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Companion planting

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Gleaned from the product information on the Ken Muir website may help with pests this summer. This is for the fruit garden. See under for the veg garden.
Foxglove (Biennial) Foxgloves if planted around or beneath an apple tree will not only look attractive but will impart strength and vitality to the tree helping it to resist diseases. It is also said to aid the keeping qualities of the apples growing nearby. If planted near potatoes and tomatoes, foxgloves will stimulate growth and protect them against fungus disease.

Basil (Annual) Basil if planted around peach, apricot or nectarine trees will deter fruit fly. It is also excellent for planting around tomatoes, to improve growth and flavour and also is a good partner for peppers and asparagus. Basil will also repel thrips, flies and mosquitoes. It is also excellent for using in the kitchen when cooking. Does not grow well with sage.

Borage (Annual) Borage is planted by many strawberry growers to increase yield and enhance the flavour of the fruit. It is also said to aid growth and disease resistance if planted near tomatoes and is a good companion to most plants in the vegetable garden. Borage will also attract bees and pollinating insects into your garden.

Nasturtium (Annual) Nasturtiums are used by many fruit growers in orchards as when planted underneath fruit trees the pungent odour is taken up repelling aphids, including woolly aphids. They are also invaluable in the vegetable garden when used as a barrier crop around cabbages, cucumbers and tomatoes. They should not be planted near cauliflower.

Tansy (Perennial) Tansy is a good companion when planted near raspberries and grapes and concentrates potassium into the soil, so benefiting nearby plants. It is good planted underneath fruit trees especially peaches to repel the fruit moth. It is a good all round insect repellent, but should not be planted where there is live stock as it can be toxic.
This collection consists of 5 packs of seeds which have been selected to aid pest control and improve plant vigour in your vegetable garden. Contains one each of the following packs of seeds -

For the vegetable garden.
Chamomile (Annual) Chamomile is said to improve the flavour of cabbages, cucumbers and onions and increases oil production from herbs making them taste and smell stronger. It is considered a tonic for anything you grow in the garden.

Parsley (Annual) Parsley is good planted near asparagus, carrots, chives, onions and tomatoes. It can be used as a tea to ward off asparagus beetle and is said to increase the scent of roses if grown nearby.

Marigold (Annual) Keeps soil free of bad nematodes and is a good pest deterrent. It is good companion for potatoes and repels whitefly when grown near tomatoes.

Oregano (Perennial) Oregano can be grown with most vegetables but is especially good grown with cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower where it will repel cabbage fly. Grown near cucumbers it will also deter cucumber beetle. Is said to benefit grapes.

Nepeta (Perennial) Nepeta will deter aphids so plant them near aphid loving plants, it is also said to repel ants, beetles and mice. Will aid beets, pumpkins and squash in the vegetable garden.

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Comments

 

Isn't it funny how people's sense of smell varies. I have never noticed nasturtiums smell at all let alone have a pungent odour!

28 Apr, 2010

 

Lovely blog - very interesting I've grown nastursiums and calendula especially for the veggie garden this year purely for this reason - so your blog has come just at the right time!! Nastursiums have a real peppery smell and the flowers can be added to salads. I'm also growing different types of basil this year spicy, lemon, greek and lime (just as an experiment as the seeds were free from a newspaper if you sent p&p)

28 Apr, 2010

 

Thanks for your great information...It does help to keep your garden
chemical free, looks great, and of course all Natural...
They do say, that being, the professionals of course, if you plant Marigolds in between Roses, it keeps the Aphids
away...it has got to be the pungent smell sg that is the secret...It must attract the wildlife that kill pests..... i did not know, that, you could grow Foxglove
near Trees...nothing grows much near them, i will have to give it a try!!

28 Apr, 2010

 

Thank you all. None of these are hard to grow either. I weed foxgloves out of our garden having sown seeds years ago to provide for the bees. I always let some self seed and weed out the ones growing in the wrong places. I planted basil near my sage last year now I know why it was not successful.

28 Apr, 2010

 

i've grown marigolds and nastursiums will now be looking out for borage and calendula...

didn't realise nastursiums don't go with cauliflowers, only planted marigolds so far near them luckily

thanks for all the info :-)

28 Apr, 2010

 

You learn something every day. I thought Marigolds were Calendula. I looked it up on Wikipedia and would you believe it, there is a tree marigold. Tropical or sub tropical unfortunately, so we will not be seeing them towering 2-3 m up in our flower borders. What I thought of as Marigolds are Calendula officianalis, which I think is probably the one most often grown and which I know I can add to salads, although the Tagetes, double flowers and shades of yellow through to brown might be them. I got seedlings to pot on at my class 2 weeks ago of French marigolds and they are also double. I have added a bit at the top which he recommends for the vegetable garden.

28 Apr, 2010

 

Thanks Scotsgran! I've added this to my faves for future reference. Very interesting indeed!

28 Apr, 2010

 

Thank you for that scots gran!

This is a very usefull blog and the way you've listed each plant and it's companion, thank you very Much for this!

29 Apr, 2010

 

Thank you but did you notice I do acknowledge that the information came from the Ken Muir web site. He has a nursery in Essex and you can also buy from him on-line. I was very pleased to have come across it and thought I would share it with other members of GOY. What I particularly like about the site is the fact that the information you see is stored for future reference so you can quickly find what you are looking for. If you think it is something you want to have at hand you can add it to your favourites.

30 Apr, 2010

 

I found another site whichis also very interesting for anyone with the time to look. http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/complant.html and another at http://www.gardenersnet.com//atoz/compan.htm

31 May, 2010

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