Nigel's Gardening Hints and Tips
Created | Updated Jul 13, 2009
Companion Planting for the Garden
Companion planting is very important for our gardens and is basically
a friendly way to garden without the need for chemicals. It involves
putting one or more plants in close proximity to other plants for
beneficial results. You may have noticed from reading my previous
article, that planting marigolds next to tomato plants prevents or
helps deter whitefly. This is 'companion planting'.
The practice is believed to have been around in Roman times, when no
pesticides existed. It is more commonly used now, as very many
pesticides are being withdrawn from the market. However, it isn't just
about deterring pests, it can be used to add important nutrients to the
soil as well as protecting vulnerable plants from harsh weather
conditions.
For example - if your garden is in an exposed position, you can grow
tall plants such as hedges or small trees to provide shelter for low
growing, vulnerable plants. There are a number you can use for this
purpose eg conifers, laurel, yew, hawthorn and privet, to name just a
few.
When growing vegetables, there are lots of plants which can be used to
deter problem pests in an eco-friendly way:
Grow carrots and leeks together as they help each other - leeks help
against carrot fly, while the carrots deter onion fly and leek moth.
Plant chervil next to your lettuces, as it keeps aphids at bay by
repelling them with its fragrance.
Sage is best grown with brassicas and carrots, because it gives off a
perfume which confuses pests, directing them to other places, away from
your prize vegetables!
Plant dill around your garden, which attracts hoverflies and wasps who
eat the aphids on your vegetables.
By planting French marigolds by or between your tomatoes, they will
create an odour which deters whitefly, greenfly and blackfly.
On the fruit side of things - a lot of fruit trees suffer from the
common Woolly aphid, which is a cotton wool type substance on the
underside of the leaves, causing the trees to look sick and possibly
stunting their growth. The best way to treat this without using
insecticides is to grow nasturtiums up the trunks or as close as
possible. This should deter the little creatures, providing you with a
nice fruit crop.
Apart from using the marigold in the way I have described above, you
can also use them around other plants which have an aphid problem. The
colour and scent attracts hoverflies, which produce larvae, which eat
the aphids on the problem plants. Also, if you are growing plants which
are susceptible to slug and snail damage eg lettuces, hostas,
cabbages etc, then try making a border of marigolds around the affected
plants.
This will ensure that the slugs and snails eat the marigolds first,
leaving your prize plants alone. However, be warned!, Unless you go out
at night collecting the slimy creatures then the marigolds can be
stripped very quickly, which will destroy your defence barrier. I would
recommend this method only as a temporary measure.
If you suffer from the dreaded bindweed, try planting a bed of
marigolds or ground covering plants to attempt smothering it out.
You can also encourage ladybirds to eat aphids on an infested plant.
Attract them by growing dill or fennel close by. If this does not work,
garlic planted nearby is sure to deter them by means of it's pungent
smell, just like we back away from someone who has eaten garlic
recently!
The Mexican marigold (Tagetes minuta) is classed as an annual, growing
up to 1.2 m high. The roots have an eco-friendly insecticide in them,
which has some control over keeled slugs (slugs that go beneath the
ground).
White clover is being included in many grass seed mixtures now because
it corrects any nitrogen problems in the soil when sowing a new lawn.
It increases the rate it 'greens up', as well as helping with drought
problems. Certainly I would recommend grass seed containing this, as it
will give your new lawn the best of starts.
On the subject of nitrogen deficiency, if you grow peas, beans or
sweet peas, leave the roots in the soil when removing the vegetables at the end
of their season. This creates a good bacterium which turns into
nitrogen, benefiting the ground ready for the next growing period.
Foxgloves are also beneficial to your garden, being full of essential
nutrients and minerals which will benefit your other plants. The plants
will take up these, increasing their growth and vigour.
I have so far mentioned plants which benefit others. However, there
are some which just don't get on! The following are just a few which do
not like each other (mainly vegetables):
Cabbages and strawberries - the strawberries form root runners (baby
plants) which can wrap around cabbages, smothering them.
Peas and beans with onions - Peas and beans have tendrils which wrap
their way around the onions, damaging them, which can lead to collapse.
Tomatoes and potatoes - these will both compete for essential
nutrients, and tomatoes like a lot of water, unlike potatoes, which would
rot.
All these can still be planted, but I would advise putting them in a
different area of the garden. As long as they are not planted right
next to the 'incompatible plants', they will be fine.
Plants like tansy deter ants from an area where they are causing
problems. However, it can be very invasive, so growing it in a pot is
definitely recommended.
As the population of bees is dropping, vegetables and fruit trees will
be at risk of not producing fruit if they are not pollinated. So
encouraging bees into your garden is important for this purpose, and
plants such as lavender will increase the bee activity. This will help
towards a nice juicy crop!
Your compost bin will benefit from yarrow or comfrey leaves added to
it, as this will encourage nutrient rich home-made compost. You can also
add these leaves to the bottom of the hole when planting out.
As for your roses - planting chives close to them will help with
black-spot, as well as increasing the perfume of the roses. This is down
to the fragrance that chives give off, as well as an eco-friendly
chemical which the roses take in.
These are some of my best companion planting tips and suggestions,
which I have found useful in the past. There are a lot of other plants
which can be used to help your plants flourish and grow, and it would be
worth investigating further.
Happy Gardening!!!
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