Finding friends for your fruits and veggies
EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Maryann James posts on vegetable gardening every Tuesday.
After a week or so of neglect, I did some tending to my balcony garden yesterday, thinning my lettuces, spacing out my nasturtiums, and thinning out the parsley experiment I started weeks ago.
However, my most significant task was setting out my two tomato plants! I planted them outside -- after hardening them off for weeks, and planted basil in one pot and parsley in the other. It may be my only foray in companion planting this year (I attempted to plant nasturtiums and cucumbers together), and I'm eager to see the results.
Companion planting can be an organic solution to vegetable gardening, if you pair the right plants together. (Check out the combination of beans and marigolds at left.) As one gardener points out, the right flowers and herbs can attract polinators, deter pests, encourage good insects, and generally make your garden much prettier.
I consulted Golden Harvest Organics' extensive list of companion plants when I was planning out my garden, but I'm sure you experienced gardeners have created your own lists by now. What are your favorite veggie combinations?
(Photo by KirrilyRobert @ flickr)
Comments
Parsley and asparagus is a first for me this year. In the areas where the parsley has established as a ground cover the hated asparagus beetle is lacking. I hope to fill in the bare spots with parsley and not mulch the asparagus bed this winter to see if I can reduce the asparagus beetle level even further.
Posted by: Greg Douglass | May 28, 2009 7:54 AM
I don't do much vegetable planting (why fatten up our already plump bunnies?), but I like to plant bulbs such as daffodils among day lilies. The day lily foliage helps hide the fading foliage of the daffodils after they have finished blooming.
And bunnies, not to mention moles and voles, don't like dayliliy bulbs any more than they like daf bulbs.--Susan
Posted by: Dahlink | May 28, 2009 5:27 PM