Hiya Critter~
Tell me you didn't say pole beans with sunflowers??? I thought I read somewhere NOT to plant those together??? Cukes with sunflowers, flowers with sunflowers, squash with sunflowers. Before you plant just double check what/where you read that...
"not a farm"
Well, I fixed that one right up front, named it a farm, so I get no arguements LOL If they run out, I can send you some fresh sweet corn LOL
I planted five cricles (2 foot across) of Triple Play Sweet Corn today. It will have beans and squash, sunflowers and year round daikon radishes. For details, find the three sisters thread.
Companion Plants
Actually once I left home, and was not available to cut hundreds of beans poles, My father planted the Calico/ Christmas limas with Multiflora sunflowers. Worked fine Just had to plant more area to accomodate both plants.
Wow...this was informative. Thanks for all the great info. I will have to look into this more for next years planting. :)
That is a very interesting thing FarmerDill. Maybe some sunflowers (like multiflora) put out less, but they all put out a hormone similar to what blackwalnut trees put out, that prevent other things from growing in their root area. I also read that the tall ones shade too much for the beans. Hmmm.... I guess al ot depends...
Actually, I do grow quite a few sunflowers, but not the giant Russian types, Just the multi-flora (flowering types) for looks and the birds. They certainly won't suppress weeds. Have to cultivate those things like corn.
The corn with beans and squash should be a great space saver. I have five circles of corn, 2 feet wide, will thin to six plants. 4 bean plants outside the circle. Cosmos and marigolds in the 3 foot space between the circles. And sunflowers at the south end of the "row".
So, the math says, a 28' by 2' area I have planted so far (56 sq feet), will yield 30 corn plants and 20 bean plants, plus flowers.
In a custom row of corn, if 12" apart in rows 4' apart, you would get about 18 corn plants. A row of beans 6 in apart in rows 18 in apart would be 90 bean plants Not taking into account any space for flowers.
So maybe it depends what you want more of, corn or beans. I prefer corn :-) Plus this thread is all about the beneifts of companions. Wouldn't the beans increase nitrogen in the soil for the corn? And the flowers would increase beneficials, keeping pests at bay. And maybe this will be prettier. We will see. I would miss walking down the rows of corn, though. That was so much fun. Last year we got a TON of rain in June, and my boys loved to call the corn patch a "forest"...
FarmerDill~Good story about your Dad. Bet he missed having your help :-) Thanks for the extra information about sunflowers and companion plants. I did have some stunted corn that had sunflowers too close, but it could have been caused by something else. Just to be sure, I am keeping 2-3 feet between the corn and sunflowers this year. That should give everyone plenty of space: no pushing, shoving, or name calling over who is in who's sunlight LOL. (Sound familiar to anyone with kids?)
Let's hear who else is doing companion planting! Here is my corn from last year, that is a gallon sized baggie...
'shoe mentioned growing pole beans up both corn and sunflowers in an earlier posting to this thread, and it looks like the bean / sunflower combo worked in farmerdill's experience too..... that's proof enough for me! :-) The cukes & beans are going to have to share the small amount of space that won't be taken up by tomatoes & peppers this year, so I'll just try a few clumps of sunflowers with them. I wonder if I could put in a row of sunflowers across the back of the bed instead of a trellis..... or would that be asking too much of the sunflowers when one of our summer storms blew through? Maybe I should think in terms of using the sunflowers to screen the trellis from view...
Tamara- Beautiful corn. What kind is it?
I'm also going to plant massive sunflowers in a flower bed that runs along the whole southern side of the house. Those are all our bedroom windows.and I'm hoping it will give some shade to that wall of the house.
I have ordered some tansy to plant between my berry bushes cuz I read that tansy is a good insect deterer(is that a word?)
-Juli
critter...go for it! You won't witness any troubles with beans growing up sunflowers. (Juglone does not have an adverse affect on every plant, only those that are sensitive to it and beans are not one of those. Many plants contain it but only becus of the extra high concentration of it in black walnuts has there been a scare when people hear its name.)
Juli, maybe you can plant sunflowers AND some moonvine, especially since they are gonna be by your bedroom windows! The sunflowers will offer color during the day, a bit of sunblock, and also the moonvines will grow tall and be a sunblock and offer a wonderful perfume at nite when the flowers are blooming! Open your bedroom window and let the bouquet waft in!
As for tansy, yes...it's a great bug repellent! Plus the foliage is wonderful, the flowers (yellow and "button-ish") are pretty. It's also good for use as a spice in foods, but use sparingly!
thanks for clearing that up critter and horseshoe. I was doing some research to figure it out, and when I read that even the stems and leaves are allelopathic, I thought, then how is it that beans can climb them? So, question is answered, and problem solved. i am still gonna grow my beans up the corn, because I also found in my studies that beans reduce fall armyworm when you plant them first, corn reduces leafhoppers when you plant it first. So I will do a little of both. Turns out, beans help tomatoes to (bush beans), when planted about 1 1/2 feet away.
Juli~That is a marvelous heirloom, Stowell's Sweet Corn. It is white. I got great production, besides having every possible problem with the corn patch. So this year it should be even bettter. I remember last year having one of those vivid colorful dreams, where I was standing in the middle of my property, with the biggest ear of corn in my hand, and later, the ones i harvested greatly resembled that dream.
Deterer is a word if you say it is LOL. Tansy even repels cabbage moths and such. I have been told to be careful as it resseds abundantly. Some prefer it in pots, so they can move it around where needed, and then control the seeds better.
I didn't know moonvine smelled so good, I have been wondering where to plant mine. Does it attract moths like nicotiana does? That would help determine where I put it
FYI, I learned that (floklore only, no research) cosmos and marigolds are great protectors of your corn patch. Research -- a few dandelions blooming help protect your potatoes from pests, and dealy nightshade nearby are the best trap crops for the potato beetle. They lay their eggs, which hatch and promptly die after feeding on the plant. Of course, the berries and the plant are just that DEADLY, so keep away from children and the curious/ignorant!
Juli, How bout if when are corn is ready, we send each other a cob to eat? Silver Queen sounds really good...
Critter, you can grow the cukes with the sunflowers too!
This message was edited Apr 26, 2005 5:57 PM
"Planting Tips: Bush beans are good legume companions for corn as long as you time plantings so that the beans aren't flowering at the smae time the corn is tasseling. If these two stages coincide, the plants will be competing for water. Plant beand either one or two weeks after corn emerges in the early summer, or in the late summer just before it's time to harvest the corn." "Another study showed that the corn and bean combination reduces cutworms, fall armyworms, and leafhoppers. The key to succes lies in planitng dates. In Columbia, beans planted 20-30 days before corn reduced fall army worms; corn planted 20-40 days before beans reduced leafhoppers. [Altieri, Miguel A. 1978. A review of Insect Prevalence in Maize and Bean. Polycultural Systems 1:33-49] You may wish to study this relationship in yuor own garden" "Cutworm problems ... may be helped by the presence of a weed, spiny amaranth (pigweed) which serves as a decoy or trap crop."
Also interesting "Companion Planting: Selecting certain interplanting combinations in order to achieve a specific benefit such as pest control or enhanced growth. Companion planting is a term coined by horticulturists and not usually found in scientific literature."
Horseshow used the correct terminology for tansy... " Deterents: Insects are inhibited from feeding or egg laying by these substances." i.e., kills on contact
"Repellents: When insects are forced to move away from the plants, repellants are at work. These are so closely allied to deterrents, that it's often impossible to tell whether a certain plant chemical is driving the insect away (as a repellent would do) or whether it is a deterrent, which discourages feeding or egg laying."
"lady betles like tansy. At the Rodale Research Center, females in the greenhouse and field see out tansy as a place to lay their eggs. They're also attracted to yarrow."
"The nitrogen fixing capabilites of beans on other legumes interplants hve been well documented. In one study, collards interplatned with beans kept weed growth down and increased the yields of both crops" (Sound slike a fall garden plan to me :-)
Hope that wasn't too boring for anyy of y'all :-)
In my readings, it occurred to me that we all companion fro different reasons. Why don't we start listing our reasons here? Whys and hows are great conversation starters!
TF
Well, it looks pretty but #1 reason here is to deter bugs for me.
My number one reason would be to increase yield in an organic way. But that would include deterring bugs, since they tend to decrease it LOL. Prettiness is a nice side effect :-)
Forgot what forum I was in- yes- organic too. :-)
actually, I have wondered if this thread would help more people in the organic forum...
You could get it moved.....
Good idea DaisyAve! But, it's not my thread, ClaireLise, what do you think? Companion Planting is generally an integral part of organic gardening...
I like the thread here! I probably would never have noticed it over in organic gardening.....
Vote tally: 1 stay
Why not just post over in the organic forum with a link to this thread, and anyone who's interested can check it out and "watch" it if they want.
there ya go, what a clever solution!!!
No more votes please, it's a done deal...
Regarding tansy (common tansy, the button kind as opposed to the tansy ragwort), I've read it repels Colorado pototo beetles pretty well, though the exact study isn't cited. http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9911.html
This potato bed's a mess of sweet alyssum and marigolds in front, nasturtium between, and tansy behind. The nice things about companion planting are that in addition to all its practical benefits, it looks so very nice, helps "mulch," helps keep soil in raised beds from eroding, and smells lovely (usually). Even if my potato crop fails (which I fully expect it to do, as the property's dotted with huge black walnuts), it'll be a pretty, beneficial-attracting bed.
What should one plant "sweet annie" near?
I heard that about tansy, don't remember where. Said plant one at each corner of the potato bed. Personally, since beans and dandelions also repel them, that is working for me.
Sweet Annie is an artemesia, and works well (along with wormwood), at repelling flea beetles and cabbage moths. Also a haven for your beneficials. So I would put it near the brassicas. I started some plants, but the packrats got into the nursery, and I had a little nightmare for a few weeks. Will try to sow outdoors after this cold spell. Meanwhile, I have planted my onion bulbs around some of my cabbage, and other are just covered with milk jugs or row covers until other plants grow up enough to protect them. Same with the broccoli and brussel sprouts.
Zeppy, I wonder, since the allelopathic effect of Black Walnuts is in the soil, have you thought about planting your potatoes above ground, in a mulch of hay or leaves, or in a barrel, or in tires? I don't have Balck Walnut Trees, but I'm trying different methods of potato growing, in an attempt to find the best yield in the least space.
Anybody know what wormwood is good for? I will give a big smile to whoever gets this right first. There is more than one correct answer...
tamara... wormwood?? Used in flavoring vermouth & Italian Campari.
That was fast :-) I don't know what those are, but will take your word for it! But this thread is for companion planting. You got a smile, but now we will wait for an answer of how it is used as a companion to other plants in the garden.
Wormwood (not sweet annie = sweet wormwood)... repels carrot fly? Or am I thinking of yarrow. No. Oh, poop...
Yes, TamaraFaye, I've got a bin o' potatoes sitting near the house, as well as a 20 x 3 ft plot set aside (far from the walnuts) for tomatoes and peppers. I'm putting the same varieties of tomatoes and peppers in the garden as a test group (Tomatoes: Dr. C, Riesentraube, Kellogg's Bkfast, Tapp's Heritage, Green Zebra, OTV Brandywine Peppers: California Wonder and Bull Nose) ... it'll be interesting to see what the walnuts can do. I'll be very interested in hearing your results too, on that potato yield.
Big Smile :-D They may repel carrot fly.?? Besides flea beetles and cabbage moths, they also keep rodents away, esp mice and rats, but perhaps rabbits. I was going to put some in the flower bed just outside the nursery, but some packrats got IN the nursery and dug up all the herb seeds and plants before they coudl grow big enough to repel them!
Would love to hear what else Wormwood does.... anybody?
Tamara
I googled and found this bit of history on the plant, a list of its varieties, and a recipe for insecticidal tea (for use on non edibles). Good thing I planned to keep these in their own pots, they are allelopathic to other plants, so don't let the leaves get mixed into the soil.
http://www.ghorganics.com/Wormwood.html
Edited to add "Don't plant wormwoods near anise, beans, caraway, fennel, peas and sage." That is unfortuante, since they repel ahids (I found a pea aphid today).
Another edit for this link: http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html
This message was edited Apr 30, 2005 9:35 PM
This message was edited Apr 30, 2005 9:38 PM
Now since Zeppy brought it up, anyone want to list the uses for Yarrow?
What is yarrow?
An herb. HINT: Use the link I gave above, or Google it yourself...
This would be a great/useful thread over in the Herb Forum
-Juli
Great idea Juli, Would you mind putting a link to this from there? Herbs are great companions!!! I've gotta run and see how the snow is melting...
Well, the snow did melt, and now it will be 98 degrees tomorrow. Meanwhile, the answer is...
YARROW: Yarrow has insect repelling qualities and is an excellent natural fertilizer. A handful of yarrow leaves added to the compost pile really speeds things up. Try it! It also attracts predatory wasps and ladybugs to name just two. It may increase the essential oil content of herbs when planted among them.
Wanna play again?
Did we get a link from the herb forum?
Here are the results of my tomato/cabbage companion planting:
Conclusion: Within a short range of three feet or less, the chemicals emitted by both tomato and cabbage plants somehow affect each other in a sickly, stunted way.
Disclaimer: This obviously would not apply to row planting, as you would have a three foot walkway. Only intensive methods, interplanting, raised beds, and square foot gardening methods need take this into consideration.
Observations:
1. All 4 Glacier (early) tomato plants within the same (2) raised square foot 3x3 bed, which were covered with row covers, died completely. The cabbage in those beds improved after the dead tomato plants were removed, before they appeared stunted or stressed.
2. All (8) Glacier tomato plants in the raised 3x3 square foot beds adjacent to the above beds, were planted without cabbages. One bed, five plants. The other two plants, some beets and peas. Another on the other side of the second two, one tomato, with peas and beets. All had row covers, all are doing well. The one with the most growth is by itself, planted with beets (sounds like another possible study here LOL) After row covers were removed, some of the closest plants in the adjacent beds began to show the same symptoms. The cabbage now have milk crates over them 24/7. Tomato plants continue to grow and remain healthy.
3. 2 Glacier tomato plants, in two 4x4 raised beds, planted two to three squares over and one to two across, were slow growing, but not stressed. Cabbages were removed, plants are growing at a steady rate and blooming now.
4. In three 4x4 raised square foot beds, there were originally a total of 8 Stupice tomato plants. 2 in one 4 in second, 2 in third. One cabbage plant was placed at the far corner of each of the three beds. 4 tomato plants died, simply stunted, as if dried up. Dead plants were removed. The surving plant in each case was at least 4 squares over and two or three squares down. Cabbage were removed. Plant appearance improves, they grow and bloom.
5. In a lsightly raised, 3x3x3 bed (nine 3x3 ssquares), 2 cabbages were growing within two feet of 3 cherry tomato plants, which had Cozy Coats around them. Cabbages were moved further away (6 feet) before cozy coats were removed. What, do I look stupid? Lose my MS-5 Cherry tomato plants to see is the cabbage can grow there. Sorry, that is where I ended the experiment, cut my losses. :-P
Conclusion: Within a short range of three feet or less, the chemicals emitted by both tomato and cabbage plants somehow affect each other in a sickly, stunted way. Since I use intensive planting methods, I will consider these plants to be unfriendly toward one another.
Next companion experiment: good companions? Beets and Tomatoes?
Hope ya'll are having fun reading this. Even if you are laughing, that is what I am here for: teach some and entertain others LOL
Best planting wishes,
Tamara
Tamara, thank you verry much, as I will not have to repaet your experiments. Aain, Thank You. - Dyson
Oh, Dyson, aren't you so kind? I didn't realize you were the experiment type LOL
What a wonderful thread! Are peas and beans really enemies of each other? If so, why? I planted all of my peas along with my beans so they can share the trellis. I planted Scarlet Runner beans and those go nuts!
As far as sunflowers with other vegis, I planted them around the back part of my garden last year. The summer squash around them were miserable and didn't do well while summer squash I had planted in other parts of the garden did really well. My beans responded to the sunflowers by going up and down them.
