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Hope you find the DIY gardening articles interesting and helpful
Gardens large, sloping and small, a garden for disabled or elderly gardeners, I landscape them all.
Details and contact are on my front page
flowerpotman
Landscape gardeners
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| Mike the old landscape gardener |
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Companion planting
Natural pest control in your kitchen garden for Eco-friendly Gardeners
The colour and shape may be different, but the taste will be better.
Organic gardening is simply growing plants without the use of pesticides or herbicides, instead relying upon insects, birds, shade, sun and trying and testing a combination of all things natural. It can be fun it can be rewarding ,the taste, the satisfaction of harvesting fruit or vegetables that you know are fresh and aren't full of pesticides and herbicides. The colour may be different, the shape may be different and the taste will be different !!
Companion planting, the organic landscape gardeners pest control
By growing numerous types of crops you create a habitat for beneficial insects and animals, deter problem pests, and enrich your soil. Companion planting isn't new,it can be traced back to ancient Roman times and probably all the way back to the beginning of gardening . Just to survive, just to get food on to the table the ancient gardener and farmers must have used organic gardening companion planting plans before the arrival of Eco warriors, pesticides had not been invented !!. Maybe that's why folk living in Faulkland have all got healthy rosy cheeks.
Try the old tried and tested, Corn, Squash and Bean combination in a small corner of your garden and taste the difference.
By separating crops you create a garden dependent on pesticides or herbicides, Take a walk in a local wood or a field that has been left to nature, even a disused petrol forecourt, runway or old factory gradually turning back to green and see natural harmony at work There are bugs that feed the birds, small mammals managing ground growth, and larger mammals including badgers and foxes managing the smaller ones.
Every garden needs birds and wild animals. As well as being a pleasure to watch, the birds eat greenfly and caterpillars from your plants, animals (badgers and hedgehogs) eat slugs and snails . Also, as the farming countryside becomes more and more hostile to wildlife, domestic gardens are becoming an increasingly important habitat for our wildlife .
This is the environment that can be created in your garden, making it harmonious for birds and the bees and providing a peaceful place to grow things to eat and a relaxing place sit with family and friends .
This doesn't mean you have to let your garden become over grown with weeds, they need to be controlled, some are beneficial but all weeds should be removed before they go to seed.
Being Eco friendly doesn't mean going to extremes. It doesn't mean turning into Eco Worriers , we can still have a patio or decking. It does mean caring about our environment and it does mean having a garden we and our family and visitors can enjoy or what would be the point. More about sustainable gardening on my webpage sustainable eco gardening
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| Plant |
Companion(s) and Effects |
| Asparagus |
Tomatoes, parsley, basil |
| Basil |
Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor); said to dislike rue; repels flies & mosquitoes |
| Bean |
Potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage, summer savory, most other veggies & herbs |
| Bean (bush) |
Sunflowers (beans like partial shade, unless you live up north, sunflowers attract birds & bees for pollination), cucumbers (combination of heavy and light feeders), potatoes, corn, celery, summer savory |
| Bee Balm |
Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor). |
| Beet |
Onions, kohlrabi |
| Borage |
Tomatoes (attracts bees, deters tomato worm, improves growth & flavor), squash, strawberries |
| Cabbage Family (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi) |
Potatoes, celery, dill, chamomile, sage, thyme, mint, pennyroyal, rosemary, lavender, beets, onions; aromatic plants deter cabbage worms |
| Caraway |
Loosens soil; plant here and there |
| Carrot |
Peas, lettuce, chives, onions, leeks, rosemary, sage, tomatoes |
| Catnip |
Plant in borders; protects against flea beetles |
| Celery |
Leeks, tomatoes, bush beans, cauliflower, cabbage |
| Chamomile |
Cabbage, onions |
| Chervil |
Radishes (improves growth & flavor). |
| Chive |
Carrots; plant around base of fruit trees to discourage insects from climbing trunk |
| Corn |
Potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash |
| Cucumber |
Beans, corn, peas, radishes, sunflowers |
| Dead Nettle |
Potatoes (deters potato bugs) |
| Dill |
Cabbage (improves growth & health), carrots |
| Eggplant |
Beans |
| Fennel |
Most plants are supposed to dislike it. |
| Flax |
Carrots, potatoes |
| Garlic |
Roses & raspberries (deters Japanese beetle); with herbs to enhance their production of essential oils; plant liberally throughout garden to deter pests |
| Horseradish |
Potatoes (deters potato beetle); around plum trees to discourage curculios |
| Hyssop |
Cabbage (deters cabbage moths), grapes; keep away from radishes |
| Lamb's Quarters |
Nutritious edible weeds; allow to grow in modest amounts in the corn |
| Leek |
Onions, celery, carrots |
| Lemon Balm |
Here and there in the garden |
| Marigold |
The workhorse of pest deterrents; keeps soil free of nematodes; discourages many insects; plant freely throughout the garden. |
| Marjoram |
Here and there in the garden |
| Mint |
Cabbage family; tomatoes; deters cabbage moth |
| Nasturtium |
Tomatoes, radish, cabbage, cucumbers; plant under fruit trees; deters aphids & pests of curcurbits |
| Onion |
Beets, strawberries, tomato, lettuce (protects against slugs), beans (protects against ants), summer savory |
| Parsley |
Tomato, asparagus |
| Pea |
Squash (when squash follows peas up trellis), plus grows well with almost any vegetable; adds nitrogen to the soil |
| Petunia |
Protects beans; beneficial throughout garden |
| Potato |
Horseradish, beans, corn, cabbage, marigold, limas, eggplant (as a trap crop for potato beetle) |
| Pot Marigold |
Helps tomato, but plant throughout garden as deterrent to asparagus beetle, tomato worm & many other garden pests |
| Pumpkin |
Corn |
| Radish |
Peas, nasturtium, lettuce, cucumbers; a general aid in repelling insects |
| Rosemary |
Carrots, beans, cabbage, sage; deters cabbage moth, bean beetles & carrot fly |
| Rue |
Roses & raspberries; deters Japanese beetle; keep away from basil |
| Sage |
Rosemary, carrots, cabbage, peas, beans; deters some insects |
| Soybean |
Grows with anything; helps everything |
| Spinach |
Strawberries |
| Squash |
Nasturtium, corn |
| Strawberry |
Bush beans, spinach, borage, lettuce (as a border) |
| Summer Savory |
Beans, onions; deters bean beetles |
| Sunflower |
Cucumber |
| Tansy |
Plant under fruit trees; deters pests of roses & raspberries; deters flying insects, also Japanese beetles, striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs; deters ants |
| Tarragon |
Good throughout garden |
| Thyme |
Here and there in garden; deters cabbage worm |
| Tomato |
Chives, onion, parsley, asparagus, marigold, nasturtium, carrot, limas |
| Valerian |
Good anywhere in garden |
| Wormwood |
As a border, keeps animals from the garden |
| Yarrow |
Plant along borders, near paths, near aromatic herbs; enhances essential oil production of herbs |
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Dobies and Suttons seeds are the gardening suppliers I use and have always got new special gardening offers, check out this weeks gardeners offers to make sure you don't miss out.
more info gardeners shop
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