I am just about to plant some cantaloupe and tomato plants. The tomato
plants will be in large containers, one to a container, and the cantaloupe
will be in the ground. I read that cantaloupes are especially susceptible
to aphids, and I think I once read that tomatoes are, too. I know that I
can plant basil near my tomatoes and that will help keep away pests. Can I
do the same with the cantaloupe? How about using coriander/cilantro in
addition to the basil? If I plant basil and/or cilantro near my tomatoes
and cantaloupe, how close can they be? For example, can I put one basil and
one cilantro plant with each tomato container? The containers are round and
are about 1-1 1/2 feet in diameter and 1 1/2 - 2 feet high. How about with
the cantaloupe? Can I plant one basil or cilantro plant in the same row as
the cantaloupe? I would probably plant the cantaloupe plants 2 feet apart,
and a basil plant in between. Good or bad idea?

One more unrelated question, I wanted to plant shallots but I saw on the
bags of shallots that they should have been planted in March or April. It's
now June--can I still plant them? I can't remember what zone I'm in, but
I'm in Manitoba, Canada so I assume I'm the same zone as North Dakota.

Thanks for any and all advice.

rona

--
"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and they will
**** upon your computer."
--Bruce Graham

On Sat, 7 Jun 2003 18:58:05 -0500, "Rona Yuthasastrakosol"
wrote:

I am just about to plant some cantaloupe and tomato plants. The tomato
plants will be in large containers, one to a container, and the cantaloupe
will be in the ground. I read that cantaloupes are especially susceptible
to aphids, and I think I once read that tomatoes are, too. I know that I
can plant basil near my tomatoes and that will help keep away pests.

I've never had an aphid problem with tomatoes. I've had
them with other things, but never tomatoes.

This doesn't guarantee that you won't have the problem...but
I have gardened in about six different locations, and never
had a problem with aphids on tomatoes.

In fact, I've rarely had a problem with aphids at all:
nothing that a blast with water from the hose wouldn't cure.
I've always thought they were more a greenhouse problem than
an outdoor-plant problem.


Can I
do the same with the cantaloupe? How about using coriander/cilantro in
addition to the basil? If I plant basil and/or cilantro near my tomatoes
and cantaloupe, how close can they be? For example, can I put one basil and
one cilantro plant with each tomato container? The containers are round and
are about 1-1 1/2 feet in diameter and 1 1/2 - 2 feet high.

I'd plant cilantro with the tomato - it's very fast growing
and it will be finished by the time the tomato becomes
large. The basil wants full sun, and it's fairly
slow-growing - the tomato would get large and shade it out,
probably.

I don't think either of these will make the slightest
difference to aphids, but then I don't think your tomatoes
are going to be bothered by aphids anyway... (I don't know
about cantaloupe, haven't grown it in many years.)

How about with
the cantaloupe? Can I plant one basil or cilantro plant in the same row as
the cantaloupe? I would probably plant the cantaloupe plants 2 feet apart,
and a basil plant in between. Good or bad idea?

Sounds fine to me but, again, I don't think it would make
any difference to aphids.

I've found that it's very seldom necessary to solve problems
that you don't even know you'll have...occasionally, yes,
but not often.

Pat

I am just about to plant some cantaloupe and tomato plants. The tomato
plants will be in large containers, one to a container, and the cantaloupe
will be in the ground. I read that cantaloupes are especially susceptible
to aphids, and I think I once read that tomatoes are, too. I know that I
can plant basil near my tomatoes and that will help keep away pests. Can I
do the same with the cantaloupe? How about using coriander/cilantro in
addition to the basil? If I plant basil and/or cilantro near my tomatoes
and cantaloupe, how close can they be? For example, can I put one basil and
one cilantro plant with each tomato container? The containers are round and
are about 1-1 1/2 feet in diameter and 1 1/2 - 2 feet high. How about with
the cantaloupe? Can I plant one basil or cilantro plant in the same row as
the cantaloupe? I would probably plant the cantaloupe plants 2 feet apart,
and a basil plant in between. Good or bad idea?

One more unrelated question, I wanted to plant shallots but I saw on the
bags of shallots that they should have been planted in March or April. It's
now June--can I still plant them? I can't remember what zone I'm in, but
I'm in Manitoba, Canada so I assume I'm the same zone as North Dakota.

Thanks for any and all advice.

rona

Never had any luck with basil and cilantro repelling any insects, Basil in
partcicular does grow well with tomatoes tho. Aphids have never been a problem
for me on either tomatoes or cantaloupes, but then I have always been in the
south where aphids are a cool weather problem. Only two major insect problems
over some 60 years with tomatoes, Thrips, which carry the spotted wilt virus
and red spidermites which can do a number on ypur plants without carrying
anything. Cantaloupes, the striped cucumber beetle is the adversary. Wilts,
blights and other fungal/viral diseases are a much greater threat than insects
in my case,

Pat Meadows wrote:
On Sat, 7 Jun 2003 18:58:05 -0500, "Rona Yuthasastrakosol"
wrote:


I am just about to plant some cantaloupe and tomato plants. The tomato
plants will be in large containers, one to a container, and the cantaloupe
will be in the ground. I read that cantaloupes are especially susceptible
to aphids, and I think I once read that tomatoes are, too. I know that I
can plant basil near my tomatoes and that will help keep away pests.


I've never had an aphid problem with tomatoes. I've had
them with other things, but never tomatoes.

This doesn't guarantee that you won't have the problem...but
I have gardened in about six different locations, and never
had a problem with aphids on tomatoes.

In fact, I've rarely had a problem with aphids at all:
nothing that a blast with water from the hose wouldn't cure.
I've always thought they were more a greenhouse problem than
an outdoor-plant problem.
[snip]

Same here. Never even seen any aphids on tomatoes. They do seem to like
my young eggplant seedlings and I have to use a soap spray on those a
couple times before the ladybugs show up. Once the ladybugs are on the
scene, not an aphid to be found. If you don't have any native ladybugs,
you can buy them to release in your garden. It's not the adult ladybugs
that do the job, although they eat aphids too, it's the ladybug larva
which are the voracious aphid eaters. Yellow sticky traps help too.
Aphids are irresistible drawn to yellow and get stuck in the glue.

My big aphid problem is on an English Ivy in a hanging basket when I
bring it in for the winter. No ladybugs indoors in the winter. I have to
give it a soap spray about once a month.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
Cicero

Xref: kermit rec.gardens.edible:56772

On Sat, 7 Jun 2003 18:58:05 -0500, "Rona Yuthasastrakosol"
wrote:

I am just about to plant some cantaloupe and tomato plants.
I read that cantaloupes are especially susceptible
to aphids, and I think I once read that tomatoes are, too. I know that I
can plant basil near my tomatoes and that will help keep away pests.

A few points on this:

- I have used Basil plants successfully in a greenhouse and believe
that they are thought to be good for deterring aphids. Of course I
can't say that I would have been affected if I hadn't used them....

- Some people recommend using Garlic as a companion plant for
Tomatoes. Apparently, they garlic doesn't seem to benefit, but the
tomatoes are better for having the garlic there (not pests, just
general vigour). I haven't tried this but hey, it's one more
ingredient sorted for your Salsa....

- The usual companion plants for combatting aphids are French
Marigolds and Limanthes. I think this is because of their attraction
for Ladybugs.

One other person suggested buying Ladybugs to breed & disperse. I did
this a few weeks back but have not been successful at keeping the
eggs/larvae alive.

Colin
-----
Replace the obvious with Bigfoot

I know that I
can plant basil near my tomatoes and that will help keep away pests.


The slug babies just finished of the last of my Basil today! So much for that
idea!
I just bought some sluggo today, so I might try the basil again next week.

PS. leave lots of room for very long vines on your cataloupes.

Jack

"Pat Meadows" wrote in message
...
lots of useful info snipped

Sounds fine to me but, again, I don't think it would make
any difference to aphids.

I've found that it's very seldom necessary to solve problems
that you don't even know you'll have...occasionally, yes,
but not often.

Pat

True, but as a first time tomato-mother, I was feeling a bit protective of
my babies :-). I have a bit of a light green thumb (I can grow things, but
I lose interest quickly and then they die when I forget to water them--hence
the light green) so I wanted to be proactive. I ended up planting the
tomatoes, basil and cilantro in separate containers. The cantaloupe has not
yet been planted, but will hopefully be in the ground by the weekend.
Thanks for the tips!

rona

"FarmerDill" wrote in message
...

Never had any luck with basil and cilantro repelling any insects, Basil in
partcicular does grow well with tomatoes tho. Aphids have never been a
problem
for me on either tomatoes or cantaloupes, but then I have always been in
the
south where aphids are a cool weather problem. Only two major insect
problems
over some 60 years with tomatoes, Thrips, which carry the spotted wilt
virus
and red spidermites which can do a number on ypur plants without carrying
anything. Cantaloupes, the striped cucumber beetle is the adversary.
Wilts,
blights and other fungal/viral diseases are a much greater threat than
insects
in my case,



Thrips? Red spidermites? Striped cucumber beetle? I'm just going to
pretend I didn't read any of that, so I won't worry about them =:-o~! I
tend to be a worrywart about everything and I really wanted to protect my
babies from harm! What you don't know won't hurt you!

rona

"Jack1000" wrote in message
...

The slug babies just finished of the last of my Basil today! So much for
that
idea!
I just bought some sluggo today, so I might try the basil again next week.


Slug babies!?!?!?!? Say it isn't so!!! Then again, I don't think we have a
slug problem in Manitoba, since it's usually quite dry here.

PS. leave lots of room for very long vines on your cataloupes.

Jack

Thanks for the reminder! I had initially thought I might be able to plant
them in planters (can you tell I'm a gardening neophyte?) but have been told
otherwise. They'll be the only thing in the ground, though, so there will
be plenty of room for them to grow (I only have two plants, and they were
the last two in stock!).

rona

"Colin Malsingh" wrote in message
...

- I have used Basil plants successfully in a greenhouse and believe
that they are thought to be good for deterring aphids. Of course I
can't say that I would have been affected if I hadn't used them....

- Some people recommend using Garlic as a companion plant for
Tomatoes. Apparently, they garlic doesn't seem to benefit, but the
tomatoes are better for having the garlic there (not pests, just
general vigour). I haven't tried this but hey, it's one more
ingredient sorted for your Salsa....


I love garlic, too! But I thought it was too late to plant it, so I didn't
bother with them. Maybe I'll just stick a few cloves in the ground just to
see what happens...

- The usual companion plants for combatting aphids are French
Marigolds and Limanthes. I think this is because of their attraction
for Ladybugs.


I'll keep that in mind for next year. We're staying away from flowers this
year, since we have no clue about them (not like we have a clue about
tomatoes, cantaloupes, and herbs, but they seemed a bit easier to manage).

One other person suggested buying Ladybugs to breed & disperse. I did
this a few weeks back but have not been successful at keeping the
eggs/larvae alive.


We do get ladybugs here, so hopefully if I ever get aphids, they'll come and
save me. One can always hope!

Thanks for the advice!

rona

Thanks for the reminder! I had initially thought I might be able to plant
them in planters (can you tell I'm a gardening neophyte?) but have been told
otherwise. They'll be the only thing in the ground, though, so there will
be plenty of room for them to grow (I only have two plants, and they were
the last two in stock!).

The first time I grew cantaloupes I had no Idea they grew on a long vine, So I
stuck them in the corners of my garden and as they grew I had no place for them
to go so I trained them along twine I strung to my fences criss crossing my
yard. It was like I had double decker garden that year. It was strange to see
the human head size cantaloupes hanging all around.

Good luck. I hope they come out sweet


Jack

In article ,
"Rona Yuthasastrakosol" wrote:

"Pat Meadows" wrote in message
...
lots of useful info snipped

Sounds fine to me but, again, I don't think it would make
any difference to aphids.

I've found that it's very seldom necessary to solve problems
that you don't even know you'll have...occasionally, yes,
but not often.

Pat

True, but as a first time tomato-mother, I was feeling a bit protective of
my babies :-). I have a bit of a light green thumb (I can grow things, but
I lose interest quickly and then they die when I forget to water them--hence
the light green) so I wanted to be proactive. I ended up planting the
tomatoes, basil and cilantro in separate containers. The cantaloupe has not
yet been planted, but will hopefully be in the ground by the weekend.
Thanks for the tips!

rona


I agree with Pat; I usually find that some other thing ends up happening
that I hadn't even thought about. I've never seen aphids be a problem
to tomatoes, but had a *serious* problem with aphids on my Swiss chard
and corn last summer. It was nasty and disgusting (but didn't stop me
from shucking and eating the corn; the aphids were in between the layers
of husk but luckily never made it in to the kernels). I finally chopped
down the chard since I just couldn't figure out what else to do and the
leaves were so misshapen that blasts of water weren't effective.

The "problem" I have with the tomatoes is the darn squirrels take bites
out of them about a day before I'm ready to pick 'em! People ask me why
I have a dozen or so tomato plants all over the garden - between the
squirrels above, and the gophers sucking them down holes from below, I
have to plant more than I need just to break even.

It's all one big experiment!

karen
zone 8