This chapter contains a collection of case studies from actual companion planters that use anything from herbs to vegetables to perennials to fruits. Enjoy!
Case Study: David Beaulieu
Landscaping guide for the Web site www.about.com
Plants have always been an integral part of David Beaulieu’s life in one form or another. He has eight years of experience writing about landscaping, which has encompassed most aspects of gardening in one way or another. David believes one of the biggest problems people have with establishing a garden is getting started. Here is the most simple and effective way to create a garden where only weeds or lawn exists without all the hard work.
“Starting a garden from scratch does not need to be the dry, labor-intensive job most people would assume. There are a few tricks and hints to help the process move forward faster and smoother. The first problem with establishing a new garden is getting rid of the old lawn. The easiest way to do this is to mark off your planned space and cover the entire area with newspapers. Make sure the newspaper layer is at least ten sheets thick and have each page overlapping the adjacent one by several inches. You do not want any of the grass below to show. You can mow the grass but this is not required. The newspaper sheets do not need to be laid down one by one; as long as a section is ten pages, lay it down as one.
The next stage is to lay mulch, 5 to 6 inches deep, down on the newspaper. This helps stop the papers from flying away plus it adds in nutrients to the eventual garden. Organic mulches of choice include compost, shredded leaves, and straw. Now water your ‘garden’ and wait. It takes several months for the newspapers and mulch to kill the grass. The sod will eventually break down along with the newspapers and the mulch, giving you a nutrient-rich beginning for your garden.
If your potential garden is not lawn but weeds, the problem is much bigger, but transforming the land can still be done. It involves a process called soil solarization, and is best done in June or July. Cut all weeds as low as possible with a lawn mower or even a sickle. Next, rent a powerful tiller to dig through the hard soil to loosen the weed roots. Then, use a large steel rake and rake out the bulk of the weeks. Rake it again to level off. You might think you are done at this point, but in fact, the weed killing has just begun. Next, water down the area and cover it with a clear polyethylene sheet. Use rocks, blocks, or logs to hold the plastic down, but be sure to not puncture any holes in the plastic. Keep the plastic stretched out over the area for four to six weeks during which time the sun is ‘cooking’ the weeds before they can sprout. Any pathogens in the soil will be killed as well. When the time is up, remove the plastic and you have a ‘clean slate’ to plant your garden.”
Case Study: Josh Kirschenbaum
Territorial Seed Company
Product Development Director
PO Box 158, Cottage Grove, OR 87424
Josh Kirschenbaum, a plant biology graduate from Ohio University, has worked at Territorial Seed Company for over a decade where one of his major responsibilities is to coordinate and evaluate the yearly trials.
“Territorial has a 44-acre, certified organic trial ground where we test vegetable, flower, and herb varieties. Not all 44 acres are used each year for trials but rather we rotate the fields. So, if one area was planted last year for trials, we will not use it for trials this coming year. Instead, we plant a cover crop in the fall and leave it in over the winter. Depending on the type of cover crop that we use, we may till it under in the spring or summer and plant another type of cover crop that is suitable for growing in the summer. By doing this, we replenish some of the nutrients that were used previously and incorporate as much organic material into the soil as possible.
Compost is an integral part of our gardening/farming system. The company grows its own trials and seed crop production (we grow plants, harvest the seed, clean it, and then package it), and consequently have a large amount of vegetative material that can be composted at the end of the season. The main way that we compost this is by vermicomposting — using worms to break down the plant material and turn it into rich compost. The compost is then used in our fields and in our soil mixes that we use for our mail order plants.
We mainly sell seeds and one of the most common problems that I see is with starting seeds indoors. If someone lives in an area with quite a good amount of sunlight in the early spring, then seedlings can be put in a south-facing, sunny window. Most of us, however, need to use some sort of supplemental light to get our seedlings off to a good start and avoid them becoming leggy and weak. This doesn’t mean that you have to go and spend lots of money on an expensive grow light system — a simple fluorescent shop light can work just fine. The important thing to remember if using a standard fluorescent light to grow your seedlings is that the bulbs are typically not very powerful so you want to have the plants as close to the light as possible without actually having them touch the bulb. As the plants continue to grow, move the light fixture accordingly.
Another common problem is putting plants or seeds in the ground too early. Several vegetables are frost sensitive and plants will die if temperatures dip below freezing. Even if a frost does not occur, if a particular plant thrives in warm temperatures, it might become stressed by cold temps or just not grow. If planting from seed directly into the garden, it is very important to plant when the soil temperature is ideal for the particular type of seed. If the soil is too cold or wet, the seed could potentially rot before having a chance to germinate. Remember that soil temperature is quite different than air temperature and I highly recommend purchasing a soil thermometer to know for certain.
In regards to common problems people have with their insects, I recommend to:
• Make sure that you let us know when you would like to receive them. Most of the insects can be purchased year-round for those folks who have greenhouses. If a customer plans on putting the insects outside, they should wait to order them when it is warm enough.
• Try to introduce the beneficial insects when the pest population is present but low. If a ladybug doesn’t have any aphids to eat, it won’t just wait around for them!”
Case Study: Mary (Moosey) Ruston
Moosey’s Country Garden
Mary Ruston is a New Zealand gardener whose country garden is crammed full of foliage plants, roses, phormiums, and cordylines. She hosts a gardening forum for gardeners from all over the world at http://forums.mooseyscountrygarden.com
“No real gardener can be a perfectionist, can they? Imagine a garden in which no shrub grows too big too quickly; no expensive little treasure gets monstered by its neighbor; and no unwelcome bug dines out on gourmet foliage plants. But real gardeners will happily spend a lifetime trying to get everything in their garden just right. Here are six tricky little tips to make your garden appear closer to perfection than it actually is. This isn’t really cheating — think of it as gently nudging the truth.
1. If your garden looks too messy, there is a simple solution: Sweep and/or rake all the paths, and make sure the path edges are well defined. Mow any lawns and cut the grass edges sharply. Introduce edging material into your garden — stones, bricks, logs — whatever suits your style.
2. If some piece is annoying you — an ugly trellis, an abandoned bathtub, a concrete slab — don’t be a gardening wimp and camouflage it, celebrate it! Make the eyesore a quirky feature. Put plants or pots around it, decorate it, or place a seat nearby. Have it say ‘Look at me. I’m meant to be here.’
3. Let the weeds lurk in the interior of your garden borders, but keep visible areas close to paths well weeded. Install colorful buckets where you can pop offenders as you wander past. And don’t feel guilty that you’re a cosmetic weeder. Enjoy your garden; don’t become a slave to it.
4. Let differences be your guide when ‘designing’ a planting scheme. Contrasts make life interesting, and it’s the same for gardens. Think fat and thin for leaves, blobby and spiky for shapes. Put a refined cane garden chair next to a wizened tree trunk. Grow a feathery perennial next to a rough and tough evergreen.
5. No garden should be totally predictable and controlled. Allow yourself as many random gardening events as you cope with. Encourage flowers that self-seed. Buy that interesting new plant; if it embarrasses your planting design, you can always stuff it into a flashy pot. By all means, make serious garden plans, but embrace the unexpected.
6. Gardeners often get terribly serious about their timing. When should they shift a rhododendron? Or put compost underneath the roses? The answer is simple: If it’s free, then the time is right. A free load of rotted manure? Take it and spread it. A free rhododendron? Take it and water it. However, if ‘it’ costs you money, then do your ‘When is the right time?’ research and follow the instructions.”
Case Study: Colleen Vanderlinden
Garden writer and blogger
Colleen Vanderlinden is the organic gardening expert for the Web site About.com and the author of Edible Gardening for the Midwest. She also blogs about gardening at her personal garden blog, In the Garden Online.
“I can’t imagine not growing vegetables. The fact that $2 spent on seeds results in hundreds of pounds of food for my family still amazes me. I find myself devoting more of my yard to edibles, sticking containers anywhere I can find a bright spot of sun. As far as addictions go, vegetable gardening is a pretty harmless one!
I primarily use interplanting in my garden, mainly because I garden on a small urban lot and space is at a premium. Being able to use one area of the garden for two (and sometimes more) crops just makes sense for my situation. I also do some companion planting to help with pest control, particularly for thwarting tomato hornworm, which can be a big problem for those of us who are always trying to ‘push’ the season and get our tomatoes planted extra-early.
Tomatoes with borage is probably my favorite companion planting combination. If you plant borage near your tomatoes, you won’t have a hornworm problem. And borage is a beautiful, useful plant in its own right. If you plant nasturtiums near your potatoes, they help deter Colorado potato beetles. I made the mistake of planting nasturtiums, for the edible flowers, near my Brussels sprouts one year. The only problem is that nasturtiums attract aphids like crazy, and soon I was dealing with aphids on my Brussels sprouts as well.
I also like to sow lettuce seed near newly-transplanted tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings. You can harvest baby lettuce leaves for several weeks before the tomatoes get large enough to completely take over the area. Finally, you can’t go wrong with a traditional Three Sisters garden of corn, squash, and beans. They just work so well together, and it really does cut down on work for you as the gardener. I have tried interplanting (or intercropping) as well as pairing vegetables with herbs or flowers that will improve the growth and flavor of the vegetable, or, in some cases, confuse insect pests, keeping them away from the vegetables.
My advice to gardeners is to start small. It’s so easy to keep buying seeds and trying new varieties, but things can become very overwhelming. Plant those foods you know your family will eat. Spend time daily with your plants. That will help you recognize little problems, such as pest or disease issues, before they become big problems. Be willing to try new things and experiment. Just because a book or magazine article says something will work (or won’t work) doesn’t always mean it is true. You just don’t know what will work in your garden until you try.”
Case Study: Diane Linsley
Diane’s Flower Seeds
Diane Linsley is the owner of Diane’s Flower Seeds, an Internet business based in Ogden, Utah. She grows heirloom flowers and vegetables, especially rare perennials and unusual tomatoes.
“You can save seeds from most flowers, except for hybrids, which do not come from saved seed. When going out to harvest seeds, I stuff my pockets with small plastic bags that are perfect for small amounts of seed, or take stainless-steel mixing bowls for larger quantities. I use pruning shears and thorn-proof gloves to harvest the seeds off thorny plants.
The best time to collect seeds is when they are fully ripe. Seeds are produced in either pods or seedheads. Pods have seeds enclosed in a shell and are ready to harvest when they become dry and brittle, just before they split open and spill their contents. Other plants produce seedheads, which are open, instead of being inside a pod, with the seeds exposed. After the seeds are ripe, the seedhead shatters. The trick is to harvest the seeds before this happens. You can feel to see if the seedhead is loose as it will be brown, crunchy, and dry. Some seedheads turn from green to brown before they shatter.
Seeds should be dried in a well-ventilated room (70 to 95 degrees if possible), or they can be dried in a garage out of direct sunlight. Small quantities can be dried in plastic cups, on small plates, or in plastic bags propped open with toothpicks to provide air circulation. A thin layer of seeds will dry more evenly. Turn or stir them every few days. Most seeds require two to six weeks to dry completely, depending on the seed size, temperature, and humidity of the room.
Seeds can be cleaned after they have started drying. The chaff or coating is easier to remove when it is dry, but the seeds will need further drying after cleaning. Cleaning equipment includes different sizes of stainless-steel mixing bowls, a fan, and a kitchen strainer with a metal screen. Small seeds are shaken through the strainer to remove the chaff, which is the dried protective coating on the seeds. They are then passed from one mixing bowl to another in front of a gently blowing fan to remove the dust. Be careful not to blow away the seeds. Larger seeds from seedheads are rubbed between gloved hands to loosen them before being passed in front of a stronger breeze to remove the chaff.
Dry seeds should be stored in a cool, dry, dark place. Well-prepared seeds will remain viable in storage for several years.”
Case Study: Beth Trissel
Beth Trissel is a successful romance author and gardening specialist with an enthusiasm for all heirloom plants and old-fashioned cottage garden plants. She’s been successfully practicing companion planting for decades and focuses on creating wildlife sanctuary gardens that bring in the butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, and honeybees.
“We rotate our garden vegetables as well as practice companion planting. There are time-honored combinations we’ve tried as well as making some of our own discoveries. Some that have worked well include:
• Nasturtiums and radishes planted closely around the cucurbit family (also commonly referred to as the cucumber, gourd, melon, or pumpkin family) help to deter the squash vine borer and cucumber beetles, which are deadly to the plants. This family is our most trouble prone, so it gets the greatest attention when it comes to companion planting.
• Radishes are also a good companion for lettuce, spinach, and carrots.
• Interplanting garlic with roses has beneficial effects in warding off some of the pests and diseases that attack them.
• We’ve observed that old-fashioned sunflowers with multiple heads (planted by birds from the birdseed variety) grow the best. Sunflowers attract masses of goldfinches, a favorite songbird, and when planted in and around corn, reduce armyworms in the ears.
• Marigolds are an excellent companion plant for vegetables and flowers to help ward off Japanese beetles.
• Borage enriches the soil, attracts honeybees, and is another good friend for squash.
• Onions planted near carrots help repel the carrot fly.
• Tomatoes love basil and grow more robustly when planted near that herb. Sweet peppers also like basil.
• Sweet marjoram is beneficial to interplant with vegetables and flowers.
• Mint helps deter cabbageworms.
• Pumpkins and squash survive better when rotated from their usual spots. This year we tucked a pumpkin in among the massive, native clematis vine growing along the backyard fence that we refer to as ‘the beast.’ The borers didn’t find it, plus ‘the beast’ cradled the orange globes.
My main recommendation for a healthy garden is to use a lot of compost and natural mulch, like well rotted hay or straw or even leaves as healthy plants better resist insects and disease. Some other tips include:
• Earthworms are a gardener’s best friend and thrive in natural mulch, humus-enriched soil. Avoid chemical fertilizers and pesticides or you’ll kill the worms and other beneficial insects.
• We clear the vegetable plot in the fall and if possible, till it. If not then, we wait and till in the spring. We’ve tried the heavy mulch/no till method, but accumulated an unbelievable number of slugs. Some of them were the size of small bananas and even had nests of babies. Now, we add a lot of compost to the soil in the spring and mulch with organic matter but let it break down over the summer and don’t leave it in place for the winter.”
Case Study: Amy Padgett
Writer and rose specialist
amy@amypadgett.com or amy@amycorwin.com
Amy Padgett, who writes fiction under the name Amy Corwin, is an heirloom or Old Garden Roses specialist. A member of the Wilmington Cape Fear Rose Society for years, she also been active in the New Bern Rose Show where she won top awards including Dowager Queen and Victorian Rose awards and several 1st place awards for English (David Austin) roses. Her garden is enrolled in the National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program, ensuring that her gardens provide water, shelter, and food for all creatures without the use of pesticides or other sprays.
“I love nontraditional companion planting as I do not spray my roses. Practice has shown me that the following combinations work:
• Heirloom roses are often pale pink to rich mauve, examples include ‘Sydonie’ or ‘Baronne Prevost,’ and they are stunning mixed with ‘Filius Blue’ or ‘Tri-Color Variegata’ peppers. Herbs we have paired with these pale roses include borage, chives, chervil, thyme, parsley, sage, and basil. We also have some lovely sprawling rosemary that serves wonderfully in corner positions next to rocks or bricks.
• Newer rose varieties that have more intense colors can be beautifully mixed with hot colored peppers such as the ornamental ‘Medusa’ variety. These modern roses also can benefit from pairing with marigolds and pyrethrum as those plants purportedly have mild insect-repelling characteristics.
• Of course, many bulbs look gorgeous with roses, including daffodils and lilies. The lilies are nice as they often bloom just when the roses are taking a rest between bloom cycles.
• Some of our most beautiful pairings have included the fragrant, pale pink rose ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ paired with ‘Tri-color Variegata’ peppers that have gorgeous leaves streaked with white and purple. The leaves perfectly complement the pale roses. The lush, salmon-colored David Austin rose, ‘Lilian Austin,’ paired with the pepper ‘Medusa’ and interspersed with ‘Snowball’ marigolds work well.
• Because we start a lot of seeds, sometimes it comes down to finding an empty spot in the garden, and sometimes those acci-dental pairings turn out the best. An example of this was when we planted borage and a horehound herb near our rich pink ‘Sydonie’ rose. The blue of the borage, silvery-green horehound leaves, and pink rose books just seemed to work. Some years we’ve
planted masses of marigolds and pyrethrum edging the more modern roses, particularly yellow or salmon-tinged roses. Those are excellent in the fall and really brighten up the garden.
• For easy care, many of our beds are interspersed with daylilies and other bulbs as they require less maintenance. Not to mention that daylily flowers are excellent stuffed with cream cheese mixed with chives!
• Make sure your companions have similar soil and water requirements or make sure you can accommodate targeted watering. For example, roses like a lot of water while many herbs prefer dry environments. You can still grow them together, but one way to manage it is to place the rose to the back of the garden and gradually raise the garden level toward the front and edge it with rocks or bricks. You can then place dry-loving plants near the edge where the ground level is slightly (maybe only an inch) higher. Water will drain toward the back where the rose will appreciate it, and the herbs will flourish in a drier, hotter location toward the front.
• We have not seen any difference between beds with pest-controlling plants and those that don’t have them. We’ve tried pyrethrum and marigolds among others. The plants themselves don’t suffer from a lot of pests, but they do not seem to significantly discourage pests on companion plants. We did reduce Japanese beetles by using milky spore but we have not found any plants that will naturally keep them off the roses in July. Nothing stops the thrips except sprays, which we don’t use.
There is almost always a way to make combinations work, so don’t give up if you have your heart fixed on a specific pairing of plants. Be creative and express your own interests. Don’t be afraid to try something different because the great thing about gardens is that they are easy to change. If you don’t like the effect you’ve created with a pairing, you can always separate the plants and try a different pairing. It’s very difficult to ruin a garden so don’t be afraid to experiment.”