Companion Gardening

There are numerous Web sites on the internet offering information on the benefits of companion planting and how planting specific vegetable



plants with other plants create an ideal environment for successful vegetable plant growth. In fact, many Web sites include a table of favorable companion plant combinations as well as which vegetable plants shouldn't be planted with each other. There is also a table of which plants work best with each other to ward off garden pests and discourage them from invading your vegetable garden.

Spending most of my life growing vegetables right up to now in my retirement years I can't quite figure out where most of this information came from. Is it folklore, or is it carefully guarded information known only to a few? Then again, perhaps it's a result of trial and error. But when I look at how many vegetable plants are included in some of these Web site tables (350 vegetable combinations) that sure is a lot of trial and error and one would think more than several lifetimes work. Then again, perhaps I'm not the brightest crayon in the box.

Brightest crayon or not, what I can tell you is that over my lifetime of gardening, be it ignorance or innocent bliss, I have had my share of planting (as many of these tables say) plants that shouldn't go together, yet my outcome was a great healthy vegetable crop.

Now that said, by now you may think I'm against the whole idea of companion gardening. No, not really, what I'm saying is use a rational perspective to what you hear, read in print, or see on television.

Yes, I believe companion gardening can benefit your vegetable plants by using proven research developed by The Department of Agriculture or agricultural departments at many Universities. I am also giving a plug for traditional or folklore gardening I spoke so much about at the beginning of this article.

Before I start with some interesting companion plant gardening combinations, let me conclude my introduction with a piece of information from the agricultural scientific community.

Author of Pests of the Garden and Small Farm, Mary Louise Flint who is also an Integrated Pest Management Specialist at UC Davis, says "research has consistently show that companion gardening offers no pest control benefits under controlled conditions. Plants that have chemical components themselves that repel pests offer no protection to nearby plants of different species."

Although there is limited scientific "research" regarding companion gardening, many gardening experiments and scientific studies do show a benefit using this technique.

Now that you know the facts, use your own judgement regarding this method of vegetable gardening.

Ok, here is a mixture of what I have learned about companion gardening over the years through my own gardening experience and information I learned from University agricultural departments.

Have a Realistic Expectation

So, what about companion gardening and how do we use this method in our vegetable garden?

Let's start by asking ourselves what we want to achieve by using a companion gardening method?

As any experienced vegetable gardener will tell you, the following titles would just about cause any gardener to jump out of their gardening boots. And, guess what? All this can be accomplished through companion gardening.

• Reduce Pest Damage and Pesticides

• Attracting Beneficial Garden Pests

• Provide Nutrients to Other Plants

Reduce Pest Damage and Pesticides

To reduce the use of pesticides as a last resort, many vegetable gardeners use a variety of companion gardening techniques. Here are my suggestions.

- Planting Marigolds near your vegetables.

They have a distinctive odor due to a chemical they exude from their roots and flowers that encourage garden pests to wander off hopefully to parts unknown. You can also appreciate the effect of this plant when dead-heading its flowers if you happen to let your fingers pass in the near vicinity of your nose. But on the other hand, your vegetables will thank you for its protection. Marigolds in your vegetable garden don't need a lot of attention and will hold up quite well during the hottest temperature.

- Mints, another defender of your garden vegetables.

Most all varieties of mints are effective in discouraging garden pests and especially catnip which is particularly effective in repelling aphids and cabbage pests. However, there are a couple of things that you need to know about most mints. They do have a habit of growing out of control and take over your garden space. To prevent this from happening, grow your mints in separate containers or as an alternative, remove both ends of a coffee can then insert in the soil and plant your mints inside. This method will cause the mint roots to grow down rather than out.

- Sweet Basil,is another great choice for your vegetable garden.

When grown among vegetables it repels mites, aphids and mosquitoes. Basil also acts as a fungicide and can slow the growth of milkweed bugs.

- Rue is not common in the vegetable garden but very effective.

Usually grown as a garden border this plant deters Japanese beetles. You can also scatter rue leaf clippings in an infested area. However, be careful, rue causes a poison ivy-like rash for some people, so wear gloves.

Trap Crops

This is another method of garden pest control where you plant crops such as collards or radish near your vegetables to attract garden pests. Let them enjoy these plants instead of your vegetable plants. As long as the garden pests have a source of food they are not encouraged to wander away and perhaps find your precious vegetable plants.

When a trap crop plant is heavily infested with garden pests, pull out the plant and throw away. Make sure you have planted enough trap crops for future invading garden pests. Of course if collards or radish are one of your favorite plants, plant another trap crop that you're not wild about.

Here are some trap crop suggestions that are quite effective.

Nasturtiums and radishes- Work well to attract aphids, flea beetles and caterpillars.

Dill-Works well for Tomato Hornworms

Eggplant-Works well for potato bugs

An interesting note-There are recent studies that show flying pests are less successful if their host plants are surrounded by a decoy plant or even green plastic, or any other green material, even cardboard.

Attracting Beneficial Garden Insects

Most all experienced vegetable gardeners know the value beneficial garden insects contribute in protecting your vegetable garden. In this regard, companion gardening plays an enormous role in attracting and creating a home for these wonderful insects. Do keep in mind the next time you inspect your vegetable garden that less than 1% of insects in your garden are vegetable garden pests

Although beneficial garden insects (the good guys) do feast on garden pest insects, at some point in their life cycle their feeding is confined to nectar and pollen. You can encourage them to remain in your garden by planting host plants they enjoy such as the flowers on parsley.

What You Need to Provide to Attract Beneficial Insects

Plants such as coriander, dill, fennel, clovers, Queen Anne's Lace are excellent candidates for small wasps. Yes, I know the poor wasp strikes terror in the heart of most people, but the threat to people is largely over blown. You leave them alone and they will leave you alone. The same holds true for other beneficial garden insects such as bees, praying mantids (also known as praying mantis), pirate bugs, and spiders.

Chamomile and daisies as well as the mint family (catnip, peppermint, or spearmint) are popular plants for both robber flies, and hover flies. Yes, all good guys in your vegetable garden.

Other popular plants to attract beneficial garden insects are:

Aster, zinnias, carraway, dill, sweet cicely, yarrow, and cosmos.

If you devote a section of your vegetable garden to perennial flowers, try growing aster, black-eyed Susan, liatris, and coneflower.

To sum up, be diverse in your garden planting and think about selecting other plants and flowers from the companion gardening table which I have included at the end of this article. The end result will be your vegetables will thank you as will these wonderful beneficial garden insects.

Companion Gardening Provides Nutrients to Other Plants

Certain cover crops concentrate specific nutrients in their tissues and release their nutrient in the soil. Potassium levels can be increased significantly by selecting cover crops such as grain, rye, and buckwheat. Plants in the legume family, convert nitrogen from the air in their roots and as they decompose they release stored nitrogen which increases soil fertility. Although, most of these selections are not common for most vegetable gardeners, they are a valuable choice for companion gardening and of course, your plants. As a matter of fact, any cover crop that is plowed under will release nitrogen as the crop decomposes. Hence, this is the origin of the term "green manure."

For the beginner gardener- Companion gardening may seem like an awful lot of work and somewhat complicated in practice, but don't get discouraged. Don't try to do too much at one time. As with any type of gardening, your learning curve will increase through trial and error. So when you next plant your vegetable garden, try this method with one or two vegetable plants and see how it goes. Do keep notes to remind you what you have done and how it worked out. Now you will be ready to expand your knowledge in coming years.

As mentioned earlier, here are some links to companion gardening tables that I recommend you use.

Companion Gardening link to National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service

Companion Gardening link to Wikipedia.org List of Companion Gardening Plants

I hope you enjoyed this article on companion gardening. If you would like to read our other articles about how to grow a successful vegetable garden, click on companion gardening

As always,

Happy Gardening

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