Companion/Cooperative Plant Growing & Overwinter Crops
My garden's slowly coming along, and the vegetable patch has been bordered out into a raised bed with some soil in it (the gardeners are using the soil from the garden as they've said it's very fertile, so I suspect our only issue with it was the stones. This does mean there's a load of grass in it, but also the possibility of weeds; I'm going to be keeping an eye on how many weeds grow and if there are too many get some weed control matting). I also got a gardening catalogue through and from the advice of other people I've started to look in to companion/cooperative growing methods.
From what I'm planning on growing I've already got ideas on what I can grow with what (tomatoes with peppers or basil; carrots with lettuce), alongside some companion flowers (geraniums, marigolds, petunias, and nasturtiums). However, what I'd like to know is if anyone here has experience with companion growing, and how it's worked for them. Did you use various food-bearing plants, or did you mix in some flowering plants as well, and what kind of results did you get (planting x and y together worked brilliantly, but x and z competed horribly and I got very little from them).
I'd also like some advice on spacing crops -- for example, it's stated tomatoes should be planted 50cm (20inch) apart, and peppers 30-45cm (12-18inch) apart. Does this mean that if I'm planting tomatoes and peppers together I can have the plants closer together so long as the space between the tomato and pepper plants are what's recommended? I suspect that I'll need to plant them 50cm apart, but it can't hurt to ask, can it?
Because of timing issues, are there any plants I can sow between now and the new year that aren't onions, garlic or lettuce (I'm planting butterhead All The Year Round variety)? This is largely because, aside from lettuce, the earliest I can plant items will be February (peppers and I'll be starting them off inside) and I'd like my veg patch to be in some kind of use until then. I know I have the option of green manure to enhance the soil, but given the apparent fertility of the soil I have I don't think they'd be necessary (plus I'm running out of time to plant them).
Cross-posted to gardening@dreamwidth.org
From what I'm planning on growing I've already got ideas on what I can grow with what (tomatoes with peppers or basil; carrots with lettuce), alongside some companion flowers (geraniums, marigolds, petunias, and nasturtiums). However, what I'd like to know is if anyone here has experience with companion growing, and how it's worked for them. Did you use various food-bearing plants, or did you mix in some flowering plants as well, and what kind of results did you get (planting x and y together worked brilliantly, but x and z competed horribly and I got very little from them).
I'd also like some advice on spacing crops -- for example, it's stated tomatoes should be planted 50cm (20inch) apart, and peppers 30-45cm (12-18inch) apart. Does this mean that if I'm planting tomatoes and peppers together I can have the plants closer together so long as the space between the tomato and pepper plants are what's recommended? I suspect that I'll need to plant them 50cm apart, but it can't hurt to ask, can it?
Because of timing issues, are there any plants I can sow between now and the new year that aren't onions, garlic or lettuce (I'm planting butterhead All The Year Round variety)? This is largely because, aside from lettuce, the earliest I can plant items will be February (peppers and I'll be starting them off inside) and I'd like my veg patch to be in some kind of use until then. I know I have the option of green manure to enhance the soil, but given the apparent fertility of the soil I have I don't think they'd be necessary (plus I'm running out of time to plant them).
Cross-posted to gardening@dreamwidth.org