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Companion Planting
spendaholic
Posts: 1,549 Forumite
Okay you luvverly peeps (and if you redirect me to an existing link, please do it nicely). Who has suggestions for companion planting?
I already have French marigolds in with my tumbling tomatoes in the hanging baskets. I already have sunflowers for my runner beans to climb up, rather than canes. I already plant carrots alongside and among the onions.
I love this companion planting lark. Apart from making the garden look colourful as well as being productive, the flowers attract the pollinating insects so the fruit and veg gets pollinated too, and the smell of onions keeps carrot fly away.
However, I want to plant up a window box with strawberries and don't know what will go well with them. I also have a row of minarette fruit trees but don't know what to put around the base (apples, pears, plums and cherries).
In the autumn I will start to create individual beds, one at a time, beginning with potatoes to break up the earth and start off the crop rotation (the house is very new, we've only been here a year, and I want to do it properly). Half of the garden will be productive while half will have the flowers and plants that attract the wildlife.
I already have French marigolds in with my tumbling tomatoes in the hanging baskets. I already have sunflowers for my runner beans to climb up, rather than canes. I already plant carrots alongside and among the onions.
I love this companion planting lark. Apart from making the garden look colourful as well as being productive, the flowers attract the pollinating insects so the fruit and veg gets pollinated too, and the smell of onions keeps carrot fly away.
However, I want to plant up a window box with strawberries and don't know what will go well with them. I also have a row of minarette fruit trees but don't know what to put around the base (apples, pears, plums and cherries).
In the autumn I will start to create individual beds, one at a time, beginning with potatoes to break up the earth and start off the crop rotation (the house is very new, we've only been here a year, and I want to do it properly). Half of the garden will be productive while half will have the flowers and plants that attract the wildlife.
spendy/she/her ***DEBT-FREE DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 2022!*** Highest debt: £35k (2006) MY WINS: £3,541 CASH; £149 Specsavers voucher; free eye test; goody bag from Scottish Book Trust; tickets to Grand Designs Live; 2-year access to Feel Amazing App (worth £100); Home Improvement & Renovation Show tickets; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets
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Sorry, I'm new to this gardening lark, only one I know is marigolds and tomatoes but I wanted to say, sunflowers and runner beans - what a fantastic idea. I love it. I've got some sunflower seeds planted, as soon as they are big enough I'm going to try it
I found THIS but it doesn't mention strawberries.When life hands you a lemon, make sure you ask for tequilla and salt
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I have garlic with fruit but I think it's a bit late for that now (I put mine in before Christmas). Try this site for advice on this and much more.
http://www.powen.freeserve.co.uk/Basics/basicsmenu.htm#basics0 -
Thanks, Magentasue.
It's quite late for a lot of things now, but I love planning ahead. It looks like borage, then, lettuce, and/or tansy.
Is borage a herb or a flower?spendy/she/her ***DEBT-FREE DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 2022!*** Highest debt: £35k (2006) MY WINS: £3,541 CASH; £149 Specsavers voucher; free eye test; goody bag from Scottish Book Trust; tickets to Grand Designs Live; 2-year access to Feel Amazing App (worth £100); Home Improvement & Renovation Show tickets; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets0 -
Borage is a herb - not one that I've used though. From memory, I thnk it has pretty flowers.0
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Monty Don doesn't rate companion planting of specific things next to specific things, but I tend to think there actually IS some benefit in it. What he says, and I agree with this too, is that having your flowers among your veg is a good thing, and having as varied plant life as possible is good, because then you're going to get the widest variety of insect life, with all their predatory tendencies, and nature's natural balance is more likely to be maintained, leading to fewer problems with pests.
Yes, onions around carrots is widespread, to confuse the carrot fly who try and sniff out carrot. I think that Joy Larkcom, who is big in the vegetable growing world, uses chive borders (quicker than onions) around her carrots. Parsley can be used in the same way, I believe.
On plants where aphids might be a problem, it's probably a good idea to include plants that attract ladybirds and hoverflies, which eat aphids. French Marigolds do the job, apparently. (they really seem to be a wonder flower!)
Just had a look at the link below, and it seems like a good list of suggestions!
Withstrawberries though, I don't know of anything they particularly like, and I think the main pests for them are birds and slugs. A window box will help prevent slugs I would have thought, and a bit of netting stop the birds, if they turn out to be a problem!
Hope you have some luck!0 -
Incidentally, before I go off and do my baking, there's a relatively new mag out called Grow Your Own. They always have cover mounted seeds, and not only do they tell you how to grow stuff, they tell you how to use it in the kitchen too.
Just a quick aside there. spendy/she/her ***DEBT-FREE DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 2022!*** Highest debt: £35k (2006) MY WINS: £3,541 CASH; £149 Specsavers voucher; free eye test; goody bag from Scottish Book Trust; tickets to Grand Designs Live; 2-year access to Feel Amazing App (worth £100); Home Improvement & Renovation Show tickets; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets0 -
spendaholic wrote:Thanks, Magentasue.
It's quite late for a lot of things now, but I love planning ahead. It looks like borage, then, lettuce, and/or tansy.
Is borage a herb or a flower?
In the part of South Yorkshire where I live they grow fields of Borage which is harvested for the oil. If you travel on the M18 you see fields which look like water because of the blue Borage flowers. Incidentally the oil is very expensive. The other blue fields you might see are Linseed. Very pretty.0 -
They sound lovely. I don't go on the M18 very often, but can always take a detour. And if it's blue, it should go nicely with the strawberries.MrsMW wrote:In the part of South Yorkshire where I live they grow fields of Borage which is harvested for the oil. If you travel on the M18 you see fields which look like water because of the blue Borage flowers. Incidentally the oil is very expensive. The other blue fields you might see are Linseed. Very pretty.
We have a lot of rapeseed in our part of S Yorks.spendy/she/her ***DEBT-FREE DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 2022!*** Highest debt: £35k (2006) MY WINS: £3,541 CASH; £149 Specsavers voucher; free eye test; goody bag from Scottish Book Trust; tickets to Grand Designs Live; 2-year access to Feel Amazing App (worth £100); Home Improvement & Renovation Show tickets; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets0 -
spendaholic wrote:They sound lovely. I don't go on the M18 very often, but can always take a detour. And if it's blue, it should go nicely with the strawberries.
We have a lot of rapeseed in our part of S Yorks.
My mum grows borage in her garden. You can eat the leaves and the little blue flowers – you can put both in salads, iced tea, Pimms – they taste cucumber-ish.
From what I remember it grows to about 2ft-3ft tall and 2-3ft in diameter so may be a big for what you want and may drown your strawberries.Your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loan secured on it.0 -
Penny-Wise wrote:From what I remember it grows to about 2ft-3ft tall and 2-3ft in diameter so may be a big for what you want and may drown your strawberries.
Whoa! Yes, they will be too big for strawberries. And expecially in a window box. Perhaps I could get the same effect from blue lobelia? Tansy grows quite tall too, doesn't it? The lettuce would be the right size, but not much colour to lettuce.spendy/she/her ***DEBT-FREE DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 2022!*** Highest debt: £35k (2006) MY WINS: £3,541 CASH; £149 Specsavers voucher; free eye test; goody bag from Scottish Book Trust; tickets to Grand Designs Live; 2-year access to Feel Amazing App (worth £100); Home Improvement & Renovation Show tickets; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets0
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