Category Archives: companion planting

Learning and Teaching …. It’s Been a Busy Month!

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Just wrapped up our second Whole Systems Gardening Class at School of Permaculture!  It was a delight and privilege to be on the team teaching this 4-day intensive, seed to seed, harvest and preserve garden learning experience.  We combined classroom and hands-on, with seed starting, marked out a mandala-style garden, learned about soil life, built an 18-day compost pile, tasted wonderful fermented vegetables and learned a lot about nutrition …  Truly an experience.  Watch for another class this fall and definitely another next spring!

My teaching schedule has kept me busy – and will continue keeping me busy.  There was the Garden Readiness class at Trinity Haymarket a few weeks ago, and on March 26 I’ll be talking about Companion Planting to get the best results from your garden. And on April 16, I’ll be holding another Straw Bale Gardening class at Trinity Haymarket.

For other venues, I’ll be in Denison for the Culture of Arts Festival, talking about Companion Planting on April 2.

You can catch me at the Arboretum on April 9, discussing Permaculture Basics for the home garden.

AND, on April 15, I’ll be a panelist on urban agriculture at the Sustainable Summit held by Cedar Valley College.

For those of you who know me, you know I can talk gardening until your eyes glaze over.  But I truly enjoy sharing my knowledge with anyone who wants to garden, and garden better.

NOW…  I’ve also been on the road, learning.  I attended the Southern Sustainable Ag Working Group conference in Lexington Kentucky at the end of January (I believe I posted a couple of photos of the permaculture farm I visited). And the second weekend of February brought the Texas Organic Farming and Gardening Conference to Rockwall.  My head is still spinning with all that I learned.  I’ll be passing along knowledge gained as I transcribe my notes.

That’s all for tonight …  Digging in the dirt is good for the soul.  Grow something!

Anita

Hornworms and Companion Planting in the Garden

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In a gardening class this weekend, the discussion turned to growing tomatoes and the prevalence of the tomato hornworm.  Truth be told, I have not, in the last two decades seen a hornworm on my tomatoes.  Maybe I just don’t see them, but I sure don’t see any leaves eaten either.

Hornworm

Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org

 

Here’s what I do to avoid them (and other pests).

Borage, a lovely purple flowered herb, can be grown with the tomato plants and keeps hornworms away.  I also plant marigolds in the vicinity (to ward off root knot nematodes that can devastate tomatoes), and basil.  Not only do the tomatoes have company, but I get lovely flowers, cucumber-tasting borage leaves for salads, and fragrant basil.

I also don’t plant tomatoes in the same garden space two years in a row.   In fact, I’m on a 3-4 year rotation.

The practice of companion planting can produce more food for the space than just planting recommended spacing of mono-crops.

I’m a big fan of companion planting over and above any pest control benefits. Companion plants are those that help each other, and sometimes even increase yields for each other.  Friends helping friends.

A good companion planting with strawberries is spinach.  They both like more acidic soil.

Carrots go well, when planted among tomatoes late in the summer/early in the fall, when the tomatoes shade them from the hot sun, yet let them get a start.  The carrots use the under-surface growing horizon and are ready to burst forth when the tomatoes are done for the season.  Two crops from the same space.

Potatoes and beans (particularly bush beans) go well together.  They protect each other from Colorado potato beetle and Mexican bean beetle.

Okra and peppers do well together, especially if the okra is used as a windbreak for the peppers.

And if you’re growing lettuce and have problems with rabbits helping themselves, I’m told that onions planted with the lettuce will repel the rabbits.

[NOTE: A good read for companion planting is Carrots Love Tomatoes.  Look for the full citation under the Resources tab on this website.]

And while I’m on the subject….how about planting lots of rosemary?  It helps repel mosquitoes!  I advocate rosemary plantings around the deck or patio.

Other repellents or remedies include pepper flakes and orange peels.

To repel pests eating plants (e.g., basil, sage, peppers), boil red pepper flakes in water. Strain into a spray bottle and add about 1-2 tsp of dish soap (preferably 7th Generation or Ivory Soap). Shake and spray on the plant leaves.

For fire ants, boil orange peels in water with some whole cloves.  Strain into a jar and add the same amount of water.  Pour on the mound. May have to repeat after about a week. It makes the ants go away.