Companion Planting: Corn

Here's hoping you already have your corn in the ground, but if not, you can use this info when you plant it the next growing season.

First, remember that corn is wind-pollinated, so plant in blocks instead of rows. I've had success with four rows of 10 each.

Sweet corn likes potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkins and other squash. Peas and beans provide the nitrogen that corn loves and needs so much.

If you plant corn with squash and beans, that's called "Three Sisters". Corn provides shade for the squash and a place for runner/pole beans to climb. Squash shades the ground to keep moisture in, plus the spikey parts of the squash help keep critters (especially raccoons) off the corn. The beans provide the nitrogen for the corn. Together, all three make a great complete-protein meal too (often called "succotash").

Pumpkins and other winding winter squash work well as the "moisture-keeper", but so do melon vines and cucumbers.

Consider planting sunflowers every 4 or 5 rows of corn. This strip of sunflowers will help reduce certain beetles that won't want to cross that strip.

Stay away from planting tomatoes anywhere near corn - the tomato fruitworm and the corn earworm are the same and will make a hasty tasty meal out of both.

I had a lot of earwigs in my cornpatch last year, but I read up on them and they don't eat the plants; they eat the little bugs. We pretty much left them alone, and still had at least 2 ears of corn per stalk.

There are a lot of websites giving detailed information on how to plant Three Sisters. Enjoy!

Companion Planting: Celery

We grew a LOT of celery last year, especially considering my son and I don't really like celery... Hubby ate it. We didn't have the space this year to grow it, but I'll grow it again next year. I'm pre-diabetic with high blood pressure, and celery is good for a salt-reduced diet. Celery is easy to dehydrate and used in soups, or powdered to add to my special all-vegg powder.

Pic to right taken Aug 10 2008 with my son holding the celery he just harvested. We grew it in that kiddie pool he's standing beside. That's our little Three Sisters (corn, squash, beans, sunflowers) patch in the background.

Celery likes: cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes and leeks, and kinda likes bush beans.

Good idea to grow the celery in a circle so that the lacy roots can weave together and provide a great little home for earthworms. But be prepared - pull one, pull all!

Companion Planting: Cauliflower

I love cauliflower but I couldn't grow it this year. Shame too because my kid likes it too. Next year, even in a container, we'll plant some yellow cauliflower - yum!

Anyhoo...

Cauliflower can be bothered by the white cabbage butterfly. Plant celery near cauliflower to repel that butterfly.

Don't plant cauliflower near strawberries or tomatoes - doesn't like either one of them.

Companion Planting: Carrots

Back to discussing companion planting! Today's topic: carrots.

First, to grow sweet-tasting carrots, you need to make sure your soil has sufficient lime, potash and humus. Don't allow too much nitrogen, and make sure they are shaded by larger plants, like tomatoes.

A problem is the carrot fly. Drive it away with onions, leeks, rosemary, wormwood and sage. Sometimes, black salsify (oyster plant) helps too.

To accomplish this, you could interplant rows of carrots with rows onions. I used wormwood last year and our carrots grew beautifully... orange but also purple, white and red.

Note: always store carrots far from apples so that the carrots won't develop a bitter taste.

Garden Delights

I've picked about 6 tomatoes so far ... from our "Fourth of July" tomato plant that I bought from a store. Can't remember where. Delicious fresh and red all the way through. Yum.

We have 2 little yellow straightneck squashes that will be ready in another 3 or 4 days. And we have several 3-inch zucchini that still have another week or so.

The parsley (flat leafed and curly) is ever so tasty! I pick a stem or so every time I'm back there watering.

Last year we just through our corn cobs and garden trimmings refuse in a big compost heap, enclosed by three big boards. I had to cover over (to make it purty so we can sell this house!) but in the midst of the flowers that I planted to purti-fy-it, here a cluster of corn plants suddenly bursting out! I'm gonna leave them there just to see what happens. Kinda cool!

Anyway... that's a very quick garden update. Our house goes on the market tomorrow, but we're not ready yet. We have been working very hard, and have even more hard work ahead of us very early tomorrow morning. I'll get back to reading blogs and writing on our blogs as soon as I can breathe again. Bear with me!

Vikki