little gems

Charles Darwin, used to tell the story about the old lady, her cat and the clover which demonstrates the holistic mind set we need to adopt in order to grasp an understanding of companion gardening:
In a village with more than the average number of old ladies the grass had more clover and the meadows gave more hay. The reasoning behind this was a simple chain: Old ladies kept more cats than most people, so more old ladies led to more cats in the village. These cats will roam the hedgerows and capture whatever they can, particularly field mice – so more cats, fewer mice. Mice are one of the few predators of wild bees’ nest – so fewer mice, more bees. The bees are essential for the pollination of red clover – so more bees means more clover. Clover improves the yield of hay – so more old ladies, more cats, fewer mice, more bees, more clover, more hay.

The philosophy behind companion planting is that a certain property or quality of one plant may be of benefit to another, and whether you realise it or not, many aspects of companion gardening take place every day.

It is a system that utilises useful interactions between plants and animals, plants with other plants and plants with the environment, and research shows that by planting vegetables, flowers and herbs that compliment one another, the use of companion plants can eliminate the need for chemical pesticides.

Companion planting is an important part of pest and disease management, and helps to bring a balanced eco-system, thus allowing nature to do its job. Everything is interconnected; plants, soil, wildlife, pests and diseases – these all make the whole and we cannot consider them separate. Companion gardening seeks to bring together these parts in order to maintain the eco-structure and work with nature, rather than against her. The holistic approach to gardening ensures that we view not only our garden as a whole, but as part of the local and world environment.

Nature prefers co-operation to conflict – therefore companion planting tries to emulate what nature does itself, whereby everyone is a winner - plants thrive and you gain the benefit of a beautiful and healthy garden.

Ways in which companion planting can be utilised:

i) Camouflage / confusion - By growing a mixture of different vegetables side by side, many predators may be confused and literally unable to ‘find’ what they are looking for. This is achieved by planting something of a stronger odour (say onions next to carrots to confuse the carrot fly) in order to ‘hide’ the plant from its predator.

ii) Repelling - Many herbs contain natural insect repellents in their aromatic oils, which are known to repel insects, for example, the strong smell of garlic, repels beetles and aphids – thus keeping neighbouring plants such as roses (prone to aphids and Japanese beetles) free from attack

iii) Attraction - Here, the idea is to discourage harmful pests by attracting their predators, in other words by luring beneficial insects.For example, ladybirds eat aphids, so attract ladybirds to your garden by planting pollen rich plants such as angelica, dill, parsley, caraway, catnip, lemon balm and thyme to supplement their diets when food is scarce, and to entice them to your garden.

iv) Sacrificial planting - This works by planting things to attract harmful predators away from plants you want to survive (also known as trap plants). For example, by planting a row of lettuces that you are prepared to lose, you can entice the slugs away from the things you want to keep for yourself

v) Soil improvement - Some plants are used to add nutrients to the soil. For example stinging nettles are full of sodium, sulphur, nitrogen, calcium, potassium, iron, and copper, so can be made into a ‘fertiliser’ to feed other plants that may be deficient in them. Others, such as potatoes and pumpkins help to inhibit weed growth. The legumes help to fix nitrogen into the soil. Fallen leaves are full of unwanted nutrients and by-products that immensely increase the fertility of the soil, plants such as yarrow and vervain encourage worms and other creatures, which improve the soil quality,

vi) Physical protection - Some plants can offer more delicate ones shelter and protection from the sun and wind, may support less sturdy plants, (for example planting sweet corn or sunflowers for peas or marrows to climb over) or help keep the soil moist around the roots.

vii) Harmonious living - Some plants grow well together because they do not compete for nutrients due to having their roots at different levels within the soil, thus reducing competition, and the likelihood of one plant not surviving. (See companion plants on sidebar for this)

viii) Improving growth rate and flavour / scent - Planting chives next to roses, improves their scent, cabbages and onions improve in flavour is chamomile is planted next to them – these are a couple of examples of a wide range of companions within the garden.

ix) Reducing fungal disease - Plants such as flax or mustard may reduce the incidence of fungal or other diseases in nearby plants, by releasing cyanide gas and related compounds when they break down; killing certain detrimental fungi, and leaving…

A favourite read of mine is Bob Flowerdew’s book on Companion Gardening!!

Tags: companion-gardening companion-plants

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 11:27 pm and is filed under Allotment Garden. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.