I know that garlic - and onions - don't contend very well with weeds for nutrients etc, but I was looking at the space between them covetously ( :) )and wondering if anyone grows anything with them? Once they're established could they maybe share with an above ground veg?
I was wondering the same.
we've got a garlic border around our bean bed, also some between cabbage , lots of people put them between rows of carrots to fool the carrot fly, just looked , got them between beetroot as well so, go for it :)
I would avoid interplanting if you want a good crop of onions and garlic. They are both shallow rooting and do not like their roots disturbed. I mulch mine to keep the moisture in and the weeds down.
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_garlic.html
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_onions.html
I've just inter-planted lettuces and parsnips with my elephant garlic and a couple of rows of onions.
My (probably rubbish) rationale was:
1. Lettuces will be ready in summer before I dig up the onions/garlic
2. Parsnips will stay in the ground long after I've pulled up the onions/garlic
I may be wrong of course, but this year is my 'allotment experimental' year and I'll be happy to report successes and failures with y'all ;D
we've left 6" either side of the onions and garlic so there's plenty of room for them to spread, the cabbages are in a 2' space so again, there's lots of space, we only grow kitchen size onions.. :)
Great site Allaboutliverpool - I think I may have planted my garlic a little close together so interplanting as well might be tempting fate :)
Manicscousers - might be totally wrong here (good bet that I am really ;D) - but I thought that the onion family and beans/peas didn't like each other very much -???
tough, ;D..they'll just have to get on, no, really, the garlic was planted autumn, will be ready about june, they won't have to put up with one another for long :)
My onion/garlic bed is like concrete - the most i managed to do was weed them last week so they look quite good but had to hand weed as even the hoe wouldnt go through the concrete like soil! >:(
Last year I planted my gladioli corms between the jap onions/garlic.
These came up around the time I was lifting the onions& garlic so I got an extra crop out of the same bed with minimum effort.
I would offer another suggestion an that is why not put your winter greens for next year in between your onions/garlic and like my gladioli these will progress after the onions/ garlic have been lifted.
Plus it might aid to give some protection against root fly as the soil reeks with onion /garlic due to the broken roots left behind after lifting.
The last paragraph is an assumption but I think it is feasable......do you?
Quote from: Tee Gee on April 21, 2007, 11:18:07
Plus it might aid to give some protection against root fly as the soil reeks with onion /garlic due to the broken roots left behind after lifting.
The last paragraph is an assumption but I think it is feasable......do you?
Not bothered if it IS an assumption Tee Gee! I'll try it this year and thank you for the idea.
In fact the WHOLE of this growing year is going to be an experiment! I've planted double of everything so I can try different things out. My Father in law is rolling his eyes ... like this ... ::)
I was thinking today that I could grow sprouts in the trenches in-between the late potatoes (already got some lettuce in there)
Oh and by the way! Your website is now on my 'favourites'! I had a good old cruise round it this morning and it's really fantastic :D
Quote from: manicscousers on April 20, 2007, 20:05:13
tough, ;D..they'll just have to get on :)
You just bang their heads together if there's any nonsense manicscousers ;D
Tee Gee - like the planting idea, but I think I got my spacings wrong this year, so might have to save it for next.
The garlic that I brought later on I put as a border around my parnips, garlic up and parsnips not oh well.
Got some garlic I have not planted yet. Bought it 4-6 weeks ago. Is it too late to sow? If not I will spread it around my brassica bed and try your teory TG. Also: how long odes it take to harvest, same as normal onions?
I have 3 beds of garlic, one was planted late last year and its got some yellow on the leaves so i have bought some potash and will be popping that on monday.
1 of my other beds appears to have some mushrooms growing near them so i will be carefully digging them out of the bed and sticking them on the compost bin...