On Wednesday, June 11, 2014 3:30:28 PM UTC-7, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:

On Wednesday, June 11, 2014 8:07:53 AM UTC-7, Brooklyn1 wrote:

On Wed, 11 Jun 2014 13:17:37 +0200, Tinor



wrote:

[...]


There is tons of stuff on-line about companion planting for

*veggies*: don't plant X next to Y; do plant A and B next to each

other. Very useful!



Very exaggerated. There are some plants that do not play well with others

(allelopathy) by making biochemicals harmful to others or their seeds.

There are possibly some that may be useful with others, such as to repel

some kinds of pests, if you have those pests and if they work in your

situation.



The tables of friend and foe that are commonly found are wildly over the top

and just create more constraints in a business that is already complicated

enough. Those tables are traditional and much like other traditional

practices (eg moonplanting) have very little or no evidence that they work

and less evidence for how they work.



There is no reason you cannot combine edible plants and good looking ones in

the same garden - they may be same. Try sunflowers as a background, globe

articokes as a feature, parsley as a border etc. The usual rules about

matching soil, sun and water requirements apply.

VERY interesting! There's nothing as stimulating as having your cherished -- and unexamined -- beliefs re-evaluated.

Socrates famously said "The unexamined life is not worth living." Now don't get me wrong; Socrates is not entirely my favorite person, despite his later aura. An eye-opener is "The Trial of Socrates" by the late, much-lamented I.F. Stone. Author of some way kewl books, like "All Governments Lie."

HB