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Need Help with Companion Planting in Square Foot Vegetable Garden
[I asked this question on the Garden Web forum also.]
This is my first garden and I have read a lot about intensive planting and square foot gardening and it makes sense (less weeds, less watering, more veggies). I have also read quite a bit on companion planting and it makes sense -- seems to be the first step in preventing pests organically. Anyway, I am looking for some folks with experience with companion planting in an intensively planted garden. I live in Northern Alabama and my spot slopes gently toward the south and gets full sun all day long. I prepared my garden spot last year in the late summer. The soil is heavily amended with compost (8 to 12 inches!) and organic fertilizers (soybean meal, alfalfa pellets, some blood meal, etc. tilled in as deep as the tiller would go) The soil is looking very good now -- black, soft and crumbly (even saw some earthworms recently). Part of my problem is that I do not know how all the plants grow or how big they get. I am mostly concerned about the onions and the carrots as they are good companions to almost everything. If I companion plant onions with carrots, I fear the onions will not get enough light. Square foot spacing for both carrots and onions is 9 per square foot (i.e., 3"). For example, consider the following square foot diagram: [C] [O] [C] C = Carrot [O] [C] [O] O = Onion [C] [O] [C] Would the carrot tops shade the onions too much? I'm thinking something like this might work better: [C] [C] [X].[O] [O] [O] C = Carrot [C] [C] [X].[O] [O] [O] O = Onion [C] [C] [X].[O] [O] [O] X = Empty I am not using raised beds, but I have 4' wide rows that are pretty long and run east to west. I want to plant two long rows of okra in one wide row with the rows about 2' apart and the plants about 1' apart within the row. I would like to plant something in the area between the rows. Would the okra plants create too much shade for onions or carrots? Also, can you interplant carrots with bush beans? If so how do you do it? Along the edge of the beans or in amonst them? Has anyone done these sorts of things before? Or, am I just "off in the weeds"? Thanks! |
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