Interplanting

[tim]

How would Cos Lettuce cope between rows of Celeriac??

The near row was put out when the others were 1/2" high in modules. Continuity gone for a burton again!!

[tim]

[Svea]

looks good, no? or are you saying that your cos is 'swamping' the celeriac there?

i have taken to planting a few lettuces here and there where i have some space. trouble is my cabbage is getting so large it's starting to shade the bed maybe a little too much. well, at least those lettuces dont get scorched in the sunlight/heat so much :)

and agree, continuity still eludes me :(

svea

[tim]

Nooo! Would it be sensible, timewise, to put lettuce in between the (?) slower growing celeriac rows??

[Svea]

well, possibly, i have to say.
it seems to be a slow growing veg - and my lettuces of all creeds are growing very fast, so yes, they should be cleared before the celery/iac needs the space

[tim]

OK - on your head be it!!

[Svea]

great!

that's right, just blame the beginner  :o :P

[Mrs Ava]

I am an interplanter fanatic!  I have brussel sprouts in between my young strawberry plants, there are lettuce down the middle of my runner bean rows, radish everywhere, spring onions inbetween my cabbage, squash inbetween my corn, beans inbetween my tomatos.....oh it goes on and on!

[Doris_Pinks]

I too am an interplanter! Pak choi between my cabbages, lettuces too! Celery and celeriac between my squash rows, I just bung things in everywhere I can! I have limited space for a family of 4!  DP

[Amazin]

I have sweetcorn planted in a block with around 18" each way between the plants. In the 'squares' in between I have mini veg: carrots, parsnips, turnips, cauli and beetroot, plus petit pois, radishes and - apparently - dill, which I have no recollection of planting... well, not there, anyway.

[Mrs Ava]

oooooooooo, I have dill in between my savoy cabbages.....but it has all bolted!  ggrr

[Amazin]

Yup, same here - about half of 'em anyway. I'm sure it's the sudden change in the weather.
Still, I bet when yours first appeared, you didn't think they were long lost asparagus like someone I know (ahem!)

;D

[Yuet_Lee]

Me too.I planted spinach next to my mangetout. Pakchoi sowed sametime as peas.But I have eaten all my Pak Choi peas not even come up 3 inch tall ;). Chinese letteuces next to the mangetouts.When I saw people planted their vegs. I felt such a shame to waste all them spaces with no vegs planted in between :(  yuet

[tim]

I like the look of the leaves at the bottom, Yuet.

Interplanting - not being the bend-'n-weed type, I try to plant at hoe's width.
But this time, the ayes have it ...........done!

[moonbells]

I like the look of the leaves at the bottom, Yuet.

Interplanting - not being the bend-'n-weed type, I try to plant at hoe's width.
But this time, the ayes have it ...........done!

Looks lovely and neat!

I put lettuces in between the cabbages and thought they'd easily outstrip them. However the cabbages have other ideas - and this despite being turned into skeletons by the pigeons when the fleece blew off.  I now have a bed that is certainly not showing much soil to the overhead viewpoint...

moonbells

[Mrs Ava]

Sounds perfect Moonbells!  No rooms for weeds!!

[aquilegia]

When you have a garden the size of mine, with veg patch area smaller than most people's greenhouses, you have to interplant, otherwise you'd not grow much.

I have squashes/courgettes under the sweetcorn (until the slugs ate the former) and the same goes for under the beans and peas. Spuds were planted with broad beans, rocket and radishes. The last two were eaten before the folliage of the others filled in too much space. I'm putting my chard out now, which is squeezed in where I have room (which is actually more than it should be thanks to the slimey horrors!)

[shaolin101]

How did you get courgettes under the sweetcorn?

I have my corn about 15inch apart - as said on seed packet.

The courgettes i am growing have just started to get quite big. Fair size leaves attached to longish stems - they would push my corn over. Is it due to the courgette variety?

I am growing the little round 'fruit da rond something or other'

[aquilegia]

Shaolin - I always plant things a bit closer than it says on the packet - otherwise I'd run out of room. My corn are 12in apart. I had 16 in a square (until something ate three of them). I planted four courgettes in between in a big square. I hadn't actually thought about the leaves pushing the corn over - just assumed they'd come to a compromise. (I do rather tend to have a lazes fair (sp?) attitude towards my plants, hence the loss of so many to slugs, but generally they seem to get on fine with litlte interference from me, other than water!) Anyway - growing corn with (usually) squashes is an ancient Native American technique called the three sisters (the third being beans). There's been threads on here about that!

[shaolin101]

Didnt think of the corn being in a big square! Only 5 of mine made it this far and i have them like the 5 spots on a dice (corners and one in the middle) - I was picturing trying to just fit it in my own ones!

[busy_lizzie]

Was at my plot this morning and I found a space near my brussel sprouts -  it is only a little square shaped one, so I thought radishes.  Then I thought of this topic, interplanting, but then I wondered if you interplant with anything, surely you will be breaking the crop rotation rules.
What do other people do?  Is crop rotation forgotten about in the bid to get as much into your plot as possible or do you only put plants with a connection into spare places?  :) busy_lizzie