Well, let's see. I try to practice the intercropping method in my garden as much as I can. THis year, I will be interplanting tomatoes with basil. I have observed that in my garden the plants interplanted with basil have less of a problem from tomato hornworms. This year I am going to try a variation of the three sisters method. I will plant corn in groups of three or four, sow some winter squash and Queen Anne's pocket melon around the corn, and then a few weeks later sow some field peas at the base of the corn to grow up it. I hope I will have some success with this. Around the winter and summer squash I will also plant some borage. Borage has a reputatuion for attracting bees for pollination. I know it attracts bees like crazy; I had a few plants two years ago. I guess you could plant it around just about anything you wanted to though. I will sow some clover, sweet clover to be exact, about five weeks after I set out my cabbages. In other words, I'll be sowing clover seeds sometime soon. I'll till under the clover this fall. Hmmm.... I think thats it. I have some zinnias, calendula, marigolds, and nasturtiums that I will scatter around. I hope this has been helpful.

Aleopold

It has! I'd forgotten about borage. Its reportedly wonderful as its flowers are about the same height as tomato flowers, therefore easily transitioning bees. I have been looking for dutch white clover seed to no avail but have not yet made the trip to the large garden store. I want to plant it in all the lawn holes and low spots.

Well, it's not Dutch but I did buy New Zealand white clover from Territorial Seed Company.

If and when I get my hands on white clover seed, I'm going to sell half of it on the street for 10 times the price.

What are y'all OG's interplanting with your cantaloupes?

Hi - I also find basil is a happy companion to many plants & a great bee magnet when it flowers.

I have garlic chives & Egyptian onions interplanted all around my garden - peppers seem to like it & the basil as well.1 thing I've noticed, tho, is that the old saw about peas/beans not doing well near onions/alliums is true in my garden too.

My whole garden is pretty much interplanted - no rows anywhere = )

FWIW, Pinetree Gardens has white clover seed......

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinetree Cover Crops

I was going to say that, too, Carolb -- I'm interplanting tomatoes and beans and peppers and melons and marigolds and basil and corn and zucchini and zinnias and...

do you plant in rows? do you interplant with in the rows, if so? like within a row of bush beans, or greens? I do get it though and have and plan to scatter marigolds and alyssum and verbena, etc.

Yesterday I set out broccoli with dill.

I know nothing about what's supposed to work well together and not, but my sweet potatoes have formed a nice green mat beneath the basil and cubanelle peppers. They all seem happy together.

I hope this thread keeps going. I'm especially looking for new ideas of how to interplant with vining vegetables. As I get more into heat-tolerant vegetables--yard long beans, winged beans, cucuzzi, etc.--it seems that I have vines everywhere and I'm constantly constructing bamboo trellises. The vines are so big though I think I'd need to interplant with bananas or papayas or something. I'd think they'd probably smother anything smaller.

Well, we've always put a row of marigolds around our tomatoes, and this year, we also experimented with interplanting onions and basil. My tomatoes are growing like weeds and flowering all over the place, but I don't know if that's due to weather or the intercropping.

Brassicas (broccoli, kale, cabbage, etc) are always a tough group to interplant. Anybody had luck finding companions for them?

I'm only trying it for the first time this year, but I read to interplant bee balm and basil with tomatoes. And with cucumbers and squash, plant radish and let it go to seed. It protects against squash beetles.
K.

I have onions and garlic every where and they seem to prevent slug dammage. corn also seems to have no slug damage when intercropped with beet rows. I have squash and corn mixed. My garden is based on itercropping so I mix it up all the time.
Relay planting is good too. I planted 3 row of greens early this spring, before they were done even I planted 2 rows of tomatoes between. The green are done now and the tomatoes get the bed to take over with 2 rows of onions and 1 row of broccolli planted on the south facing rows. i just keep mixing it up. But will plant from now on to fight slugs. The biggest problem in my garden.

I have not tried this yet, but I am going to try planting my tomatoes near the mammoth sunflowers, the vines should climb the Extremely sturdy sunflowers with aplomb. my OG almanac recommends it. I am also going to do the same with my snap peas. the book also recommends pumpins and corn, so that is what I did. we shall see.

I just ran out and bought radish seeds to plant with my zukes. I HATE those revolting root vine borers. I planted rosie o'day alyssum and cilantro with the bush beans, read to do it in an old book. Planted saved marigold seed everywhere but it never came up. It was 4 years old. Never did get a hold of borage.

Keep an eye on the borage, it can selfseed prolifically. I like to let some grow near the strawberries.
This year I'm planting onions between the strawberry rows in one patch, and bush beans between them in another.
Also carrots and leeks. Beets and basil. Lettuce/arugula/spinach between the asparagus.
Flax along the outer row of potatoes. Very fond of flax blue, and they are said to make good companions to potatoes. The seeds are cheap and readily available.
Garlic throughout the garden.
I stick leftover onion sets around perennials.

***Brassicas (broccoli, kale, cabbage, etc) are always a tough group to interplant. Anybody had luck finding companions for them?***

Yup! I interplanted lettuce and swiss chard in between my cole crops. This kept weeds out and the brocolli and brussel sprouts shaded the lettuce to some extent later.

Just for tying up, I planted peppers all around my tomato rings (five foot home made ones).

I plant radishes around the zucchini and cucumbers, and let them go to seed, supposedly repels squash vine borer and cumcumber beetle. I have French dwarf marigolds all around the perimeter of my vegetable for general insect control and rabbits. Basil is interplanted with the peppers, and borage, dill, chives, and mint are in pots placed next to the vegetable beds, supposed to attract pollinators. Nearby I planted flowers with small blossoms, which is also supposed to be an invitation to beneficial predator insects. My vegetable beds are mixed so that peppers, eggplants, squash and tomatoes are not totally planted in separate blocks.

Does this accomplish anything? I do get insects and diseases on the plants, but maybe fewer attacks and more protection than I would have without all of this. I think I have more bees, and more insect eating birds seem to visit my garden. Anyway, it is fun to do it, read about it, look at it and enjoy it.

This year we have been focusing on renovating a shrub border, so the veggie garden has taken a back seat. We also had such a bad grass weed in the veggie area that digging was only worsening, that we mulched the whole thing over for the whole season to try to smother it. So we only have a few tomato containers and one long veggie bed planted.

Aleopold...I tried borage two years in a row and didn't have much luck growing it. I think it got attacked by some insect or other problem and barely got bigger than 4 inches high and had to be pulled by the end of June. I wonder if it could be my soil? I have loamy clay that has a ph of 6.4. What are you growing it in, and do you do anything special for it?

Carolb...I too planted basil around the tomatoes. I never let them flower though as they stop growing and don't taste as good after flowering do they?

Glad2garden..I would have thought it was too hot to be putting broccoli out. Are you using a special variety?

Castorp...on constructing the bamboo trellis, how do you get the veggies to climb it? I have tried bamboo tripods this year for a few annual vines...morning glory, black eyed susan, love in a puff....and nothing is having an easy time growing up the bamboo. I think it is too thick for the twiners, which I don't understand as I have seen it done.

mrphyl...I have tried the usual combinations ..marigolds, etc but nothing ever keeps the white cabbage moths away in my experience.

madorley...I usually do alyssum too, just didn't get around to it this year.

mid_tn_mama....can you share how you make your tomato cages? What do you use? I am using the largest store bought tomato cage with a wooden stake. I use the smaller tomato cages for peppers and zuchini and eggplants as I find that by the time they have veggies all over them, they get quite heavy.

This year, I have just stuck a few seedlings of lots of things in my veggie bed around the tomatoes, zuchini, eggplant and pepper. Annual flowers in the corner of the bed, a basil, oregano, chamomile, cosmos, zinnia, morning glory on the tomato cage, a small coleus on the shady side, and some scallions. NOT recommending any of those..lol. There is no interplanting connection that I am aware of. I just often have a few seedlings of something I have no place for and stick it in with the veggies. Last year I started cup and saucer and foxglove from seed and put a few extra in the veggie bed and this year they came back and are now blooming in with the tomatoes. Looks nice, but haven't noticed it drawing any large amounts of bees or anything.

Adam

I found this year...by accident that putting my cabbage and head lettuce next to my strawberry is working very well....
I had put in a second teir for my strawberries and had extra seeds and acattered them in ther to fill the space till the strawberries sent out new shoots...
I have my green bean plants under and between my tomato plants...and always plant hot peppers in iwth non hot peppers...for bug control....
I am trying three froms of tomato planting thisyear...one the usual..tying them with jute to poles..I have a trelis fence of levels of string that I am weaving some plants through...and I have planted a hedge along the back fence of my yard...I really hope this one works well...I am hoping for an all volunteer hedge nest year...this year is half volunteer cherry and baby sugars transplanted...and half started seeds of the heirloom yellow pear
I usually keep my squash to one end and outside border of my garden..cause the vinse get so handsyLOL with everything..this year I may have over interplanted to many varieties together...but well see what I end up with...the foliage is amazing so far this year...
this is how my main veggie garde is set up this year..
hot peppers along one side with bell peppers inter spersed inbetwen them
early I had spincach leaf lettuce next...did very well.. I had radish and beets in next but had very poor fruit wonderful greens though...truned under lettuce and planted speialty and heirloom peppers and tomatos... next is beans was and pruple and interplanted larger tomatos...nest a half row again of peppers hot and bell and then trelis with peas interplanted with cherry tomato...next corn( awesome show this year..over ten foot tall) then onions and garlic( not a good show..I am going to a raised bed next year) then carrots...so so show..planted small herritage..taste good great foliage... then eggplant ( awesome show) then all vines... inbetween the onion and eggplant wher I had my carrots I have gone back in and planted slow hot a bell peppers that came up late....
I do better with my parsley and basil and fennel and chamomile in containers...I put my rosemary and oregano and lavander and sage in with flower beds.... and put mint in with everything...hahah...actually my mint and roses love each other...
and I will put a tomato plant anywhere I doggone feel like it...LOL I love the smell of tomato plants
I also have moss around my strawberries and them seem to get along fine and dandy...looks really nice too....
thought I was gonna have an aphid problem this year early....but no sign of it now....
AND( hope this doesnt gross any one out) we found that since adding a rescue dog to our family...the squirrles dont raid the yard as much...but the bunnies are profuse this year and I have been worrying about the low growing fruits on the veggie plants....wel this dog sheds profusely...so we are saving the brushings and scattering them around the parimeter of the veggie garden and see if it deters the bunnies....
I always over plant so I can share..but they get rudely induldgent of them selves taking bites outta everything instead of just grabbing one fruit and eating it...LOL...
goodluck this year all....I am looking forward to a great veggie season....
Is any one else going to the herritage festival at bakers creek in august this year ( 14th and 15th)?

I haven't made any but am using some from my FIL that he made with welded wire (like for fencing). They are three or four feet in diameter and five or six feet tall. You ahve to have a roll of fencing, strong hands and a wire cutter.

We made a pvc hoophouse too like this with welded wire fencing over it and no internal supports:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.westsidegardener.com/howto/images/hoophouse/framed2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.westsidegardener.com/howto/hoophouse.html&h=266&w=368&sz=43&tbnid=RUzS530q-x0J:&tbnh=85&tbnw=118&hl=en&start=7&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpvc%2Bhoophouse%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en%26sa%3DN

I have one herb or another and one flower or another planted with veggies in all my raised beds. They look great and are happy.

I planted lettuce under trellis that have melons or squash growing up them. They shade the lettuce. I made the trellis out of curly willow branches that I pruned from my tree. They really look great & natural.

I enjoy companion planting VERY much, and like jsfink, I think it's fun! This year I planted Dutch white Clover in my small fields. I did a test last year, liked the results and bought about - oh, I can't remember exactly - but seems like about 10 or so pounds from our local feed and seed. (It's much cheaper in bulk!) After it germinated, I planted corn, beans and bush squash in rows or blocks, leaving a row of clover between each one. I have been mowing it, and that works well. After it blooms, I may till it in, or just leave it until next spring. It will give my fields much needed organic matter.

I have 27 beds in which I employ a great deal of companion planting... some on purpose and some accidental. I had lots of borage self-sown from last year. I planted my tomatoes with them and find that the borage are so tall and sturdy, they offer support to my sprawling tomatoes, besides bringing in hoards of bees! (I plan on sowing borage next year with squash and cukes to bring in the pollinators!)

I love planting dill with coles as long as it's a short variety that will do well under row covers.

I plant sunflowers with my cukes so they can climb them. It is a pretty combination.

I tried beets with onions with very poor results - the beets didn't form roots - I think because the onions out-performed and out-competed them.

I tried Tomatillos with Pepper (because I had nowhere else to put them). Bad combo! Tomatillos overshadowed them quickly.

I planted snow peas with carrots, which seemed very beneficial to both. The peas produced longer because their roots were shaded and cooled by the carrot tops, but it was challenging to harvest all the snow peas hidden amoung the foliage, which caused the production to slow somewhat.

Besides those few scenarios, I use herbs and flowers throughout the garden: Nasturtium, chamomile, cilantro/coriander, basil, parsley, oregano, thyme...

I love to read about everyone's trials and successes.

Lisa

corn/cucumbers
corn/lettuce
grapes/climbing roses
clematis/climbing roses
saffron crocus/spring flowering bulbs

hyssop everywhere everywhere

-Celeste

I am a long time practitioner of intercropping. I basically start by planting(or reserving space for) 1 long growing plant in every square foot of my garden. For this purpose I count as being "long growing" Tomato, potato, sunchokes, strawberries, squash, and rhubarb.

Then, I plant a row of bush beans in the center of each bed. Then I plant 4 medium season plants around each long grower. Medium season would be coles, green onions, peas, head lettuce.

Then, I plant fast crops in between all the others. Radishes, leaf lettuce.

Once everything is sprouting nicely I will fill in any open spots with pinches of carrot seeds or I will plant onions that will over winter in the garden.

For example: One of my beds(2.5 x 5 ft) has 10 strawberry plants, 2 rhubarb plants, a double row of green beans-60 plants, 20 garlic plants, 120 carrots.

If a weed does find enough room to grow I pull it out and drop a few carrot seeds in the hole!

This is Fabulous!!!!! I'm printing it out! can you send a photo? I am the original poster of three years ago, and am now in VA with a small com garden plot. Its great to hear from you!

Vicinsea, do you plant the tomatoes in square foots next to each other, or do you plant say two squares with strawberries in-between?

I'm new to gardening, so in my wide, raised beds the only things I've inter-planted are my squash and nasturtiums in a zigzag pattern. Everything else is on it's lonely. I've got strawberries, bush beans, pole beans, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce going so far.

Had a very successful tomato and pepper bed interplanted with marigold and basil. I also toss buckwheat in when planting seedlings, bought in the local bulk food section. Living in the Arizona desert even planting in partial shade the buckwheat grows up and temporarily shades the transplants before dieing back in time for the mature plants. Buckwheat is a fantastic summer cover crop that when it breaks down adds mulch and phosphorus. I use it whenever possible. I also use clovers and vetches through the winter months and onions and garlic throughout. Also found that pumpkins did a great job of shading early spring planted carrots. Grew right over the top of them and simply shared the space.