Gardening Blog

Allotment Diary

May 7, 2008: companion planting

Terry's first beans of the season

Our allotment blogger, Terry Walton, wants to know if any gardeners out there have had success with companion planting

Well one week of this new month of May already gone and so far it has been a gardeners' delight. The warm days and more importantly the warm nights have made even the most reluctant gardeners have the impetus to make a start.

The allotments are full of plot holders beavering away digging, sowing and even weeding already. Those happy days are here again (feels like you could burst into song), and as the work continues there is buzz of excitement in the air as the banter takes place across the plots. The only drawback is that time passes so quickly when you are having fun and the hours drift away. It is only the rumble in the tummy that signifies how much time has passed. Now I really know the meaning of the ‘hunger gap’.

Even although there are plenty of coffee breaks and an endless supply of hot drinks I have not yet resorted to bringing sandwiches and spending all day on the allotment.

Have you noticed this year an increase in the number of bumble bees there are about? On the allotment over the last month I have seen a significant number of these aerodynamically challenged insects buzzing about. To me they are the gardeners’ best asset and they seem to be able to pollinate any plant no matter how difficult the entry to the pollen sacs. It must be a mixture of their size and long tongue that does it! My one hope is that they hang around until the runner beans are in full flower but they have enough work for the present with my broad beans.

I have sown my first row of another of my favourite vegetables, the garden pea. This is not one of the most productive crops for the amount of ground used but to me it is a must have on the plot. They have the advantage that the seeds are easy to sow because of their size and can be sown easily at the correct depth and spacing. They are however, in the seed stage, another great favourite of birds, slugs and rodents. After sowing I cover mine with a very fine mesh net that keeps these attackers at bay until they are big enough to look after themselves. Then it is off with the net and a few twigs pushed in around them to help them grow upwards.

What a satisfying feeling when you pop open your first pod to reveal six or seven green ‘pearls’ and pop them into your mouth. This is to me the taste of true garden flavour. My wife complains that too many of these beauties are devoured before any reach the kitchen.

While transplanting my marigold seedlings I got to thinking about the benefits of companion planting. I use a large amount of marigolds in my greenhouse border among my tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to ward off the evil whitefly. This works fine for me in the confines of the enclosed greenhouse.

However on the open plot I reserve my judgement and have never found it a successful barrier to the various pests that strike various crops. I have planted carrots among onions, garlic and chives but the big nosed carrot fly still seems to get through.

I believe that the breezy outside conditions carry away the smell and the preying insects can spot their quarry among the decoys.

I do not deny that some people have successful outcomes using these methods and it only works for me in the confines of the greenhouse.

Let me know what has been successful for you and I am always willing to learn new techniques in my quest for organic excellence.

More from Terry
More gardening
My life on a hillside allotment
The Hillside Allotment by Terry Walton

Terry Walton is a regular contributor to The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 and has written a book called, My Life on a Hillside Allotment, published by Bantam Press. The book is available from Amazon

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