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.

Companion Planting: Broccoli

Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family, so basically what goes for broccoli also goes for cabbage, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. These do well when planted with aromatic herbs like:

• dill


• celery


• chamomile


• peppermint


• rosemary


• sage

and vegetables such as...

• beets


• onions


• potatoes

Do NOT plant broccoli near pole beans, strawberries or tomatoes.

Companion Planting: Beets

I had never grown beets until last year (2008). They did quite nicely, considering I started out clueless. Here's what beets like to be grown near to:

• bush beans


• onions


• kohlrabi


• lettuce


• cabbage


• broccoli

For some reason, beets do NOT like pole/vining beans. Go figure. They also don't like field mustard or charlock.

Our 2009 square foot raised garden bed has a square of beets at the edge, surrounded by lettuce and onions. We already have sprouts!

Companion Planting: Beans

There are bush beans and pole/vining beans... and sometimes it seems like each bean has its likes and dislikes. Generally speaking, most beans like being planted with:

• carrots


• cauliflower


• beets (for bush beans but NOT for pole beans!)


• cucumbers


• cabbages


• marigolds (helps repel a bean beetle)


• summer savory

Last year, we planted soy beans in an 8 x 4 raised bed, with onions in the middle. We learned the hard way that beans do NOT like being planted anywhere near the onion family, which includes garlic, scallions, shallots and chives. The beans survived but we didn't get even an onion seedling! Beans also don't like gladiolas or fennel.

Have you read our article about the three sisters planting? (http://backyardgrocerygardening.blogspot.com/2009/03/planting-three-sisters-way.html) Running (vining) beans grow up the corn stalk, giving them plenty of air and room to grow, making it easier to pick. Beans also fix nitrogen into the ground, which the corn needs. And the beans anchor the corn more firmly, which helps to protect against the wind and a thick growth of beans helps to deter critters.

If you have bush beans to plant with corn, alternate a row of corn with a row of bush beans.

Some bush beans like being planted with a celery plant - one to every 6 or 7 bushes of beans. Some bush beans also like being planted with strawberry plants.

Pole/vining beans don't like kohlrabi or sunflowers. We learned this the hard way because we planted sunflowers in our three sisters bed. Not even one bean plant survived past peeking it's head out of the soil! Pole beans do like radishes, though.

= = =

I know this is a lot to take in. Sometimes you just have to look at what you want to plant, and see what you can fit and where.

Companion Planting: Asparagus

Companion planting is placing one plant near another to get better results, or making sure one plant grows far away from another because they might cause problems for each other.



If you are starting to plant asparagus now, here's what goes well with it:

• parsley


• basil


• tomatoes

Remember - never cut asparagus spears from the first year, and only a couple in the second and a few more in the third. The fourth year - have at it! As for the foliage, never cut it until the Fall because that provides the nourishment for next year's crop of spears.

We Re-Planted Our Destroyed Raised Bed

If you've been keeping up with our blog, you know that a certain neighbor vandalized our raised garden beds on Mother's Day. I had it all strung up with yarn, delineating the square feet, to help me keep to my plan. The neighbor tore at the yarn and must have moved the dirt around with his hand or a utensil because it was a mess. On the other raised bed, all of the asparagus roots I had just planted had been dug up, the holes refilled, and the roots carefully placed on top, by the markers. Unbelievable.


The asparagus roots went back into place right away but everything else waited while we figured out a way to booby-trap our backyard gate.


Anyway, I finally got around to replanting everything else. We have three tomatoes: "Mr. Stripey"(a yellow heirloom), "Fourth of July" (the big one in the middle - an early-bearing which already has little green globes on it!), and "Lemon Boy". I planted orange marigolds, parsley and basil around the tomatoes (companion plants - helps keep away bad bugs).


The picture shows some of the bed covered in newspaper. While the radishes are popping up, I wanted to help keep in moisture in the other parts because it's been so very hot recently. I'll take them off when the seeds have taken root, and it will be easier for me to see vandalism. Should be any day now!

Note: It appears that we are still being vandalized but now it's alternating between human and critter. We've set traps and woe to anyone who ignores them!