Companion PlantingIf you’re like me and many other Americans, you’re growing vegetables this year. For those of us who live in suburbia and aren’t blessed with unlimited space, we have to get very creative when deciding where to grow our vegetables. If you have always planted your vegetables in neat and tidy rows, without much creative thought, try a new planting scheme this year – companion planting. Companion planting is a method of arranging your plantings according to which types of plants are potentially beneficial to one another. Companion planting may reduce competition for water and nutrients, decrease pest and disease problems, and possibly increase vegetable production. Companion planting is thought to work, in part, because it increases plant diversity. Imagine a hungry insect population finding its way into your garden. If it encounters an entire row of its preferred food, you can bet that the entire row will be decimated before you even notice. However, what if that insect population found one plant of its favorite food, only to be halted from moving onto the next one because there’s a plant it doesn’t like in its way? You would probably notice the damage and might be able to control the problem before losing your entire crop. And, the insects may move on to “greener pastures” if undesirable plants are mixed in with desirable ones. In its simplest form, companion planting is alternating two types of vegetables in a single row. This is sometimes called intercropping, and alternating garlic or basil with tomato plants is a popular example. You can also intercrop more than two varieties. A classic multispecies intercropping example is growing onions, lettuce and carrots together. Each of these plants grows its roots at different levels in the soil, so they don’t compete with each other for nutrients. Aboveground, these plants have such distinct growth habits and foliage shapes that they don’t crowd each other for sunlight or space. Bush beans and peas are popular vegetables to intercrop with plants that are heavy nitrogen feeders. This is because beans and peas are nitrogen fixers, meaning they can utilize atmospheric nitrogen for their growth and reproduction. They have symbiotic bacteria that live on their roots and form nodules rich in nitrogen. Plants growing near them will be able to intertwine their roots with the beans’ roots and utilize the nitrogen stored there. An ancient and popular companion planting is the Three Sisters garden. I have grown a Three Sisters garden and loved it! The Three Sisters method is a unique Native American way of growing corn, pole beans, and squash. These three plants mutually benefit each other as they grow. The corn provides a living trellis for the pole beans, the pole beans provide nitrogen for use by the corn, and the squash provides living mulch. The three plants create a synergy that produces a greater yield, increased nutrition and more food calories than if only one of the crops was grown alone in the same space. The Three Sisters garden was developed by the Iroquois, and its cultivation was adopted by Native American tribes all across the country. The Anasazi added another sister, bee plant, Cleome serrulata, to the plant mix to improve pollination of the beans and squash and provide pollen to the bees. Here's a list of popular intercropping companion plants. Companion planting has its roots in both science and folklore. Some people swear by planting basil with their tomatoes, and others won’t plant basil without garlic. Here are some suggestions for popular homegrown vegetables. If you would like to read more about companion planting, “Carrots Love Tomatoes,” by Louise Riotte, and “Gaia’s Garden,” by Toby Hemenway, are a couple of books that have comprehensive plant lists and design suggestions. Companion plantings aren’t limited to vegetables. Flowering plants are also great additions to vegetable gardens, as many of them attract beneficial insects. For example, cosmos attract syrphid flies, lacewings and tiny parasitic wasps. All of these insects help control pests such as aphids, leafhoppers, spider mites and cutworms.
Growing a variety of flowers and vegetables around an apple tree is a common way to grow more food and provide benefit to the tree. Try planting a ring of perennial flowering bulbs, such as daffodils (don’t eat the daffodils, as they will make you sick) or edible chives, around the trunk of the tree. Next, plant a ring of edible herbs and flowers, such as borage and cilantro, which attract beneficial insects. Then, plant some larger-leafed vegetables, such as rhubarb and zucchini, or some smaller plants, such as strawberries and bush beans, to act as living mulch. Finally, plant another ring of bulbs, such as edible day lilies, or ornamental perennial flowers to attract pollinators and beneficial insects. Be sure to arrange your plants so that they don’t shade each other out. All of these plants perform a specific function for the apple tree and each other. You can expand upon this idea by also planting beneficial perennial shrubs, such as currant or Siberian pea beyond the drip line of the tree. The drip line is the reach of the trees limbs. You could even add an annual vine, such as sweet pea or some nasturtium, to grow up the trunk of the tree. Both plants look pretty and attract pollinators. If you grow nasturtium, you can even eat the flowers! Companion planting or intercropping can also be expanded into a polyculture. A polyculture is essentially a dynamic plant community composed of many species. Think of hiking through a beautiful meadow in the Bridger's at the height of wildflower season. You don’t see row upon row of one type of flower. Rather, you see a multicolored carpet of many different types of flowers. Many of the flowers bloom at different times and grow to different heights; and when they die, they open up new spaces for another plant species to grow. You can follow these same principles when designing a polyculture in your own yard. Polycultures have long been popular with traditional or aboriginal societies. The advantage of a polyculture is that it provides a constant supply of food over the entire growing season, and begins to function dynamically – repelling pests, building the soil, attracting beneficial insects, etc. Polycultures are typically started in the early spring, before the last frost, with cool-season crops that are sown free-form into the garden in mixtures. For example, a mixture of mustard seeds, arugula and other leaf lettuces are sown together. This is followed with a planting mixture of radishes, carrots and other root crops. Next, an herb mixture, such as cilantro and parsley, is sown. Finally, cool-season peas and bush beans are pushed here and there into the soil, about 12 inches apart. The plants can be thinned once they’ve germinated, and then harvested by either cutting or pulling entire plants. As summer approaches, many of these plants will reach their maturity and can be pulled and replaced with warm-season crops, such as tomatoes, peppers and squash. In the early fall, beneath the dappled shade of the warm-season crops, cool-season crops are sown into the soil a second time to provide a fall harvest. Finally, in late fall or winter, cover crops are sown to replenish the soil. The trick to keeping a polyculture under control is to sow the seeds lightly and thin judiciously. The goal is to produce different varieties, not a lot of any single plant variety. If you sow too many seeds, your garden will quickly become overcrowded, and nothing will reach its full potential. No matter your gardening style and plant preferences, you can use companion planting to benefit your garden by attracting pollinators, providing living mulch, building the soil, potentially decreasing pest and disease problems, and above all else, providing you and your family with bountiful homegrown abundance! This is a reprint of an article I wrote when I was the commercial horticulture program coordinator for the western area of University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.
0 Comments
Choosing Quality Plants at the NurserySpring is in full swing and we (hopefully) have had our last frost. It is finally time to buy plants. Before you spend any of your hard earned money on plants from the nursery or local plants sales, make sure you are purchasing plants that are vigorous and healthy. There is nothing more depressing than buying the perfect plant for the perfect spot only to have it fail because of something you could have easily detected. Don’t know what you need to detect? No worries, read on for tips on choosing high quality plants.
Above Ground Considerations Select plants that have lots of buds, but hardly any flowers. This is difficult for many of us, as we are looking for instant bursts of color in the garden. However, all plants will go through transplant shock when they are removed from the artificial world of container living and placed into the harsh realities of Montana’s lean soil, intense sunlight and brutal winds. Most flowering plants will respond to this shock by immediately dropping blooms and redirecting energy elsewhere. Save yourself the heartache, buy plants in bud not bloom. Avoid spindly, leggy plants, and plants with yellow leaves (unless that is their natural color). Those tall and leggy plants were grown in poor light and will struggle all summer in your garden. Plants with yellow or pale colored leaves can be an indicator of poor plant nutrition and it is asking too much of them to thrive in the infertile soil of your yard. If you are considering woody plants (trees and shrubs) make sure the branches are free of scars, breaks, deadwood or crossing branches. The branches should be strongly attached with wide angles, and some branches should be growing low on the trunk. Also make sure tree trunks have taper, meaning that the trunk diameter increases as it nears the soil line. The final above ground inspection should be for insects and disease. Do not choose plants that are infected or infested. Take a good look underneath the leaf, and where the leaf attaches. Also avoid plants that have insects present or have chewed, mottled or dry and crispy leaves. Woody plants should be inspected for insect exit holes on the trunk and branches. You do not want to import a problem into your backyard. Below Ground Considerations Most people never consider looking at the root ball when purchasing plants. However, you would never purchase a car without looking under the hood right? Apply the same logic here. First look to see if roots are growing out of the bottom of the pot. Next, set the container on its side, give it a good thwack on the bottom and gently ease the plant out of the pot. You will be able to clearly see if the plant is pot-bound. If it is not pot-bound make sure there are no crooked, kinked, crossing or girdling roots. These deformed roots will never be efficient at water and nutrient uptake. Also notice if there are any black and slimy roots; these are dead and indicate the plant has a disease, or has been over-watered. With a little extra time and effort you can be sure to select the healthiest and vigorous plants for your yard. Remember to introduce your newly purchased plants to your back yard before planting them. Most plants have been grown in a greenhouse and need an adjustment period to toughen up for our growing conditions. Read my Homegrown Paleo post on hardening off plants. Happy gardening! This is a reprint of an article I wrote when I was the commercial horticulture program coordinator for the western area of University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. For more specific gardening and horticulture advice be sure to visit your local Cooperative Extension office. How to Harden Off PlantsWe are SO ready for gardening season! Many of us have plants that we started from seed or purchased from local garden centers and now that the last chance of spring frost has almost passed we are ready to transplant our starts into the garden. Not. So. Fast. Those plants have been lovingly cared for in your sunny window sill, on your kitchen table and in the nursery greenhouse for several weeks and planting them out in your garden without hardening them off is setting yourself up for a garden catastrophe. Transplants need a gradual introduction to the harsh garden environment. Each day you need to set them out for a short time, in the shade to start, to expose them to the dry air, wind and heat. Bring them in every night, then set them out a little longer each day. This gradual introduction to the outside world produces hormones that help that plants stand tall in the wind and withstand direct sunlight. If you have shade cloth, a cold frame, or some other kind of season extender you can leave your plants outside a little longer. Either way, it's important to give them good start at growing outdoors with a gradual hardening off period. Here's a guide to a successful home vegetable gardening from MSU Extension. Good luck! Can I Grow That Here?Last week I started this Homegrown Paleo blog series with a post about the important of healthy soil. Soil is not the sexiest garden topic to be sure, yet it's the foundation of a successful garden. After your soil is in good condition, be it in the ground or raised beds or containers, it's time to think about what to plant. For your first garden, plant what you like to eat. This may seem like overly simplistic advice; however, it you don't know what is a parsnip or kohlrabi, don't plant it. You'll end up giving away things you don't know how to prepare and eat. Make a list of all the vegetables you most commonly buy from the store and focus on growing those. Here's where I hate to burst your "I'm growing limes" bubble, but, you're not growing limes in Montana. All fruits and vegetables have a tolerance for cold and frost, and those cold tolerances will determine what you grow here. All plants can be categorized into annual or perennial growth. An annual plant grows up and dies in one growing season. A perennial plant goes dormant in the winter and then regrows the following growing season. Some plants that are annuals in Montana are perennials elsewhere. One of the determinants of annual or perennial growth in Montana is the first and last frost dates. These dates define our growing season. Annual garden vegetables have yet another categorization based on their frost tolerance. Some annual plants are cold season crops, meaning they can tolerate cold temperatures or a light frost, and some are warm season crops, not tolerating cold or frost at all. Many of our favorite vegetables like tomatoes, squash, peppers and eggplant are warm season crops. They will die in a frost (when the temperature is at or below freezing) and will grow very slowly if planted out too early. To pick the variety that will grow best you need to know the length of your growing season. Here in the Gallatin Valley our last spring frost occurs around May 22 and the first fall frost occurs around September 27. That gives us about a 100 day growing season. Local wisdom is to transplant your warm season crops after Memorial Day. Cold season crops can be directly sown (planting the seeds) into your garden anytime in April or May and starts can be transplanted in May. Peas grow exceptionally well here and I've successfully sown pea seeds as early at St. Patrick's Day. Now that we know the length of our growing season we can pick the crops that will grow and produce in less than 100 days. I pick varieties that are 90 days or less to maximize the probability that I will get a harvest. Too many times have I eagerly awaited the ripening of the most beautiful, big, juicy tomatoes only to have my hopes and dreams smashed by a mid-September cold snap. Now I grow all the cherry tomatoes I can! Of course, there are ways of extending the harvest, and that's the subject of another blog. Lucky for us, we have several local farms and garden centers that have done much of the growing season math for us. You can purchase plant starts from stores now. Just wait to transplant the warm season crops until Memorial Day Weekend. To help you determine what you can grow in your area, check in with your Cooperative Extension. All Extension services have a department dedicated to helping you grow your on food. These horticulture specialists and Master Gardener volunteers are ready to help you pick the best crops for your garden. Here's a great guide from Montana State University Extension to help you answer the question, "Can I grow that here?" |
Special EventsRecord your WOD on Beyond the Whiteboard.
Do you need CrossFit or yoga gear? Click on the links below to buy through our GORUCK, Reebok, Rogue or Affiliate share sale programs. These are affiliate links and our gym will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links.
Check out our Flickr page!
Categories
All
Archives
March 2024
|