Looking for advice on companion plants

[Snoop Puss]

Morning guys.

As per subject title, looking for a source of good advice on companion plants. Book or online.

A while back mothhawk (I think) posted about not growing beans and onions together and gave a reason that made good sense. And yesterday I watched a Charles Dowding video in which he had Brussels sprouts growing in among carrots, which surprised me as I would have thought that digging up carrots would have damaged brassicas' fine roots. All of which got me intrigued and I'd like to learn more.

Thanks.

[ameno]

Unless your soil is heavy clay you shouldn't need to dig up carrots. You should be able to just pull them out, with minimal disturbance.

[Mr Bones]

Gertrud Franck's book - Companion planting : Successful Gardening The Organic Way is a pretty good start. It's available as a free download somewhere because I had it at one time.
Had a quick look but can't find it at moment..

[Mr Bones]

Here it is, free to read online or download

https://www.soilandhealth.org/wp-con...nck/franck.pdf

[Nicos]

Nice link there Bones!

Have a look at this post in Archives....

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...d-sowing-dates

Just when you get your head around companion planting with flowers, you then realise there are companion veggies ....and then to top it all plants which are detrimental to each other

[Nicos]

I’ve stickied this thread so it will be easy to add to.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, guys. I think I might have downloaded that somewhere. I'll have another look. All I remember is the need to sow spinach left, right and centre!

And thanks for the advice, Ameno. I'm in the throes of trying to improve the soil in my patch. At the moment, it goes like terracotta in the sun. How anything grows I do not know. I have managed carrots, not very good ones but even so any carrot is better than no carrot. I've bought seeds for stumpy variety, so am hoping they'll do OK.

[stevejelf]

Snoop Puss
Reading your description I have similar conditions with the exception of the cold My soil here goes like terracotta with cracks you could fall down I have only been in this property on the other side of the Pyrenees to you for 3 years and it is taking its time to improve my potager
The trick I used in the Aude Southern France was to pour dry builders sand into the cracks and fill them, overtime it worked its self in to the clay Here we can buy cheaply soil conditioners basically composted chipped forestry waste that with my home made compost gets turned on the top. So far parsnips and carrots have been OK

Steve

PS One of my favorite towns in your area which up until the Plague I visited regularly is Pamplona , are you in Basque country another area I lived in for 11 years

[Snoop Puss]

Hi, stevejelf, I'm in northern Teruel. Not that far inland but there's a mountain range between us and the sea, so we get inland rather than coastal weather conditions. Perishing cold in winter, boiling hot in summer. Drought, strong winds, torrential storms and heavy snowfall when it happens (used to be more often than now). Nobody would move here for the weather!

And yes, I know what you mean about cracks. I wondered about sand, but have decided to go for organic matter instead. Can't get composted forestry waste (and not allowed to gather leaf mould or other forest products except for mushrooms and fallen trees and branches (usually brought down by snow) on our land. But can buy decent muck, so that's what gets used. And any compost I can make, but it feels sometimes like I might as well not bother, I get so little at the end of the process. Good way to dispose of waste, though.

Best of luck with your new patch. Sounds like you've got lots of experience and know what you're about. Always good to share the non-UK experience too.

[Plot70]

Some plants are clay proof.
Last year I killed masses of couch grass roots by sealing them in a sort of pod of hot steaming manure. Winter squashes went in a thin layer of clay topsoil over the top and they grew well with very few weeds. The whole lot was in a raised bed built from clay blocks.
This year the manure was not hot enough. This meant that I added a further layer of clay blocks and a layer of shredded fir plus the manure and clay topsoil again.
Kohlrabi can be planted in clay all at once and set into growth by adding well rotted horse manure a couple of weeks before the crop is needed to extend the cropping period without having to bother with handling seedlings or getting them burned out by the strong aircraft trail free sun.
This year the clay blocks were bigger and quicker to build with. This years bed has the loam from last years bed as topsoil. The photos were taken as I was closing the wheel barrow access point. Last years bed now has raised clay walls that will carry frost shields allowing early planting in the now well fertilized clay below with some of the remaining loam mixed in.

[Snoop Puss]

Looks fantastic, Plot70. Serious earthworks! Good advice on the kohlrabi. I'm going to plant mine in the shade of some broccoli plants but good to know about additional muck.

Had a look at the Gertrud Franck book. Will see if I can find out more info and add to the thread too.

[Plot70]

I started the plot from a mugwort and couch grass jungle in December 2019 and needed a way of recovering all the energy the weeds had taken from the soil. Some nice loam came out from under last years squashes.
I now have much more of the plot ready for planting out and another huge batch of weed roots cooking away for use next year.
It is like a giant compost darlek with the squashes in the top.

[rary]

I was going to start a new thread but hopefully this one will serve OK
Could anyone tell me where or if there are any DVDs available for information regarding companion planting, I run a garden club and have been trying to find folk willing to give talks connected with gardening, unfortunately such people are few and far between now-a-days, so I have been trying to build up a library of garden subjects, so any information an such things would be gratefuly appreciated

[Jungle Jane]

I couldn’t find a dvd in the internet just general gardening books but I found an audiobook,could you use some parts of it maybe,it’s over three hours long has good reviews,I don’t know maybe record sections to play for your garden club,you could pause the audio book in places to ask any questions or add some interest as there’s no video or make a slide show to have alongside the audio?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Companion-P...s%2C102&sr=1-1

[bramble]

Googled companion planting but found no DVD's
There are lots of posters, some you can print off
Also, a book you would need to order, but it looks interesting.