Companion Planting

The below synopsis is as far as my understanding of companion planting and Permaculture. These rough explanations are no where near scratching the surface of these deep subjects.

The concept of Companion Planting is intertwined with Permaculture practices. Herbs and aromatic plants, (truly, any plant) leaches its properties into the soil and its surrounding plants. This creates a kaleidoscope of plants that either kill their surrounding plants or benefit their surrounding plants by providing them with much needed nutrients.

One idea behind permaculture is that by using companion plants to attract beneficial insects through BIRB , beneficial insect reservoir beds, we can cut down on bad bugs and pollinate much needed plants. Creating a habitat that mimics its natural surroundings encourages healthier plants, attracts native species, and keeps nature balanced.

There are so many variety of ways to plant companion plants that we have not even come close to realizing all the combinations. Last year's minor experiment with companion planting produced varied results. I realized that, when the plants were benefiting from their companion plants, they grew very large and became crowded. I also learned that cucumbers, honeydew, cantaloupe, and tomatoes require a lot of nutrients!!!! They were all beautiful green and huge one day, then a week of rain washed out all the fertilizer and nutrients from the composted soil; and they shriveled up before I could harvest any of the plants.

2014 Companion Planting Garden experiment

Individual Planting

This page is my favorite companion planting guide. You can click on the picture itself as well as zoom in.
In a nutshell, the below list is what not to plant together. This is by no means a comprehensive list. The words in uppercase are the "seeds" (so to speak) and the words in lowercase are the "plants". Example: do not plant TOMATO with cabbages. I am pointing this out because some of the lowercase words in a group may be able to be planted together no problem.

APRICOT

tomato

BEETS

climbing beans

tomato

CHIVES

beans

broad beans

bush beans

climbing beans

peas

CLIMBING BEANS

beet

chives

garlic

onions

sunflowers

GARLIC

beans

broad beans

bush beans

climbing beans

cabbage

peas

strawberries

FENNEL

beans

broad beans

coriander

lavender

tomato

GRASS

apple

apricot

cherry

fruit trees

sage

ONIONS

beans

broad beans

bush beans

Climbing Beans

peas

PARSLEY

Lettuce

PARSNIP

carrots

celery

POTATO

apple

celery

cherry

cucumber

RUE

basil

broccoli

cabbage

cauliflower

sage

SAGE

rue

cucumber

SHALLOTS

beans

peas

SILVERBEET

basil

STRAWBERRIES

broccoli

cabbage

cauliflower

SUNFLOWER

climbing beans

garlic

potatoes

TOMATO

apricots

beets

cabbages

fennel

rosemary

New Adventure

If you have not discovered from my previous posts, I am not a great writer. So hopefully, you won't have to endure many of these disjointed posts! 

There is a quote about following your passions to discover your purpose. Well.... gardening is my passion. An edible yard is my ultimate dream! Just the thought of friends, neighbors, and family tasting everything in sight makes me happy.
2014 has been a journey of discovering:

1. I can plant peas very well in NC.
2. Tomatoes are very fickle when planted outdoors. 
3. I have learned a myriad of other NC nature features, as well.

This year, we just moved to a smaller yard. I am trying to find if I have a book on how to feed a family on a quarter of an acre. Since everything is packed, I am really hoping that I have that book! Either way, we are beginning with building stone steps: not exactly plants. I plan on taking pictures of the yard's before and after. The new challenges we face with this yard are:

• smaller acreage
• less variety of organic sources for compost
• sloped landscape

I plan to come up with new compost sources by adjusting to these challenges.

• I can still use egg shells. 
• I can also use a lot of my fruits, veggies, ect kitchen scraps. 
• I plan on using our coffee grounds, epsom salt, and since this property has nothing but pine trees on it, I will have no shortage of pine needles to use as landscaping mulch. That's a plus!

I missed planting season for onions, asparagus, and such. I won't have much money as usual for buying a lot of garden soil so I think I will focus on building a successful worm farm. I am trying to convince my husband to try our hand at key hole gardening, but he's not buying it.

There are not only environmental challenges but also social challenges when it comes to our new garden. We now live in a suburban environment and I am fully aware of how some people do not appreciate the decay of nature, they wish to only visualize a vibrant, growing, living yard. With that in mind, I am trying to come up with a permacutlture yard unique to NC that encompasses all seasons. No small task, I'll admit. Lots of planning going into the next few years. I've gotta admit, as a Texas native, I find a lot of the NC plants hideous; but that is just my personal viewpoint and hope to learn to love a lot of their foliage and appreciate their native beauty.

So far, our plan is for evergreen back drop. Evergreen means the plant is green all year long. I've found  Coastal_Planting_Guide.pdf of NC native plants. Another website I'm perusing is NC Cooperative Extension

On that note, I leave you with an oldie but a goodie.

2011 Tulips from our previous yard

Garden Update

I accidentally deleted my previous post which saddens me! It is lost. Just to recap! Because we outgrew our house, we sold it along with our beloved yard. I am missing our 2 acres terribly, but am anticipating (impatiently, I might add) our new yard and house.