COMPANION PLANTING GARDEN LAYOUTS PATCH

COMPANION PLANTING GARDEN LAYOUTS PATCH

Well, companion planting CAN be the quick fix, and here’s how: biodiversity! The best thing about companion planting is that it increases the biodiversity of your patch that is, the variety of life forms in your garden. But who knew this? And how many of us think that this is the quick fix for all our garden woes? Get Your Fix – Companions that Work! I love basil as much as the next gardener, but I don’t love it that much, and, to be honest, I’ve never had an issue with flies on my tomatoes. I’m talking several basil plants for each tomato, and even then it won’t repel fruit fly. Nothing grew better or worse than it had before, there was simply no advantage, other than me not having to walk so far to make a pasta sauce!ĭo you know why? Because, for basil to successfully repel flies from tomatoes, an absolute shovel-load of basil is required in your patch. Nothing seemed to be encouraged or deterred. There was no discernable difference in taste. We’ve all heard that basil and tomatoes should be planted together, but why? How many of each is required? Is one basil per tomato enough? Who benefits? What are we deterring? Does it enhance flavour? For years, I planted one basil plant next to each of my tomatoes, and guess what? Nothing happened. Secondly, it doesn’t work so well because it isn’t understood. Why? Well, for starters, companion planting is a northern hemisphere concept that works a treat up there, but not as well down here in Australia. There is a fairly limited amount of actual scientific information on companion planting, but it is safe to say that some combinations do seem to work, while others can be a bit hit and miss. Now, the “Big Question”: does it work? Well, yes and no. Some plants really dislike each other, and shouldn’t be planted in close quarters, lest one of them struggle or meet its untimely demise. But, just as we have good neighbours, there are bad neighbours as well. So what is companion planting? Essentially, it’s a method of growing plants together, with the idea that they will assist each other in some way, like deterring pests, improving growth, enhancing flavour, attracting beneficial insects, fixing nitrogen, disrupting “patterns” and trap cropping.

But, despite its popularity (it is huge in Europe), companion planting is often misunderstood, misused and misrepresented as the “cure-all solution” to problems in the patch.

Once the realm of the hardcore, hippy, home gardener, companion planting is now an incredibly popular practice – from beginner gardeners right up to large-scale agriculture.

Companion planting garden layouts