Good Companions & Mortal Enemies

No fighting in the ranks!

As gardeners we cannot be on patrol all day every day to keep pests at bay. Encouraging wildlife into the garden is one step to help, another is companion planting. It is a concept many people are familiar with but don't always put into practice. Companion planting works in different ways, growing plants which deter pests, or those which attract pests away from the crops or encourage beneficial insects which will feed on the pests either as adults or larva as well as pollinating crops. However some care needs to be taken because there are some plants which should never be grown together.

Some of the most well known combinations are French Marigolds among the tomatoes, they exude a strong odour which repels aphids (and me!). Alternatively you could plant Basil with the tomatoes because it attracts whitefly away from the tomatoes. Herbs make very useful companions around the vegetable patch, something obviously known by those who cultivated pottager gardens with their wonderful mixes of flowers, herbs and vegetables. Some of the most useful are Coriander to repel aphids; Marigolds (Tagetes) also repel nematodes as well as aphids; Mustard is a trap crop to attract pests away from crops; Yarrow attracts hoverflies which prey on aphids. Those are multi use herbs which will grow happily with most plants.

Artichokes keeping watch

Others work well for specific platnts; Cabbages can be protected by Chamomile, Dill, Hyssop, Mint, Nasturtium, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Southernwood or Thyme (not necessarily all at once!). Beans benefit from planting Bay, Petunias (not what I would call a herb), Rosemary or Summer Savoury. Carrot root fly can be deterred by planting Rosemary, Chives, Sage or Wormwood nearby. It seems that a good idea would be to grow an assortment of herbs all round the edge of the vegetable plot or allotment to give multi purpose protection for everything against everything else. Just remember to keep the Carrots away from the Dill, Alliums away from beans. Bear in mind that Hyssop dislikes Radishes, as much as Rue dislikes Sweet Basil and Cucumbers don't get along with Sage either. Of course if you are going to protect the cabbages with mint remember to keep it in a container otherwise it will take over the whole plot! Don't bother with Fennel – it dislikes nearly everything!

 

Mix in the pot not on the plot

It is not only some herbs and vegetables which don't get along, there are some vegetable combinations which should never be grown together. This is largely because at least one party involved will give off chemicals from their roots or foliage which the other does not like. This usually means that seeds may not germinate or growth will be inhibited. One of the big incompatibilities are all legumes with all alliums. Other common enemies are Cucumber and Potatoes or aromatic herbs; Potatoes and Squashes, Tomatoes or Sunflowers; Tomatoes also dislike Fennel and Brassicas. Runner beans dislike Beets, Kohlrabi, and Sunflowers. Tomatoes and Cabbages don't get on but usually the tomatoes are enclosed in a greenhouse or against a sunny wall so they are not likely to cross roots.

There are a great number of happy combinations to be had too, which is a relief really!

Just how close is too close?

Asparagus may not like being moved but it enjoys the company of tomatoes, parsley and basil. Beans (apart from Runners) tend to like anything which isn't from the onion family, Runners like Corn (Maize), Summer Savoury and Radishes though. Cabbages are ok next to Alliums, Celery and Beets but keep them away from the strawberries. Carrots, Radishes, Strawberries, Cucumber and Lettuces are compatible too. There are many other companions and enemies, look them upon the internet.

One of my least favourite plants turns out to be one of the best for repelling aphids and root flies, nematodes and slugs as well as a number of invasive weeds – Tagetes Minuta (Mexican Marigold). They give off chemicals from their roots and leaves making them very useful to gardeners, if you can stand the smell!

So with companion/enemy planting and crop rotation this vegetable gardening is getting very complicated!! I shall have to draw up some sort of chart – I may be some while..........

A Prickly Issue

A Familiar Visitor

Our gardens are havens for us but how much of a haven are they for wildlife? Many people will plant flowers for bees and butterflies and put out nest boxes and food for birds. The most attractive and visible visitors are well catered for which is really good because despite gardeners best efforts many species of birds and insects are still in decline. One of the most dramatic declines in recent years is not a bird or insect but a mammal, the hedgehog. With numbers in decline for many years, down by 1/3 from 2003 – 2012 alone. Its decline is put down to various factors such as habitat loss, poor management of hedgerows, and the fragmentation of habitat because of building developments and new roads isolating any hedgehogs in the vicinity. Even the sad sight of a squashed hedgehog on the road has become less frequent. In an effort to help them people are taking action. One initiative from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society is called Hedgehog Street (www.hedgehogstreet.org) which offers advice on helping hedgehogs, including linking gardens by making a small hole at the bottom of a wall or fence to help them get around. There is much that we gardeners can do to encourage these visitors back to our gardens such as providing shelters for them to hibernate in and ensuring there is a good supply of food for them.

We want more of these!

In contrary to a gardeners natural instinct we should be encouraging slugs and snails to help our prickly friends (and others). Every gardener know how difficult these pests are to get rid of, they like damp dark areas to hide in, so keep a damp dark area just for them. To protect plants from their voracious appetites sacrificial plants or crops could be sown (Lettuce seeds are still very cheap). Vegetable crops can be protected in various ways, lots of different things can be used a barriers eg; soot, wood ash, egg shells, plastic bottle cloches etc. The one thing I would never use are slug pellets. The widely available ones which contain Metaldehyde may not have been proved to directly kill hedgehogs (some hedgehog charities would disagree there) research suggests that they would have to eat a large amount of pellets or dead slugs to kill them but it may act like rat poison and prevents them from breeding successfully. Slug Killers containing Aluminium Sulphate are deemed to be safe to use by Hedgehog charities. The preferred methods of despatching these slimy pests are using a beer trap or picking off and disposing of or putting down a hollow grapefruit half to shelter the slugs so they can be disposed of.

Another Gardeners Friend

The good thing about making a garden hedgehog friendly is that other slug and snail predators such as frogs, toads, centipedes, ground beetles, sloworms and fireflies will also be happy to visit your garden, particularly if you also provide suitable habitats for them too. So keep piles of leaves and old wood, create a beetle bank, make a small pond, use bundles of short pieces of cane to make homes for ladybirds and lacewings and use chemicals sparingly. Growing early or late flowering plants will help insects preparing for or emerging from hibernation. It is worth leaving some seeds and fruits where they are growing for the birds to enjoy, a pile of windfall apples is welcomed by blackbirds, thrushes and insects.

Add all these to the bird feeders and wildlife friendly plants and maybe if enough people do it there will be a turn around in the fortunes of our garden wildlife.

Rural vandalism

One final thought – I saw that the local farmer had been trimming the hedgerows around here. I know that there are miles and miles of hedges to trim and farmers are very busy people and need to do things in the most time and cost effective way. But is this sort of vandalism really necessary?! Imagine if we did the same in our gardens!

The North Wind Did Blow....

Which way is North?

And we did get snow, sleet, hail and rain. Here on the North Norfolk coast when the north wind blows it is clean and very fresh as it comes directly from the North Pole (well the Arctic). That's about 3000 miles according to my measurements on Google Earth! There are trees sculpted by the wind to verify this.

Having had such an icy blast has curtailed any thoughts of work in the garden or allotment. So instead I visited a couple of local garden centres instead. Mostly on reconnaissance to check the prices of things like canes, fleece, polythene and netting a necessary job when working on a tight budget. Seeds were on offer with 20% off. With the high price of seeds that was most fortunate!

Wind sculptures

In an earlier blog I mentioned getting some different varieties of vegetables such as red broad beans and purple carrots. Well I was so shocked by the prices that my plans rapidly changed. I bought just one brand in one shop so I have since looked on line to compare prices of various brands and vegetables. Then I had fun with a spreadsheet! The results were interesting. I chose twenty three different vegetables and herbs, usual allotment or garden standards; - various legumes, brassicas, roots and tomatoes, varieties which were sold by all suppliers or in a few cases the nearest equivalent. I chose to compare Suttons, Thompson & Morgan, Fothergills and DT Brown. The most expensive was Fothergills at £45.75 for everything (followed by T&M then Suttons) and DT Brown cheapest at £34.67, the only one to come in under £40. However you get 7618 seeds from Fothergills as opposed to 7483 at Browns, the lowest amount was 7268 from Suttons. The amount of seeds in a packet varies, but the biggest variation is in beans and peas; with Broad Beans (Bunyards) going from 30 in a pack with T&M up to 65 in a cheaper pack from Browns. A variation of 25 to 30 seems normal in packs of beans. It was harder to compare peas (Hurst Green Shaft) because one company sold theirs by weight but the others ranged from 250 to 400 per pack. The most expensive Beans (Cobra) were £3.65 for 70 from Suttons, only £2.39 from Browns for the same quantity. Best value for money are T&M Nantes Carrots £1.99 for 2000. At the other extreme the worst value for money are squash seeds; Pumpkins come in at £3.69 for 8 seeds from T&M that's a whopping 46p each seed. If you prefer Butternut squash go to Brown's; ten seeds cost a mere £1.89 – or you could by a squash in the supermarket have some delicious meals and keep the seeds (that is my option!). I haven't considered retailers own brands because they don't necessarily have the same number of varieties as dedicated seed companies. Everyone knows it pays to shop around and that new varieties tend to cost more initially but this unscientific bit of reasearch really highlights the need to be wary. I didn't need many seeds this year but in future I will compare prices more thoroughly, although I think I know where I will be buying seeds next time.

A change of plan

Having paid out for the seeds there is then the problem of what to plant them in – proper seed compost or ordinary multi-purpose (without added food or water retaining granules). I usually have some multi-purpose around so I always use that, picking out any lumps or woody bits. I usually have success, any failures are usually because of something I did or didn't do. A fellow allotment holder spent a lot of money on proper seed compost last year, watered everything and waited for life. Results were poor, many of those which germinated succumbed to damp off and had to be replanted or replaced with ready grown plants. The compost developed a crust on top, a problem which can be alleviated by watering from below – standing the seed trays in a gravel tray is one possibility but then the seeds will be standing in water which would lead to death too!

There is an alternative to buying seeds and that is to buy plants instead (the costs of which I haven't done a spread sheet for!). Interestingly they are always in plugs filled with ordinary compost not seed compost. In some cases this may prove worthwhile if you don't need or want to grow large amounts or your seeds have succumbed to damp off. The drawback is that the plants may then fall prey to slugs, snails or pigeons and it will be too late to buy anything else. 

I suppose the final possibility is to allow some vegetables to run to seed and gather these, keeping costs down to a minimum.....