May 18 :: Companion Planting

Greetings!

This year I'm going to abandon my obsession with planting in rows and columns. This is a new commitment, so please ignore the fact that all the lettuce, parsley, and spinach has already been planted in neat two inch bands stretching precisely across the beds.

Seriously, though, I want the next set of beds, rolling outdoor and shallow indoor, to look like little island oases equipped with different color blossoms and leaves, different height plants, different harvest dates, and myriad aromas.

I did some research on companion planting, the practice of intermixing plants within beds in certain combinations to have mutually beneficial results for all plants involved. Sometimes it can be that the companion plants each use different nutrients in the soil and therefore do not compete for nutrition, some provide shade or ground cover coveted by others, some provide a tall structure for climbing plants to use as a support, while others repel pests or attract beneficial insects.

With my tomatoes I have planted borage (to attract those lovely pollinators and also to attract destructive insects that would otherwise colonize my vegetables), three varieties of basil (because who doesn't love tomato and basil together), sunflowers (for height and shade), and nasturtiums (whose blossoms attract predatory insects and bumblebees). This bed will remain inside for another week or two then get rolled out to the great outdoors. See photo above: the white stakes are labels for the sunflower and nasturtium seeds, some of which germinated today. The baby basil and borage seedlings are off to a great start.

Amongst the three types of peppers (two hot, one sweet) I have planted marjoram, or wild oregano. This companion-to-all plant looks nice in with the pepper plants, acts as a host to pests to keep them away from the peppers, and according to many 'makes the vegetables planted with it taste better', whatever that means. I'm willing to give it a try. In above photo: tiny marjoram seedlings are interspersed with taller pepper plants.

My next companion planting experiment involves two rolling beds, two varieties of pickling cucumbers, two varieties of nasturtiums, and two varieties of sunflowers. It's going to be a jungle!

Until then, grow on!

Tyler