Are your crops happy bed-fellows?

Did you have resounding success last year with certain crops without doing anything 'special'? Did others fail, but you didn't know why?

Companion planting could be the answer. Plants have always lived side by side; and sometimes they have benefited from this partnership. Sometimes it hasn't worked out quite so well.
Companion planting involves growing a combination of plants that are of mutual benefit. Some have obvious benefits - growing carrots next to members of the allium family (onions, leeks, garlic etc) confuses and deters both the onion and the carrot root fly because the plants are so strongly scented. Herbs also have their uses - tarragon repels pests and is said to improve the flavour of most vegetables.

Here is a brief guide to companion planting - wherever possible, 'bad matches' should be planted as far away from each other as is feasible within your raised bed.

Beans
Love: Squash, sweetcorn, cucumbers, potatoes (dwarf beans only), celery, rosemary, sage, tarragon
Hate: Onions, leeks, garlic, chives

Broccoli / Calabrese
Love: Chamomile, peppermint*, dill, sage, rosemary, chives, tarragon
Hate: Strawberries, tomatoes, climbing beans

Cabbages / Kale
Love: Celery, onions, mint*, nasturtiums, dill, rosemary, oregano, chives, chamomile, sage, thyme
Hate: Strawberries, tomatoes, climbing beans

Carrots
Love: Lettuces, radishes, onions, tomatoes, garlic, leeks, chives, sage, tarragon
Hate: Dill

Cucumbers
Love: Sweetcorn, beans, garlic, nasturtiums, oregano, chamomile, tarragon
Hate: Sage

Fennel
Love: Tarragon
Hate: Coriander

Garlic
Love: Carrots, onions, tomatoes, tarragon
Hate: Beans

Onions, Leeks, Spring Onions
Love: Tomatoes, carrots, chamomile, tarragon
Hate: Beans

Peas
Love: Beans, carrots, celery, chicory, sweetcorn, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, radishes, spinach, turnips, parsley, rosemary, tarragon
Hate: Onions, chives, garlic, leeks

Peppers
Love: Basil, oregano, tarragon, peas

Potatoes
Love: Dwarf beans, brassicas, coriander, oregano
Hate: Rosemary, tomatoes

Pumpkins and Squash
Love: Sweetcorn, beans, cucumbers, oregano, tarragon
Hate: Sage

Radishes
Love: Peas, cucumbers, tarragon

Tomatoes
Love: Onions, basil, mint, parsley, petunias, French marigolds, chives, oregano
Hate: Potatoes, sweetcorn, kohlrabi, dill

*If you are growing mint, please grow it in a submerged pot in your bed, unless you fancy a raised bed full of rampant mint!

Sources:
Alys Fowler, The Edible Garden (BBC Books)
Dave and Andy Hamilton, The Self Sufficient-ish Bible (Hodder and Stoughton)
Brenda Little, Companion Planting (New Holland)

Seedlings are available.....

Yes, our wonderful polytunnel group have been working their fingers to the bone to provide us all with fantastic, very cheap seedlings which are now fully hardened-off and ready for planting in beds.

There's something for every gardener, from chicory to chard, cabbage to coriander.

Suggested donations are:

25p per individual plant in pot
50p per three-in-a-pot

Plants are available on Wednesdays and Sundays between 2 and 3pm; or you can pay a member of the polytunnel group or the committee if you see us - we're often around!

Bored children this Spring Break?

Many thanks to Ann Scott for emailing us details of this brilliant website from The Woodland Trust aimed at children of all ages:

http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/

Eagle-eyed youngsters will notice a myriad of changes in the garden now that Spring has finally arrived. The trees are becoming green, seedlings are starting to emerge (come and see my turnip seedlings in bed B9, under the plastic, if you've nothing in your own bed at the moment), there are mini-beasts everywhere and there is frog-spawn in the bog garden pond! So come along and spot things that grow, things that creep, things that wiggle and things that fly! Don't forget you can record your detective work in the folder in the potting shed too!

Woodland Trust Nature Detectives

Your garden needs YOU this Sunday!

We will be planting our soft fruit area on Sunday 10th April at 2 pm and need as many volunteers as possible, please! 

There is a brilliant selection of fruit to be planted up:  raspberries (110), blackcurrants (10), redcurrants (6), a couple of blackerries, tayberry and a loganberry.  

Please wear wellies or sturdy footwear and gloves - there are gloves available in the tool shed if you don't have your own.

Refreshments (and maybe even a biscuit!) will be provided! Look forward to seeing you there.....