Corn Cucumbers Eggplant Onions Peas Potatoes Radishes Spinach Strawberries Sunflowers Tomatoes	Broccoli		Basil Coriander Onions Spinach Tomatoes	Beans Kohlrabi
CARROTS						TOMATOES
Beans Lettuce Onions Peas Radishes Rosemary Sage Tomatoes	Anise Dill Parsley					Asparagus Basil Beans Borage Carrots Celery Dill Lettuce Melons Onions Parsley Peppers Radishes Spinach Thyme	Broccoli Brussels   sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Corn Kale Potatoes

And ones like this that frankly you have to study and study hard to understand them (at least for me):

Vegetables
Common name	Scientific name	Helps	Helped by	Attracts	Repels/Distracts	Avoid	Comments
Alliums	Allium	fruit trees,nightshades(tomatoes, capsicum peppers, potatoes), brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, etc.) carrots	carrots		slugs, aphids,carrot fly, cabbage worms[1]	beans, peas, parsley	Alliums include onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, chives, and others
Asparagus	Asparagus officinalis	Tomatoes[2]	Aster Family flowers, Dill, Coriander, Tomatoes, Parsley, Basil, Comfrey, Marigolds	coupled with Basil seems to encourage lady bugs	Onion, Garlic, Potatoes
Brassicas	Brassica	potatoes, cereals (e.g. corn, wheat)	geraniums, dill, alliums (onions, shallots, garlic, etc.), rosemary, nasturtium, borage		wireworms	mustards, nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, etc.)	Brassicas are a family of species which include broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, and cauliflower.
Beans	Phaseolus	Corn (see Three Sisters), Spinach, lettuce, rosemary, summer savory, dill, carrots, brassicas, beets, radish, strawberry and cucumbers	Eggplant, Summer savoury		California beetles	Tomatoes, chili peppers, alliums (onions, garlic, etc.), brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, etc.)	Hosts nitrogen-fixing bacteria, a good fertiliser for some plants, too much for others

(For the complete list see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants)

Why is it so important to remember what you planted last harvest or last season in that spot that you are getting ready to plant in? Well, different plants need different mineral  and if you plant two plants back to back that need the same minerals they will fail. If you plant two plants back to back where the first plant stripped the soil of nitrogen, but left plenty of phosphorus behind and the second plant doesn’t need plenty of phosphorus they will fail.

To make sure that you are not planting foes too close to each other you need to make up a plan of what you are going to plant and where. Sit down with a tablet, pencil and your googled companion list and map out your garden.  You will be glad that you did when you have a great harvest!

I am just now starting to get the hang of companion gardening and still have room to grow when it comes to harvest-to-harvest planning. I am getting there though. Like I have said before gardening is really a trial and error kind of hobby.

Happy Gardening!

Dianna

I always seem to be behind on my seedling plants!!

I think one the most frustrating things I deal with is that I always seem to be behind on getting my starter plants going in time!! I promised myself that I was not going to be behind again this season. So the weekend after Thanksgiving I started broccoli, kale, turnips, cabbage, white onion and cauliflower. I was so proud of myself I knew I was going to be ahead of the game this year. After all these needed to be planted in January and it was November!

On January 5^th I went to my community garden with my seedlings on hand. Exited because I was ahead of the game, so I thought. I get there with my three inch high baby seedling plants and everyone else plots were filled with plants that were 2-3 feet tall!! My mouth fell to the ground, here I was behind AGAIN!!

So here it is the end of January now and people are harvesting their broccoli, kale, turnips, cabbage and cauliflower and mine is just starting to look like they might survive to harvest. So again, I have resolved NOT to be behind on my seedling plants.

Today I checked my guide to see what should be planted this coming April. Based on April’s planting I put seeds in of Dixie peas, pumpkins, straight neck squash, zucchini, sugar snap peas, two different varieties of early peas, and green beans. I also decided to start my cantaloupe, cucumber, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers and habanero peppers. They don’t get planted until around June, but they will be nice and big by then and finally I might be ahead of the game. J

This is my portable greenhouse that I purchased from Amazon.com. It will hold my seedlings until they grow nice and big to plant in my garden.

For those who are interested or are thinking about doing container gardening I thought I would give you the following reasons why you should try container gardening.

10 REASONS TO TRY CONTAINER GARDENING:

1.    Container growing is easy.

2.    You can garden in any space.

3.    You can garden in any state in a container.

4.    Kids love container gardening.

5.    Gardening in a container outfoxes critters.

6.    Container gardening can bring instant gratification.

7.    Gardening in a container can suit any style.

8.    You can grow almost anything in a container.

9.    Gardening in containers can suit any personality.

10.Gardening in containers can fit into anyone’s life style.

And since I have done container gardening for years now, let me share with you some common mistakes.

Don’t fill a large container in the wrong place! Ever tried to lift a large container once it’s filled with rock, dirt, plant and water? Choose your spot before you get started.

Don’t drown your plants! To avoid over-watering your container garden, use containers that have drainage holes. I am telling you it’s a must!!

Don’t under-water! In early spring and early fall I water every-other day. During the hot dog days of summer I water daily. Winter can be tricky because our winters vary so much. I always do the finger test regardless of the season or weather.

Awkward plant to pot ratio, seriously consider the type, size, weight and location of the container as well as the size of the plant IN ITS ADULT STAGE.

Don’t buy weak or sickly plants. You can’t save then, I know! lol

Fear of pruning. When your plant starts looking leggy or ragged, don’t be afraid to cut them back. Your plant will come back healthier and happier with a good haircut.

Beware of bad neighbors. Not the people who live next door, but the plant that will live near it. For example: you don’t want to put pots of corn or tomatoes in front of your radishes, carrots or zucchini plants.

Starving your plants. Potting soil only contains a certain amount of nutrients that plants require to grow and be healthy. This means you need to supplement those nutrients with fertilizers.

Living with ick. After you've tried everything, short of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and your plant still looks dreadful, cut your losses and toss it on the compost pile or in the trash. If only one plant in the container looks iky, pull it out and focus on the rest.

Don’t have unrealistic expectations. I can say this to you, but you will. Just know that you will and the next time try not to have unrealistic expectations.

Happy gardening!!

Dianna

My First Winter Crops

This year is the first year that I have purposely planted crops that are winter crops. I normally wait and do only the spring and summer crops, but now that I have two garden plots at the Arlington Community Garden, I cannot let them sit for months waiting on spring.

In November I put in radishes, carrots, bunching onions, Swiss chard, beets, turnips, and spinach. I harvested the radishes and took them to work for a food day already.

My carrots, bunching onions, Swiss chard, beets and spinach are growing great especially since I started them from seeds and not seedlings.

At the far end of my plot I just planted parsnips and five different types of radishes this past weekend. Can't wait to enjoy them.

I also set up my new plot and put in white onion, broccoli, kale, turnips, cabbage and cauliflower seedlings that I grew in my portable green house.

Excited and cannot wait for them to grow, grow, grow!!

Dianna