Get the most out of your garden

[CrealCritter]

I'm an old school fertilizer & root tiller gardener. I don't have much of anything to contribute.

 

[Chic Rustler]

The white clover will increase the nitrogen in your garden. I'd love to see a progress report, especially if you can do a comparison of yield with the ground cover and without the ground cover. Thyme may act as an insect deterrent. Both would make great amendments to your coop bedding. Especially, the thyme in your nest boxes.

Thyme in the nest boxes? Whats that for? Maybebi need to plant more thyme this year!

 

[Chic Rustler]

As far as succesion crops go, i love to follow corn with legumes like black eyed peas. They seem to do great.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Thyme is supposed to repel insects. There are a lot of herbs and weeds that can be used. Pennyroyal, mints, Russian Sage, Citronella, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Bee Balm, Lavender. It's always my intent to dry some creeping Charlie for the nest boxes and coop, but I've not gotten around to it. I'm hoping to get some Artemesia growing this summer.

 

[Britesea]

I tried growing basil in between my tomato plants, as I'd read they "love" each other; it didn't work though-- the tomatoes overran and shaded out the basil too quickly.
I've decided the only thing I can do with brussels sprouts is grow them as a trap crop. They always end up covered with aphids, who seem to ignore everything else in the garden.

 

[CrealCritter]

I tried growing basil in between my tomato plants, as I'd read they "love" each other; it didn't work though-- the tomatoes overran and shaded out the basil too quickly.
I've decided the only thing I can do with brussels sprouts is grow them as a trap crop. They always end up covered with aphids, who seem to ignore everything else in the garden.

A:
Palmolive original + water + pump sprayer = dead aphids

 

[Hinotori]

We always used Ivory dish soap and water growing up and I know Dawn works as well. It works so fast on suffocating aphids. If the plant is sensitive to soaps (some are) just wash it off after a few minutes.

 

[Marianne]

We also planted basil around the tomato plants. I don't know if it did anything or not.

I have always planted onions with my potatoes. The first year that I planted spuds in loose straw on top of the soil, I also put in the onion bulbs. I had stellar spuds that year, and nice sized onions. No bugs. The downside is that you have to fertilize regularly. I did not have good luck planting in straw bales, but I now think it was an owner/operator problem.

I also didn't have good luck planting pole beans w/corn - the idea being the corn stalks would support the bean plants. It's entirely too windy here, so it didn't take long before I had a total mess.

Years ago I did compact gardening in our small space and it made a believer out of me. But I agree, a lot of it is area specific. Some things will grow in your area, but not perform well.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

IMO, 3 sisters is highly over rated. It worked for the native Americans b/c they planted 3 crops together that were intended to all be harvested at the same time. And, the corn that they planted was most likely much sturdier than the sweet corn we plant today.

I have had fair to good results planting bush beans around hills or between hills of corn.

Onions and corn in a hay or straw mulch would be a good combination. Both are heavy feeders, and onions simply can't compete with weeds. Onions also need a steady supply of moisture. So, deep mulch and good fertility would result in a winner crop.

Alliums are also good companions for strawberries. For that matter, one proven way to improve your garden output is to plant strawberries adjacent to your corn. Let the runners move into the corn. As the corn gets harvested, simply clip the stalk close to the soil. At the end of the season, turn under (or otherwise destroy) the old strawberry bed, and turn your corn bed into your new strawberry bed.

 

[Beekissed]

Got some nasturtiums planted into seed trays so I can set them out in plenty of time before the squash gets planted....usually can't grow nasturtiums in this garden but I'm going to try once again.

Also have marigolds but they seem pretty useless for tomatoes...going to plant them among the lettuces and at the end of the tomato rows this year instead of intermixed within the row...they did nothing to prevent horn worms and they most likely sucked nutrition away from my vines, though supposedly they root at different levels.

I'm thinking about planting them around the squash, along with the nasturtiums, and see if they help any there.