Does any one know anything about companion planting I have heard that planting leeks or garlic by carrots helps keep the fly away is this true? any other tips gratefully received,
thanks
tink
Hi Tinker I heard the same - I am using marigolds to atract bees etc.. and also sweetpeas.
Have you heard of the fly resistant carrots, flyaway i think it is ?
I dont have that problem as my carrots are surrounded by 15ft walls on all sides, and ive heard the fly only flies an inch above the ground ! Im not sure how accurate this is though.
Alternatively i would grow carrots in pots, or use fleece or the ultra fine environmesh for protection ! Good luck
ric
Hi tinker, we're giving companion planting a try out too, sounds like an interesting idea to me anyway. We're going to try interplanting rows of carrots with rows of onions to try and deter both sets of flies. (I'm also going to fleece some carrots and see which lot fare best.)
In terms of flowers we're using some to attract beneficial insects e.g. marigolds, limnanthes (poached egg plant), californian poppy, cosmos, and others to try and repel or deter pests, e.g. tagetes, nigella, nasturtium.
No idea if any of this works, but at least the plot will look pretty ::) ;)
We have a formalised Pottager on one allotment and use chives in the root bed, African Marigolds in the Brassicas and SummerSavoury with the beans, then have two flower borders down the outside...
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/Organicplot.jpg)
Today we moved the chives round for the rotation... and potted up the spares for our plant sale in June!
saddad i love your plot, it's so pretty! ;D
saddad your plot looks wonderfull! something for me
to aim for in the future!
I will give all your suggestions a try this year,
thanks tinker.
I do a little bit of companion planting, I started last year and will continue this year. I gathered some information from various sources and have compiled a spreadsheet, it can be viewed here http://www.acountrygarden.co.uk/files/companion.xls (http://www.acountrygarden.co.uk/files/companion.xls)
Saddad, your plot looks fantastic, I am really impressed :D
My OH has to take all the credit for this one... since we got it established about 8 years ago I am rarely allowed to work on it... exiled to the othe four plots...
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/Plot118.jpg)
saddad I am green with envy,
fantastic plot!
I've grown sage amongst brassicas to keep whitefly away. Had some success but only with those in the very immediate vicinity.
I allow a few leeks to flower by the side of my runner beans to attract the bees. And Feverfew helps keep whitefly down. :)
Love the plot Saddad. ;)
The only companion planting we have used is french marigolds in the pots with tomato plants in the greenhouse.
We have not been troubled by whitefly since we started using this planting.
valmarg
Works for us as well Valmarg... ;D
companion planting can be used in 2 ways
1) you can use plants to help stop pests like planting onion and carrots together as they mask each others smell or
2) You can plant some plants togehter which maximised your space so you plant a slower growing crop next to a quicker crop....
Certain i am trying to acheive a lot of 2 and as much of 1 as possible.
Cambourne7
also grow basil alongside tomatoes, again, marigolds, tagetes, borage, nasturtiums, sunflowers, limnanthes, sweet peas, all bring in the bees, some help the health of the plant, you can eat some and they look nice..also some phacelia, green manure that got away from the hoe, self seeds and the bees love it ! ;D
I going to interplant carrots with onions this year as I am told the strong onion smell confusses ??? the carrot fly, so I will give it a go and see what happens. I've also got marigold seeds but not sure :-\ where they fit in yet. ;D ;D ;D
We used Fever Few and Tagetes (Little Gem) in and around Broad Bean and Runner/French Beans
last season, no sign of White Fly or Black fly on the Broad Beans. We did NOT pinch out the Broads Beans.
Tomato in Greenhouse used Tagetes and Basil, again no sign of white fly.
We have never had a problem with Runner/French Bean pollination and seed setting, we plant climbing Sweet Peas 'tight in' with the Bean plants, whether or not the Sweet Peas help ... dunno ... but they look and smell lovely.
Thanls Leonnie have copied the link for future reference
;D ;D
Thanks for the spreadsheet Leonie, very useful :) :)
Great Plot too Saddad
jo xx
This year's my first with the flyaway carrots, bit of an unknown, but I've heard good things from others!