Creator1

I garden and today we began germinating, which for me is the most exciting part. This is where all the groundwork is laid for success (hopefully) or failure (probably). I try to do companion planting, which is where you try to use various plants’ ecology to your benefit. Essentially, each part of the garden does its part to take care of the other plants.

One of the most common companion gardens is the three sisters garden. Which is based on a Native American story about three sisters who were lost in the desert. They were taken in by a tribe and taken care of, in return they grew three companion plants and used this to return the spirit of giving they had been shown by the village.

This garden consists of Corn, beans, and squash. Essentially, the corn grows straight up, and has these sort of hollow shoots. When it rains, these shoots fill up with excess water, gravity does a great job at ensuring the water flows down and out to the ground. Wrapped around the stalks of the corn are pole beans. These pole beans wrap from stalk to stalk, forming a strong mesh that ensures the corn stays strong as a whole. Additionally, beans climb up and down and around these stalks, making room to produce, produce. Lastly, on the ground, soaking up all that excess water the corn is saving, is the squash. Squash take large amounts of water compared to the other two vegetables we mentioned, which makes their position so strategic. They soak up this water and use it to produce large flat leaves and spread out covering a large portion of the ground. While the squash benefits from the corns’ water hording habits, it also provides protection from invading pests, and disease.

here are some other companion plants that I will be planting this year;

Potatoes and garlic- Really, this is more a garlic thing than a potato thing, but planting garlic with potatoes (and as a barrier plant) will make them much less susceptible to aphids.

Nasturium flowers next to my cabbage and broccoli to lure away caterpillars.

Dill – I’m planting dill to attract ladybugs to rid my garden of pests. Make sure you keep these away from your carrots!

Mint – will be using this to deter pests, but I will be sure to grow this in a pot only and keep away from other plants as it can be very aggressive.

Basil with tomatoes and peppers – Basil has been known to improve the growth and flavor of these two. Basil also helps attract bees which helps with pollination!