Companion/Cooperative Plant Growing, Overwinter Crops & Seed Sharing

[eien_herrison]

My garden's slowly coming along, and the vegetable patch has been bordered out into a raised bed with some soil in it (the gardeners are using the soil from the garden as they've said it's very fertile, so I suspect our only issue with it was the stones. This does mean there's a load of grass in it, but also the possibility of weeds; I'm going to be keeping an eye on how many weeds grow and if there are too many get some weed control matting). I also got a gardening catalogue through and from the advice of other people I've started to look in to companion/cooperative growing methods.

From what I'm planning on growing I've already got ideas on what I can grow with what (tomatoes with peppers or basil; carrots with lettuce), alongside some companion flowers (geraniums, marigolds, petunias, and nasturtiums). However, what I'd like to know is if anyone here has experience with companion growing, and how it's worked for them. Did you use various food-bearing plants, or did you mix in some flowering plants as well, and what kind of results did you get (planting x and y together worked brilliantly, but x and z competed horribly and I got very little from them).

I'd also like some advice on spacing crops -- for example, it's stated tomatoes should be planted 50cm (20inch) apart, and peppers 30-45cm (12-18inch) apart. Does this mean that if I'm planting tomatoes and peppers together I can have the plants closer together so long as the space between the tomato and pepper plants are what's recommended? I suspect that I'll need to plant them 50cm apart, but it can't hurt to ask, can it?

Because of timing issues, are there any plants I can sow between now and the new year that aren't onions, garlic or lettuce (I'm planting butterhead All The Year Round variety)? This is largely because, aside from lettuce, the earliest I can plant items will be February (peppers and I'll be starting them off inside) and I'd like my veg patch to be in some kind of use until then. I know I have the option of green manure to enhance the soil, but given the apparent fertility of the soil I have I don't think they'd be necessary (plus I'm running out of time to plant them as it's running in to mid-autumn/coming up to winter where I am).

And last point/question: I've got a ton of seeds, including a few packets of seeds I will never use (like leeks, cabbage and cucumber -- they were all bought in a set). I know I'm barely going to make a dent in the number I've got (especially as I plan to try seed saving for the 2013 season), and I'd hate for them to go to waste, so would it be okay for me to post up in the new year a list of seeds plus quantity that I have available?

Cross-posted to gardening

Comments

[chalcopyrite]

Intermixing crops, the spacing can depend on how fast things mature. For instance, you can plant out cauliflowers, and then plant lettuce seedling in between them, because the cauliflowers mature so slowly that the lettuces will be gone by the time space becomes an issue. Tomatoes and peppers, though, are both summer crops, and if you planted them in each others' gaps, they'd probably compete.

Companion planting: I got a tip that planting carrots in between rows of onions would help discourage carrot rootfly. It seems to have worked -- I spaced the onions a little more widely than I would have normally, I think? I can't think of any other experiments I've done in that line, but I'll chime back in if I remember something.

I think you're probably low on options for things to sow now. Brassicas can be planted out, but if you're starting from seed/set, salads and the alliums are about it. Hmm. A spring variety of carrot (like Nantes - the key is fast maturation) might about do, depending on when frost sets in where you are and if you mind picking a little early.

Good luck!

[eien_herrison]

Intermixing crops, I suspected that would be the case (but I thought I'd better check anyway).

Carrots and onions is something that I've seen recommended, and might be something I'd consider (no real plans to grow onions just yet as we don't really use too many of them at home).

Everything I've currently got I'll be starting from seed. It's really dependant on the weather, but frosts don't tend to come in until November (and in some cases if we're lucky not until December).

Thanks :)

[feuer_flammenlos]

In my experience - although my conditions are very different from yours - planting *anything*, but especially other solanaceae, near/under tomatoes is counter-productive: tomatoes are "all-around" consumers, so they'll deplete the soil's resources equally, but they are also "high" consumers, in that they deplete the soil quickly, plus they are somewhat picky about watering.
I'd say to leave the tomatoes alone, maybe try intermixing + surface fertilizer.

What to plant in this season: horseradish, perhaps? In my zone the roots are planted in October-November (full plant, of course, in spring).

[eien_herrison]

Tomatoes being high consumers does make sense to me (why else would people make/buy feed specially for them) -- based on advice from others at most I'll be planting basil with them (as I don't think they would negatively affect each other, and I've heard they actually work reasonably well) and giving them regular feeding.

Horseradish, unfortunately, we don't use in our household, but thanks for the suggestion anyway :)

[ex_moondancer561]

If not horseradish, how about ginger?

[eien_herrison]

We don't really use ginger either (plus a quick look on my main gardening sites doesn't bring up any results for plants).