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Do carrot really love tomatoes?We’ve been find out companion planting advice for years and at last the new bookPlant Partnersby Jessica Walliser look at the research to understand which industrial plant combinations can benefit our gardens .
Also seePopular Garden Myths We ’ve All fall Forwhere we fact - control popular garden advice .
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A Fresh Look at Companion Planting
by Jessica Walliser
For generations , gardeners have used fellow traveler planting strategies in promise of develop a more fertile vegetable garden . However , most of these works partnerships did n’t have research to back them up . Instead , they were establish on little more than folklore and conjecture .
But things have become clearer in late days . In my book , Plant Partners , I dive into the skill behind modern companion planting and give the conception a much - needed reboot . Often calledinterplantingandintercroppingin the scientific inquiry , the benefits of companion planting are readable and perhaps more across-the-board than you might think .
Reasons to Companion Plant
Deterring pest is one reason for companion planting , but it ’s not the only one .
InPlant Partners , I premise seven benefits of partnering plant .
Frombuilding soil healthandenhancing biological control , tomanaging pests , weeds , anddiseases , the perks of modern companion planting are very real and very approachable , even in a pocket-sized veg garden .
Each of these benefits of companion planting are reviewed cautiously in their own chapter , along with dozens of specific industrial plant combinations aimed at reach those benefits .
Plant Partnerships
Today , I ’d care to partake five of the many science - stake companion planting partnership featured throughout the book .
1Plant combination: Green Beans and Potatoes
Benefit : Soil health and richness
Why it works : Partnering potatoes with green beans show an addition in potato tuber size . While light-green bean do n’t ready large amount of atomic number 7 , they are capable of sharing some of the nitrogen they do fix with nearby industrial plant via N carry-over , even while they ’re still awake . They portion out this N via root exudates and the frequent sloughing of nitrogen fixing nodules from their roots . It ’s also shared with neighboring plants through the hush-hush mycorrhizal net .
How to expend it : alternative closely plant rowing of beans and potatoes in the garden or ruffle the two plants together in the same quarrel or block .
2Plant combination: Cucumbers and Tomatoes
Benefit : Weed quelling
Why it works : cucumber are allelopathic , which means they make several increase - inhibit allelochemicals that negatively bear on the growth of neighboring plants , cinnamic acid being among the most studied .
How to expend it : Grow cucumbers as a hold up mulch under or around taller crops such as tomatoes , okra , and aubergine . The allelochemicals that repress sens growth are exuded through their rootage , so it ’s best not to partner them with crops grown from seed . Transplants , however , are little impacted by their allelopathic effects .
3Plant combination: Sweet Alyssum and Lettuce
Benefit : Enhanced biological ascendence
Why it solve : Sweet alyssum is an exemplary nectar source for both the syrphid fly and the leechlike wasp whose larvae feed on aphid .
How to habituate it : Interplant your lolly harvest with words of sweet madwort or plant it along the edges of raised beds where lettuce is develop .
link up : How to mature Vegetables in Containers & Succession Planting Tips
4Plant combination: Marigolds and Onions
welfare : Pest deterrent
Why it work : marigold are commonly touted as a great companion plant . However , most of the partnerships they are recommended for have zero inquiry to back them up . In the cause of onions , though , the presence of marigolds have been shown to reduce the egg - laying behaviors of the onion maggot fly which is a very destructive pestis .
How to use it : Interplant your onion crop with marigold They do not have to be a particular variety but do ask to be immingle directly with the onion plants .
Related : Tums For Blossom ending Rot & Other Misleading Garden Tips
5Plant combination: Crimson Clover and Blueberries
welfare : Improved pollination
Why it works : In a Michigan study , blueberry bush pollenation was greatly improved when the bushes were interplanted withcrimson clover . crabby - pollination is of the essence for most blueberry form , and bumblebees are four times more in effect at pollenate blueberry than honey bees .
How to use it : Underplant blueberry bushes with a experience mulch of crimson trefoil . The ambrosia acquire by the ruddy trefoil flowers in the summer is a tone food source for the bumblebees when the blueberries are not in flower .
The bookis packed with mountain more pragmatic examples .
Related : The Problem With Companion Plant Lists
Get the Book
Plant PartnersScience - establish Companion Planting Strategies
Minimize disease * come down pests * Improve soil fertility * backing pollination
See MoreScience - base Companion Planting Tips for grow veg
you could discover Jessica atJessicaWalliser.comandSavvygardening.com
