2Hands Urban Garden

Companion Planting

Companion planting is a technique that is used to put plants which are beneficial to one another near each other in the soil.  Some plants make good neighbors! Companion planting helps create biodiversity, which is important for organic gardening!  Below is some information that I have used when planting in my veggie/herb gardens. The book I got this info from is awesome, full of good information.  It contains a full A-Z list of foods, with a detailed profile on each listed food including recommendations for spacing, harvesting, companion planting and much more. 

 

The Gardeners A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food; by Tanya L.K. Denckla

This information was posted by 2Hands member, Erin Mapes

 

 

 * Brassica family includes: broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, radish, swedes, turnips, mustard 

Vegetable	Companion Plants	Incompatible Plants
Cucumber	Beans, cabbage, eggplant, kale, melon, peas, sunflower, tomato	anise, basil, marjoram, potato, quack grass, rosemary, sage, strong herbs, summer savory
Eggplant	Peppers, all beans	None
Lettuce	Beets, Brassica family*(accept broccoli), carrot, cucumber, onion family(leeks, garlic, chives), pole lima bean, strawberry
Onion	Lettuce, pepper, spinach, strawberry, tomato	Beans, asparagus, peas, sage
Peas	Beans, coriander(cilantro), corn, radish, spinach,	Garlic, onion, potato
Pepper	Basil, carrots, eggplant, onion, parsley, tomato	Fennel, kohlrabi
Radish	Cucumber, lettuce, squash, sweet potato, Brassica family*
Snap Beans (bush and pole varieties) Bush variety Pole variety	Carrot, swiss chard, corn, cucumber, eggplant, peas, radish, strawberry  Beet, Brassica family*	Basil, fennel, garlic, gladiolus, onion family(garlic, leeks, chives) Beet, Brassica family*
Squash	Celeriac, celery, corn, melon	Potato, pumpkin(only due to crosspollination possibilities)
Tomato	Brassicas*, carrot, celery, chive, cucumber, marigold, nasturtium, onion, pea, pepper	Corn, dill, fennel, kohlrabi, potato, walnut
Herbs	Compatible Plants	Incompatible Plants
Basil	Pepper, tomato	Cucumber, rue, snap beans
Cilantro	Caraway, eggplant, fruit trees, potato, tomato
Dill	Brassicas*, fruit trees	Carrot, fennel, tomato
Marjoram		Cucumber
Thyme	Brassicas*, eggplant, strawberry, tomato	Cucumber

Prioritize Your Purchased Produce!

PESTICIDES

In PRODUCE

Environmental Working Group’s

DIRTY DOZEN

Buy These Organic (Dirty Dozen) Peaches Apples Sweet Bell Peppers Celery Nectarines Strawberries Cherries Lettuce Grapes (Imported) Pears Spinach Potatoes

Lowest in Pesticides Onions Avocado Sweet Corn (Frozen) Pineapples Mango Sweet Peas (Frozen) Asparagus Kiwi Bananas Cabbage Broccoli Eggplant

BEST

Don’t see your favorites? Get the full results at www.foodnews.org

& support EWG research with an online gift.

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?

There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small

doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people,

especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood

when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic

effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some

cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to

pesticides whenever possible.

What’s the Difference?

An EWG simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low

pesticide diets shows that people can lower their pesticide exposure

by almost 90 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated

fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead. Eating

the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a person to

about 14 pesticides per day, on average. Eating the 12 least contaminated

will expose a person to less than 2 pesticides per day. Less dramatic

comparisons will produce less dramatic reductions, but without doubt

using the Guide provides people with a way to make choices that lower

pesticide exposure in the diet.

Will Washing and Peeling Help?

Nearly all of the data used to create these lists already considers how

people typically wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are

washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and rinsing

fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate

them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often

go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet,

wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure

to potentially harmful chemicals.

How Was This Guide Developed?

The produce ranking was developed by analysts at the not-for-profit

Environmental Working Group (EWG) based on the results of nearly

51,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department

of Agriculture and the

U.S.

Food and Drug Administration between

2000 and 2005. A detailed description of the criteria used in developing

the rankings as well as a full list of fresh fruits and vegetables that have

been tested is available at www.foodnews.org.

GET YOUR OWN GUIDE

Download a copy or get more information:

http://www.foodnews.org

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative

Works 3.0

United States

License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.

org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300,

San Francisco

,

California

,

94105

,

USA

.

Everyone should have their own copy of these lists!  I have used the dozen as a purchasing guide myself for the past few years!  Prioritize your purchased produce and even better grow your own!

I copied this info from www.foodnews.org.  Check out this site for more details on research methods, ratings of pesticide residue found in the 45 tested foods and to get yourself a printable pdf copy!

This information was provided by:

Two Hands Member, Erin Mapes

Vegetable Tips

Beans
Beans used primarily as dried beans are many and varied. Many can be used green, but dry well for easy storage. In the small garden, growing dry beans is somewhat impractical; since the amount of space required to raise a large enough quantity for storage is great. Many types of dry beans may be purchased in supermarkets at a very low cost, so it may be more worthwhile to grow higher-value crops in the limited space. However, if you have a very large garden area and a desire to sit on the front porch rocking away and shelling beans in the fall, they are worth a try.

I got this info from an online source which supports my thoughts nevertheless I will be getting in organic black turtle dry beans. This is one of the tastiest dry beans and a super food high in protein, a great food for vegans, foodies, and health conscience folks.

Besides that, a good crop to help out the nitrogen and circulation in the garden. due to the above comments I will not be bringing in any other dry beans. I found out for bulk dry beans you could get them for the same price as me, so check out high mowing organic seeds. You will, however, be able to get the heirloom seeds from them soon to be in the Shoppe @ 25% discount. Otherwise less the shipping for non-members. (Trust me on this; I did my research on seed companies and most of them sell seeds they didn’t grow and neither are they able to tract exactly were thy were grown. Seed selling is big business. For quality seeds make sure you use a seed company that grows there own seed, organic even better, this will assure you are eating food free of gmo (genetically modified organisms) http://www.saynotogmos.org/ if unsure what all the hype is on gmo check this site out.
Did I mention you can go on line elizabethanna.net order your seeds, and then you can pick them up?

Potatoes
If your soil is normal to sandy, work in some gypsum and Epsom salts and organic matter (potatoes don't need great soil) before planting, then set the tubers 3 or 4 inches deep and about a foot apart. (If your soil is heavier, plant more shallowly and rely on mulch rather than soil for coverage.) Potato tubers should be planted in early spring (mid march for us), at the same time you can sow your green peas. If a late frost threatens, just toss a few inches of straw or other mulch over the young plants, and chances are they'll be fine. When the shoots emerge, you may want to sow some bush beans alongside the young plants -- they'll keep the bugs down! Basil and Summer Savory are also fine companions that keep insects at bay -- I usually just wait to see which Potatoes didn't sprout, and fill in the gaps with these helpful herbs! (Of course, Marigold, friend to all vegetables for its ability to destroy more non-beneficial nematodes than commercial repellents, is always a beautiful choice too!) And marigolds are a great flower petal to spice up soups and salads, so pretty on tomato dishes.

What should I grow?

1. What you love.


2. What is easy-covered in class, go on line for notes


3. What the markets desires-next class- to be announced

I am planting peas this week; the garlic is already in the ground,
And starting tomato seeds by seed, a fun variety.
Beets- if think you don't like beets try growing your own! The greens are great for the blood, young women a must
Radishes are so fast from seed to feed- little kids dig this, really if they can yank food from the earth they will chomp it down.

Short variety carrots are best for new gardens due to need for fine soil depth. When planting carrots radishes, most roots plants, they will need to be thinned I will cover in class, plant as package says for now!
Leaf lettuces that endure the cold will go in soon, but in February be ready to Cover. I do carry some heat tolerant varieties as well too plant later.
Last farmers market tomatoes, fingerlings potatoes, and baby summer squash, micro greens flew out if here.

Miscellaneous Tips

Here are some things to keep in mind when starting an organic garden:

• Good soil maintains a balance of plant matter, animal matter and minerals with a healthy population of fauna and flora, such as earthworms and miccorhizal fungi.


• Different crops add to and take from the soil different nutrients. Because of this, certified organic farmers cannot monocrop. Monocropping is the growing of the same crop in the same plot year after year.


• To maintain the health of your soil, consider rotating your crops to different plots every year. In winter, it is good to plant a cover crop of legumes, which have nitrogen fixing roots. Dry beans and peas, rye grass, and clover and vetch are common cover crops.


• Using chemicals to feed plants depletes the nutrients in soil, kills earth worms and benifaical miroorganisiums The soil does not have to have organic matter in it for plants to grow, and the roots of plants do not have to grow deeply because the food is supplied by chemicals in the upper level of the soil.


• Raised beds allow for deeper organic matter. You can use regular lumber to build raised beds. The boards will eventually deteriorate, but it will take several years if not longer.


• You can also use an alfalfa bale to make a raised bed. Simply hollow out the middle of the bale and fill it with compost. This makes a great planter for potatoes.


• Alfalfa hay also makes a wonderful mulch for vegetable beds. Be sure to use alfalfa and not coastal, as there is usally harmful chemicals.


• Lasagna planting is another method of improving soil. You start with a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard and add compostables on top of that, keeping it moist. This is the way to go if you don't have the strenght of help it requires to dig our an area.


• James recommends a drip irrigation system because it's 75% more efficient than surface sprinkler systems and also it avoids wetting foliage which invites fungal infections. He uses a company called Netafim irrigation products.


• At a local water meeting James learned that when the reservoirs fall to 75% of capacity, we are allowed to water 2 times per week. When they fall to 65% we can water 1 time per week. When they fall to 45% we are not allowed to water at all.