Strange Bedfellows in the Veg Patch
How companion planting helps your garden grow stronger
I love my iPhone. I do. But recently I’ve discovered how many hours each day I’m spending mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, X, and Instagram. And it’s not good. Not good at all. So, last month I decided it was high time I ditched my phone after 6 pm and spent my evenings doing something fun instead with my poor, neglected hubby. And inspiration came from the strangest of places.
You see, a couple of weeks ago, I was in for a long overdue root canal. While I was in the dentist’s waiting room, an old gardening magazine’s headline caught my eye: Companion planting essential for a healthy garden. Before I had a chance to read the article, I was called in. Trembling in the dentist’s chair, I valiantly tried to take my mind off the screeching drill by thinking about that headline. As a gardener, companion planting wasn’t a technique I was familiar with, but as I lay back, trying not to choke on my fear-induced saliva, I wondered if companion planting with Lord Muck at my side might be the perfect fun Friday night activity I was looking for.
Once home, I decided that we’d kick off the next weekend by spending a wonderful couple of hours planting out my little seedlings in the kitchen garden, side by side, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes before retiring for drinkies at home.
As I heard him pull up on the drive, I checked that everything was ready: jug of sangria – tick; candles lit – tick; La Perla – tick; wobbly bits sucked in – tick. And most importantly, iPhone locked well away.
Unfortunately, things did not go to plan. Lord Muck laughed his head off when he heard my version of companion planting. Apparently, I’d got the wrong end of the stick completely.
Between howls of laughter, he explained that companion planting is in fact an old gardening tradition whereby plants are combined very carefully with specific companion plants for their mutual benefit. This helps plants to help each other by providing nutrients in the soil, offering protection from the wind, attracting beneficial insects, or acting as a decoy for harmful insects. Apparently, that’s why Lord Muck Senior always grows sweet peas with his French beans (to attract pollinating insects) and marigolds around his tomatoes (so that their scent puts pests off attacking his juicy cherry toms). I just thought he was trying to make his kitchen garden look pretty.
But, damn, I do hate it when His Lordship knows more than me. So if you’ve got a know-it-all partner who grew up in a veggie-growing household here are some great plant-growing combos that are sure to impress them.
Follow Lord Muck Senior’s lead and plant French marigolds among tomatoes – the marigolds emit a strong odour that repels greenfly and blackfly.
Growing strongly scented sage with carrots will help drive away the dreaded carrot fly.
Nasturtiums planted around kale are a magnet for the dreaded caterpillars – and while they’re busy munching on the nasturtiums, the kale can grow in peace.
Plant chervil around your salad leaves and lettuces to deter aphids. Growing garlic at the base of rose bushes will do the same.
Borage is believed to make strawberries grow better, and repel a host of pests. And its beautiful blue flowers are magnets for pollinating insects, including hoverflies, whose larvae feast on blackfly.
Grow Your Own Food Lady Muck Style
Planting shade-loving lettuces under climbing beans is a good idea too: the lettuces cover the bare ground to stop weeds growing and the beans add nitrogen to the soil, feeding the lettuces and giving you super-healthy green salad leaves.
And my all-time favourite companion-planting combo: cucumbers grown under giant sunflowers. The tall sunflowers provide afternoon shade for the cucumbers, which in return act as a living mulch beneath the sunflowers, and deter weeds. Sweet.
Right, must dash. It’s time to swot up on this year’s Six Nations rugby stats. Well, I need to get my own back on His know-it-all Lordship somehow. Our next family get-together coincides with the England vs France game. Should be fun...ch seem rather anxious about the government’s proposed crackdown on tax avoidance….
