This episode discusses Companion Plants for your Vegetable Garden to control pests, encourage beneficial insects and pollinators, and increase yields. We share an overview of Three Sisters Gardening, the origin of companion plantings from Native Americans.
We wrap up with a reflection on when the podcast logo switched from Miss Ellie to now Jolee and how life changes like the seasons and endings bring new beginnings.
I hope you enjoy the story.
Related Stories
Making Friends with Companion Plants – Blog Post
Ep 28. Three Sisters, No-Till Gardening
Three Sisters Gardening & Jolee’s Emergency – Blog Post
Ep16. One World, Robins of Renewal
One World / Memorial Day and Robins of Renewal in the Garden – Blog Posts
Ep 01. About Marigolds, About Mary Stone
The Legend of Marigolds – Blog Post
Helpful Links:
The Old Farmer’s Almanac link to Planting, Growing, and Caring for Nasturtium Flowers
And Companion Planting Guide for Vegetables.
Better Homes & Gardens article on How to Plant and Grow Sweet Alyssum
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I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. Thanks so much for tuning in.
You can Follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone.
Episode web page —Garden Dilemmas Podcast Page
Thank you for sharing the Garden of Life,
Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
AskMaryStone.com
More about the Podcast and Column:
Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.
It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.
Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
Direct Link to Podcast Page
Ep 158. Making Friends with Companion Plants
Sat, Apr 27, 2024 12:30PM • 9:26
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
plants, story, companions, garden, pollinators, life, edible, tomatoes, aphids, vegetable garden, grow, hope, attract, peepers, carrots, wrote, sweet, dilemmas, new beginnings, mary stone, garden, nature, inspiration
SPEAKERS
Mary Stone
Mary Stone 00:00
Hello fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens, it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.
Mary Stone 00:25
Hello there, it's Mary Stone on the screen porch. And it is turning into dusk time, and the peepers are peeping, and I hope you can endure that beautiful sound, which is getting a bit noisy. But I have a very crazy day tomorrow. And so, I need to sit with you this evening. And I hope you don't mind. I want to thank those of you that reached back after last week's chat about the Benefits of Plantain and Dandelion Weeds, which I put in parentheses because they are both edible and beneficial for pollinators. I have to smile because I've been working in my vegetable garden getting ready for this season of growth. And I pulled out all these, what I call weeds. And I used the funny app you have on your phone where you can take a photo, click on the button about identifying a plant and I found that most of them are edible too. So that is an expertise called foraging that I am not one to know that much about, but I am going to learn about it. That's one of the benefits of being together each week.
Mary Stone 01:28
My singing buddy and dear friend Ken Roberts wrote -- too bad about the owl. Maybe she will lay another egg. I think sometimes they do that if they lose one. And you are right Ken because we had the whole renewal of Robin’s nest. Remember that in Episode 16? One World Robins of Renewal. That is probably one of my favorite episodes, I'm going to put a link in the show notes for you to tune into it if you haven't done so already. Of course, I shared the Episode with Koleen Garland, who was kind enough to submit her story about making Dandelion Wine, the memory of that as a child. She wrote, I am honored to be part of your podcast. I hope it is received well by your listeners. And I hope it gave you even a small respite from the responsibility of coming up with a whole new weekly post. I admire you so much for doing that. It was so sweet Koleen again, what a great story. And I invite those of you tuning in to share your garden stories and life experiences and it can be about nature and things you observe because I think there's nothing more exciting than more of us sharing our stories and learning and growing together. Don't you agree?
Mary Stone 02:41
So, Koleen is right, I am running short on time. It is the spring madness mode. Just like nature with the peepers making their chorus with all the scurrying around of nesting. I've been watching so many amazing things including perhaps a Cardinals nest being formed and one of my shrubs near the house. I've been watching the activity. And it's very exciting to see and I hope you are working on the goals for your next season of growth, which is not only about gardening, it's about our personal selves. I want to reflect onto a story I wrote about companion plants in the garden, and it starts like this.
Mary Stone 03:19
Hello fellow readers and listeners. Many of you reached back with kind wishes and shared stories about your furry companions. Your kindness means so much. Jolee recovered quickly from her foot full of porcupine quills. And as it turns out Maria, the selfless hiker that stepped in to help, found me on the Garden Dilemmas Facebook page, and we became pen pals. It's magical how life brings people together and pets into our lives. Much like the perfect companions for vegetable gardens. So, as you can tell the story is a few years old. It was when Jolee came into our lives and stepped on a porcupine in her first few weeks being here, but it had a happy ending. I met Maria and Jolee and I have become the greatest companions.
Mary Stone 04:09
Last week we spoke about Three Sisters Gardening stemming from the Native Americans that found corn, pole beans and squash when grown in groupings help support and nourish each other while maximizing space and crop yields. Other benefits of planting different crops together are controlling pests and encouraging beneficial insects and pollinators. But the topic of companion planting is broad reaching, and it can be complicated and contradictory. For example, Wikipedia has a chart saying that carrots help tomatoes grow better, but tomatoes may stomp the carrots growth. Then beans give carrots nitrogen, which they need more than most veggies. So are they saying that beans will counteract the stunting effects of tomatoes? That is very confusing. And some say rosemary, sage, and radishes repel carrot flies, and others say they don't make good companions.
Mary Stone 05:05
It's true. The more you research, the more confusing companion planting can be. However, the central theme is that it's best to plant vegetables in groupings rather than rows and one crop. To follow are a few short and straightforward combos that will add color to your vegetable patch.
Mary Stone 05:22
Some companions serve as a trap crop to lure insects away from others, such as planting radishes around tomatoes to attract flea beetles, who prefer them over tomato plants. Flea beetles damage your seedlings, especially eggplants and tomatoes, stunting their growth and lessening their yields. Then there's Nasturtiums that draws pests like aphids, keeping them from attacking your veggies. They also deter squash bugs, so planting them among your zucchini or other summer squash is wise. Plus, they attract pollinators, including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. Nasturtiums flowers seed pods and leaves are edible and delightful in salads with their peppery mustard like taste. They're easy to grow with bold yellow and orange blooms and saucer shaped foliage, adding color and texture to your vegetable garden. There are both trailing varieties and Bush types, also called dwarf, and I will link to the story in the show notes that will give you links to those beauties.
Mary Stone 06:23
Most know about marigolds, which are deer resistant and attract butterflies and hummingbirds. They're often companion plants have vegetable gardens to control insects and nematodes. They're also used as a spice in cooking. Another floral beauty is sweet alyssum which helps control aphids when planted around lettuce. Both are cool-season plants, and you will adore the sweet fragments of the dainty white clusters. They also make a great companion to Swiss chard. Like nasturtiums they are an annual here, but they readily self-seed and are edible. While they come in pink and purple the white flowering sweet alyssum attracts the most pollinators and beneficial bugs like parasitic wasps that gather aphids to feed their young. Combos, such as tomatoes planted with basil not only tastes great together to help deter thrips which can also wreak havoc on peppers.
Mary Stone 07:18
So at the end of the story, I reflect on now something that just, boy, I don't even know what to say. Because when I wrote about the traumatic experience of Jolee stepping on a porcupine, I had asked readers and listeners their thoughts about changing the column photo to Jolee and me instead of Ellie and me. So that's been three years ago now.
Mary Stone 07:42
And I wrote another note from last week. I asked reader thoughts on whether it's time to change the column photo, Monika kindly wrote, you'll know when it's time. Perhaps I'll grab a photo of Jolee and me once the garden comes to life. It's a season of new beginnings, while cherishing the joys of the past. And yes, indeed, I still, as I sit here on the screen porch, Jolee has been in front of me. I'm not sure if you heard her - she's been galivanting around to all the sounds that are going on in the woods. And to the left of me as a photograph of Miss Ellie Mae with this huge smile sitting on a rock at the Top of the World, what I call Camelback Ski Mountain, Big Pocono State Park and life goes on seasons change, we grow. Yes, things die. But there are new beginnings with endings come beginnings. And with that comes joy.
Mary Stone 08:38
So, thanks for coming by. I always enjoy our time together and I can't thank you enough for doing so each week, sitting with me and your stories and your emails and just participating in our community that's growing as we are growing in the garden of life. Thanks so much. See you next time.
Mary Stone 08:56
You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden Dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.