Gertrud Franck Companion Planting Scheme

[veggiechicken]

Have any of you tried Gertrud Franck's method of Companion Planting? There is very little on the web about it but I have the book, published in 1983 and I have dabbled with it over the years.
In spring, spinach is sown over the whole plot in rows 50cm apart. The spinach is not for eating, but as sheet mulch. Once the spinach has germinated, the spaces in between the rows are planted with crops in a carefully structured way, each crop to be a good companion to its neighbour (too difficult to explain).
The spinach keeps weeds at bay, keeps the ground below the leaves moist, provides a path to be walked on and is cut down as mulch to fertilise the ground for next year.
Next season, the rows move 50cms along so that the veg rows are planted in the "spinach rows" - and spinach is sown in the veg rows.
No land is given up to paths. and there is constant ground cover, either with growing spinach or mulch. Crop rotation is achieved by moving each row 50cms annually.
Just thought I'd throw this into the Great GYO Think tank!

[zazen999]

Sounds good.

What do YOU think of it?

[BarleySugar]

It sounds a novel approach, with some sense there, but you'd need a lot of spinach seed! You say you have dabbled. From your dabbles, how did you find it?

Better be a good read, I've just ordered from Amazon.

[di]

What sort of spinach do you use VC? I ask as I have an awful problem with perpetual spinach on my plot, self seeds everywhere, which is sort of OK, but the roots are so long and tough that it's become a nuisance.

[veggiechicken]

Spinach seed is dirt cheap in LIDL, so that was no problem. I don't have an allotment so structured rows are not always easy. BUT, it made sense, even on a small scale. I wasn't as organised as Gertrud would want. Also she was gardening in Germany so conditions may be somewhat different there.
The veg rows are difficult to get my head around but its something like this:
Row A - 2 metres apart = tall and bushy plants (beans, peas, tomatoes, late cabbage, potatoes
Row B - 2 metres apart = 2 crops a year -leeks, onions, spring greens, beetroot etc
Row C - 1 metre apart = plants with short growing time and low growth - carrots, lettuce, fennel
In addition, there are combinations of plants to be planted together in each row, like strawberries and leeks.
It needs careful planning to start with but once you have a good plan, its the same every year - just moved along 50cms from last year. That's the theory but I've never achieved such perfection.
I do sow lots of spinach everywhere though, and just leave it to its own devices.
This is the book Companion Planting: Successful Gardening the Organic Way: Amazon.co.uk: Gertrud Franck: Books Its worth a look!

[veggiechicken]

What sort of spinach do you use VC? I ask as I have an awful problem with perpetual spinach on my plot, self seeds everywhere, which is sort of OK, but the roots are so long and tough that it's become a nuisance.

Not the perpetual spinach, the cheapo annual one - any old type.

[Thelma Sanders]

Just ordered an el cheapo copy from Amazon, it looks interesting

[veggiechicken]

I should be on commission - they're being snapped up like hot cakes! Hope it makes sense to you when you read it! (Its not in German BTW).

[zazen999]

I'm not going to buy one, I'm going to look in our work library next week and see if they have one there.

[di]

Well, I'm that fickle that I've just bought me a 'few' cheap packs of spinach

Oh, my lottie is going to be a mish mash of experiments this year

[veggiechicken]

I'm not going to buy one, I'm going to look in our work library next week and see if they have one there.

I'm sure you'll find it there. Its a Thorson's publication.

[veggiechicken]

Don't know whether this helps or hinders!
her Vegetable Garden Plan.

[solway cropper]

Looking at her plan it seems very like my own block planting technique, but with spinach pathways.

I think I'll just stick to the way I'm doing things at the moment. I don't dig, don't use chemicals and have an abundance of wildlife in the garden. As a bonus I can produce almost all the fruit and veg we need.

The problem with all these 'ideas' is that they require you to stop doing what you are already doing successfully in order to try something that may or not work in your situation.

[veggiechicken]

If your plan works for you, stick with it. If you wanted to you could sow spinach in the bare bits (if you have any) That's roughly what I do!

[BarleySugar]

As my plot is still experimental, only started on it in April last year, and I have already changed the layout, I haven't really got anything to 'stop' doing, so might as well look at any ideas. I like the spinach being used as paths, mulch and compost as all these are in short supply in my plot.

Anyway, I needed a new gardening book, at the risk of sounding too 'know it all', so many of the mags and books are exactly the same and I've read it all before. The one I got was second hand, (might not be available new anyway now, published 1983 I think). I had an email to say it had been dispatched this morning, so not too long to wait.