Companion Planting 2015

[bills]

Last year, by accident, volunteer rhubarb chard started sprouting up all over in my Acorn squash bed. They seemed quite happy together, and I rec'd a decent harvest from both..
My Gai-lan (also spelled Kai-lan), seemed to do well next to green onions, and garlic. No aphids, or other pests showed up.
Carrots and mustard greens planted together seemed to enjoy this benefit as well. No pest issues for either.
Oddly enough, my Kale, (which were carry overs from the previous year), planted nearby, had severe aphid issues by the mid-summer. Insecticidal soap made short work of them, but I can see where they could have perhaps used a companion.

 

[jasonvivier]

Some plant suggestions for full to part shade.

Wild Ginger, Blueberries, Paw Paw Trees (produce in full to partial shade), Gooseberries, Kales, Chards, strawberries, herbs herb herbs.

***deer. I confuse deer with two 4 foot fences staked 3 feet apart. I don't know what it is about it, but they do not want to jump them. I was told it has to do with their depth perception. But I have watched it work many times out at the test site.

 

[Nyboy]

@Pulsegleaner you forgot the wild rabbits they are eating machines

 

[Just-Moxie]

I tried companion planting in 2011/12....but both failed. So I just went back to the regular way of planting.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

@Pulsegleaner you forgot the wild rabbits they are eating machines

They are, but as far as I can tell, we only have one on our property, and he or she seems to keep him/herself to the backyard and nibbling the lawn (I think it nests somewhere in the tangle below the lawn) If I ever went though with the plan of using the base of the patio for veggies, it would be another matter, but currently, no problems there.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm attempting a companion planting this year, though you might also call it a "defensive" planting. I read somewhere over the winter that squirrels and chipmunks are repelled by the aroma of many alliums (probably why they are one of the few things I grow they don't attack) especially A. rosaceum. So I've saved my rosaceum bulbs and am going to stick one in the hole with the handful of seed in each corn hill, in a desperate last ditch attempt to actually get some of them to make it past seedling stage. No that I have much hope on that account. They've shrugged off chili oil, bobcat urine, ammonia, and all the other spray-able things. and have circumvented every fence I can construct, so a plant they don't like the smell of probably will do nothing. More and more, I get the feeling that the only way I'll ever get a corn crop is to move it to somewhere where the neighborhood bylaws DON'T prohibit me from using traps, or anything else that could actually harm the "cute little critters".

Maybe put out corn or peanuts for them during that time period so they go for the easy pickin's and leave your crop alone?

Or, an electronetting fence....keeps out all but the voles.

Sometimes even the simplest of things you wouldn't think would work actually do....like pieces of black garden hose cut to "snake" length or even fake toy snakes and move them around the garden each time you go out. If you leave them in one place the birds and such get the idea they are not real, but moving them keeps them guessing.

Sometimes the fake owls work, especially those that move on occasion.

Will be companion planting again this year and will be putting sweet onions, carrots and romaine lettuce with the tomatoes; pumpkins, beans and watermelon with the corn; radishes around the squash and watermelons; more carrots with the peas; sunflowers with the corn; nasturtiums next to the squash and pumpkins as well; salad things with each other; marigolds here and there throughout the garden and will be also be planting lavender, chamomile, and various wildflowers in the garden as well, as a sacrifice for bugs and as attractant for bees.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Tried most of them. Leaving food out for them just made more come. They bury the easy food and then go to eat what I have planted (then go back and dig up what they buried and eat that too) It one of the great ironies, my real garden is decimated, and then I find little patches of "junk" seed I left out for the critters popping up, to mess up the purity of whatever I planted on purpose. Maybe what I should do is leave the seed I want in a pile on the lawn and let the critters plant it FOR ME
We're not allowed to HAVE that kind of fence around the vegetable garden, the manor association considers them unsightly and a threat to pets that might be straying.

Most of the snake/ owl things are no-no's too. Remember the Manor association LIKES squirrels and chipmunks, they want there to be MORE of them. Plus we're talking a 10x10 feet the owl pedestal would basically shade the whole thing. And the local deer are so blasé towards people you practically have to walk up to them and yell in their ear to get them to move (with of course the risk that if the deer is a buck, it could panic and run towards you)

 

[Beekissed]

Yep. Moving is imperative. Sometimes I forget that not all of America is free and enjoying freedom, though admittedly that lack of freedom is self imposed.