planning

Have a Happy Garden with Companion Plants

by Ric on March 28, 2012

Spring is now here and it is time to start planting in your garden.  I want you to think about your garden as a whole system rather than individual plants.  When we think about it as a system we begin to understand how nature goes about planting plants.  Nature does not plant carrots in a row.  We have a bean plant growing up an apple tree.  Squash covering and holding moisture for corn.  Understanding the symbiotic nature of the plants will enable us to plant more plants in less space with fewer chemicals and less water.  How about them apples  for a lazy garden.

I (to the dismay of my wife) am a lazy gardener.  I want to plant and then harvest.  If I had my preference, I would not plant either, but I will take what I can get.  Therefore I am always trying to find ways to have plants compliment each other to get maximum yield.  I have found by succession planting and companion planting I am able to decrease my workload and pests and increase my belly.

Companion planting is one way to increase the food on my table.  The following are some good companion plantings.

  • Asparagus and Basil
  • Carrots and peas
  • Corn and squash
  • Cucumber and corn
  • Onions and carrots, lettuce
  • Radish and peas
  • Peppers and onions

Along with companion plantings there are plants which should not be planted by each other.

  • Beans and onion
  • Cabbage and Dill
  • Carrots and Dill
  • Corn and Tomatoes
  • Onions and peas
  • Irish potato and squash, tomato, cucumber

There are also plants which are beneficial to your garden pest control.

  • Onions and garlic are natural pest repellers.   Plant in the midst of your veggies
  • French Marigolds kill bad nematodes.
  • Mexican Marigold.  Do not plant near brascia.
  • Four o’clock for Japanese beetles.
  • Chrysanthemum for nematodes.  Also provide some shade
  • Mint repels moths, aphids and attracts beneficials.  Very invasive so please plant in a pot.  I speak from experience.

Herbs for culinary use, beneficial insect use, and they smell great.

  • Rosemary.  Best used dry.  Attracts beneficials.  Use in bread.
  • Oregano.  Takes forever to germinate and grow but once in the ground it spreads well.
  • Basil.  Wonderful smelling.  Dried basil reminds me of summer.
  • Cilantro.  Mine overwintered.  Great in mexican dishes.  I use mine to make fresh salsa.

It is always good to plant as many beneficial flowers as possible.  Salvia is great for bees.  Marigolds, Nasturtiums are also great flowers to put in the garden.  Nature has a system for everything.  Try to make your garden a system not just 5 veggies planted in rows.

I equate companion planting in the garden to having companions in life.  We have some friends better at helping us with things than others.  My wife is the ultimate companion plant, helping me strive to do my best and grounding me in who I should be.  Others have helped lift me when I was down or gave me shade when I needed it.  Nature is the ultimate example of how to plant a garden.  By having companion plants you give them the support and protection they need.

Ric

Trumpeting a Spiritual and Temporal Preparedness Lifestyle

{ 0 comments }

Ten Gardening Skills

by Ric on March 14, 2012

There are two skills I constantly write on this site, debt and gardening.  I think between the two it will relieve about 90% of your preparedness problems.  With spring upon us I want to give some more gardening tips to help you have a successful garden this year.

The ten things are

  • Succession planting
  • Composting
  • Companion planting
  • Container gardening
  • Mulching
  • Guerrilla gardening
  • Water harvesting
  • Wildlife identification
  • Trellising
  • Seed starting

Succession Planting

Succession planting is planting one plant after another in the same spot.  We plant lettuce in the spring and tomatoes in the summer then spinach in the fall.  Succession planting allows us to grow more crops in the same space.   Combining in succession varieties of plants allows us to maintain soil fertility.  If we plant legumes last we will get some nitrogen back in the soil.

Composting

Using our food waste as garden material is a something we can all do for a variety of reasons.  I do it so I won’t have as much garbage to haul out to the curb.  Composting creates new soil.  If you haven’t started one you can do it just like I did by putting my clipping in the corner and letting nature take its course.  There is a science some use.  I prefer to just let nature do it all by herself and then at the beginning of the year I take last years compost and put it on the garden.

Companion planting

Some plants compliment each other.  Basil and tomatoes. Cucumbers and corn.  One plant may have a deep tap root and the other will give shade.  One may fix nitrogen while the other is a heavy nitrogen user.

Container gardening

Container gardening will allow you to grow things you might not be able to grow otherwise.  Think blueberries.  If you have alkaline soil it is hard to grow blueberries since they like acidic soil.  What to do?  Put them into a container.  Can’t grow citrus where you are?  Put them in a container and when it gets cold outside and you have a nice sunny spot inside put them there.  If you live in a condo or apartment, containers allow you to grow where there is no dirt.

Mulching

Mulching helps you save on water and cuts down on weeds.  It makes gardening easier.  With continuous mulch weeds are kept at bay and you are supplying new soil all the time.

Guerrilla gardening

This is a stealth type of gardening.  You plant where there typically is not a garden.  Usually perennial seeds are put into a ball of dirt and this ball of seeds is placed in and empty lot, public park, canal dirt road, in a forest.  You are allowing nature to produce more food.   This is a great way to have a bigger garden without you actually having a garden of your own.  These spots then become places where you can continue to cultivate.

Water harvesting

Since water is essential to all living things, gathering and retaining water is a great skill to have.  Just retaining the water from your roof will water your garden all year.  With water wars springing up all over the arid western states, having a method of harvesting the water on your own lot may prove valuable

Wildlife identification

Knowing what is eating you tomatoes is important.  Knowing what to plant to attract the animal that eats the thing eating your tomato is even more important.  Make it part of your continuing education to learn about the wildlife in your yard.  What attracts bees?  What eats cutworms?  All of your gardening questions should have an answer not containing the word ending in ‘cide’.

Trellising

Trellising is the method of allowing your plants to grow upward.  This saves on space and makes it easier on your back.  Cucumbers, grapes, beans, melons can all be trellised.

Seed starting

The benefits to seed starting are almost too many to write down.  The main one for me is season extension.  I am able to start earlier in the spring and continue in the fall.  By starting indoors in the spring, I can plant when ready rather than direct sowing when ready.  Same goes for the fall.  It is hard to start lettuce with the hot soil of the summer, but if I start indoors I can plant in the fall when the days are not quite as warm and my lettuce flourishes.

 

Any skills I forgot?  Email at Ric@theldslifestyle.com

Ric

{ 0 comments }

Finding Time to Prep- part 2

March 8, 2012

Finding Time to Prep- Part 2 In part 1 we discussed Making a list and prioritizing You will do what you see as most important first Stored food is money in the bank Prepare in incremental steps 2 meals a month out of food storage You can’t do it overnight Finishing other projects Today we [...]

Read the full article →

Finding the Time to Prepare- part 1

March 7, 2012

Finding the Time to Prepare- part 1 If you are new to the preparedness community you may already have the feeling of being overwhelmed.  It never stops.  I have been preparing for a few years and still feel overwhelmed.  I wanted to discuss dome things to help reduce the anxiety which comes form having to [...]

Read the full article →