Fine Companions

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of companion planting, which fits right in with the permaculture mindset that made ‘food forests’ popular (although I do laugh that in agri-science, we tend to mimic nature – except in neat lines). So, while I can’t get out (not without a loader, fencing and truckloads of dirt) to start my own food forest) I’ve been enjoying reading the works of other gardeners, who are obviously also insane. I enjoyed Sarah O’Neil’s ‘The Good Life’ but didn’t want to get my hopes up that one day I’d be able to recreate a similar garden when her greatest issues are related to soil sogginess while I live in the driest region of the driest state of the driest continent on Earth (excepting Antarctica – sorry, I’m a Geography teacher these days). I also love Jackie French’s ‘Chook Book’. But my top favourite at the moment is ‘The Little Vegie Co.’ by F Capomolla and M Pember. The only problem is I’ve had to re-borrow it three times from the library. (I gave both books to MyBrother and his gorgeous Aussie-Italian wife for their engagement and they are busy establishing and maintaining their own kitchen garden now – although I can’t take the credit.) Well, ‘The Little Vegie Co.’ are fans of companion planting for all the scientific and anecdotal reasons alike. So, for my future reference, when I have to return the book to the library, I’m listing here the companion combinations they recommend, for the plants I hope to grow: APPLES – garlic, onions, chives & nasturtiums. But apparently you must never plant alliums and legumes together? Is it a nitrogen v bulb issue do you think? ASPARAGUS – artichoke and tomatoes (artichoke? really? would I bother planting that dinosaur of a vegetable for the sake of something I have to carve and preserve? I guess we’ll see how carried away I get). BEANS – corn and marigolds (now this one I love – the marigolds are to attract pollinators, but the corn acts as both shade and stakes for the beans – how handy is that?!). BEETROOT – onion. Which is interesting, because both can be stored underground if needed. BOK CHOY/PAK CHOI – celery, onions. Now I’m not looking forward to growing celery which I cook with constantly but all that talk of blanching…well frankly it makes ME blanch. BROCCOLI, CABBAGE, CAULIFLOWER & BRUSSEL SPROUTS – onion, dill, chamomile. Broccoli will be a family necessity, it’s our favourite green. It might even be worth growing a little chamomile just to check out if it really does have calming effects in tea. Dill does not make an appearance in my kitchen, ever, and sprouts are strictly a grown-up treat, although I’d love to grow the Ruby variety as well. CAPSICUM & CHILLI – parsley, basil. Well, you can’t have too much basil can you? And if it grows as easily as my new pots suggest it will then we’ll have to develop a taste for tabouleh I think. Or at least parsley-butter for all the fish MyMan will pull in when I finally let him out of the garden. CARROTS – radish, leeks and onions. Radishes are fast-growing, onions take all season – I wonder how long carrots take? CELERY – tomato. Oh, well now I HAVE to grow celery. CUCUMBER – corn, eggplant. EGGPLANT – cucumber. Well maybe I’ll trellis them along the edge of my food forest, in the sun eh? And the cucumber will be a living mulch beneath them. GARLIC – carrot. ORANGE, LEMON & LIME – nasturtium, marigold, lavender. Oooh – great, finally! Something I can grow with lavender. Oranges like garlic too. LETTUCE – radish, bean, carrot. My understanding is that this fast-growing vegetable is a great space-filler in between those slower-growing veg. OLIVES – they’re loners apparently. ONION – carrots. PARSNIPS – parsnips help fruit trees by attracting strongly-scented flowers. I desperately want to grow these root vegetables but they rely on frosts. I won’t try this until my beds are established and I certainy won’t pin any hopes on parsnip soup any time soon. PASSIONFRUIT – marigold. PEAS – beetroot, potato. Well, how is that going to work if I’m going to grow my spuds in chickenwire towers? Plan peas in rotation with tomatoes, eggplants or capsicum. POTATO – horseradish, beans. PUMPKIN – sweetcorn. Again, one grows along the ground and one grows straight up…both take up a LOT of space. RADISH – carrots and lettuce. SILVERBEET – herbs, onion, beetroot. SPINACH – strawberry. SPRING ONIONS – lettuce, chamomile, beetroot, tomato. SQUASH – corn, nasturtium. STRAWBERRY – apparently these guys love the onion/allium family. Who knew? I thought the rule was to grow vegetables/fruit alongside herbs that complement them. See – basil and tomato makes sense. Garlic and carrots even. But I don’t intend to try shallots and strawberries any time soon. SWEETCORN – beans. TOMATO – basil, marigold. TURNIP – tomato, onion, pea. ZUCCHINI – corn, radish, celery. A long time ago I remember creating a list like this on this blog – I should go find it, just so I can compare the recommendations.