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Sunlight — Some plants are sun worshippers and others "relish" respite from the heat (or at least tolerate shade). A clever gardener takes advantage of these differences. Tall crops, such as peas and corn, for instance, can shade lettuce and spinach from the midday sun, extending the harvest season of these cool-weather crops. Consider challenging your students to figure out how to provide shade during a specific time of day (mid-afternoon, for instance.) They'll have to observe where the sun hits the garden at different times so they can decide where to put shade-loving crops in relation to taller ones. Here are some other plants that can tolerate partial shade: alyssum, arugula, beets, broccoli, chard, carrots, cabbage, cukes, lemon balm, lettuce, mint, peas, parsley, parsnips, radish, and spinach.
Here are some ways you can take advantage of these differences: Plant nutrient-loving cabbage with lighter-feeding onions or garlic, or grow dill (a light-feeder that attracts beneficial insects) in your broccoli bed. Consider growing clover, a legume, between corn rows (once corn is at least six inches high) and turning in the clover that fall or the following spring. You might set up a rotation in which you grow corn in a bed one year and follow it with beans or peas the following year to help restore nutrients used by the corn.
Since plants in the same family tend to have similar needs and
can be affected by common diseases and insect pests, it's wise
to rotate crops so plant families are not grown in the same bed
year after year (see Plant
Family Detectives). Other Factors — Some plants make good partners because their life cycles, growth rates, or temperature preferences differ. For instance, you can plant fast-growing, cool-weather crops like lettuce, radishes, or cilantro early in the season alongside slower-growing, heat-loving tomatoes. You'll be able to harvest your early crops quickly, making room for the tomatoes to take over.
It has long been suspected that some plants repel pests, other plants either lure them away from precious crops or merely confuse them, and many plants (particularly herbs and flowers) attract and shelter "beneficial" insects and birds that prey on pests. Pests tend to flourish in a simple environment (with few plant types). The more diversity and variety of plants in your garden the greater will be the number of beneficial organisms that keep a check on the populations of pests. If you want to keep the good guys coming, you'll need to grow a variety of plants with different bloom times. Some of the following advice on pest-protection partners is based on tradition and other tips are based on scientific research. Students may want to try some companions and observe what happens, or set up "fair tests." Don't be overwhelmed by the possibilities. Consider simplifying your plant decisions by surrounding your garden with an entire border of brilliant and aromatic plants that invite pest predators and parasites and tell would-be plant marauders to scram! 1.
Attracting Beneficial Insects (and others) 2.
Luring Away Pests 3.
Growing Plants That Offend! Gardeners have long held that some plants are repugnant to certain pests. (Some of these claims are even supported by scientific studies!) Lots of pests find their way to favorite crops through their sense of smell. It follows that we can also use smelly plants to defend plants! Herbs often exude strong fragrances (from their essential oils) that are believed to repel insects or confound them by disguising the smell of neighboring plants. These aromatic plants include tansy, mint, basil, thyme, and santolina. Gardeners often tuck garlic and onions between other vegetables for the same purpose. Here are some plants thought to repel specific pests:
Marigolds are one of the flowers most commonly considered to control pests, particularly root-feeding nematodes in soil. Consider sharing with your students that scientists have found that marigolds can, in fact, help control these pests. However, there is a gap between common practice — planting a marigold between tomato plants, for instance — and scientific evidence. Research has shown that the flowers need to be planted very thickly each year and turned into the soil at the end of each growing season in order to affect the nematodes. (This presents another great opportunity for student investigations.) But don't be deterred from growing them; even small numbers of marigolds add vibrance to a garden and may attract helpful insects. Creating
Artistic Edible Landscapes
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Contents
Pg.
1: Growing Creating
Artistic Edible Design
an Edible Landscape Companion
Resources The
Three Sisters: Native American Gardening  We've
just published this new book filled with actual school garden plans,
stories of how students participated in the design process, how-to
information, and resources.
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Nutrients
and water — Gardeners often try growing plants with different
rooting depths or nutrient needs as companions. All plants need
water and nutrients from the soil to survive, but they don't
all have the
same needs nor do they meet them in the same way. Corn, for instance,
is a nitrogen
hog, but carrots require much less of that nutrient. Some plants,
such as squash, have deep roots that can pull nutrients and water
from greater depths than can onions, lettuce, and other shallow-rooted
crops. (Your students may want to sacrifice some plants to investigate
root types.) A
family of crops called legumes, which includes beans, peas,
peanuts, lupine, and clover, can actually return more nitrogen
to the soil than they consume. This is because they have a symbiotic
association with a type of root bacteria that "fixes" nitrogen
from the air into a form that plants can use.
encourage
the pest-control squad by mixing the following members of
those two plant families with your vegetables: anise, dill,
caraway, fennel, yarrow, sweet cicely, zinnia, cosmos, and
marigold, or by leaving related weeds (e.g., queen Anne's
lace and wild daisies) nearby. Other small-flowered herbs
such as thyme and catnip also appeal to these garden helpers.
If you devote a section of your vegetable garden to perennial
flowers, try coneflower, aster, liatris, coreopsis, and
black-eyed Susan. Fruit-bearing trees and shrubs also offer
food and shelter to birds, many of which feed on garden
pests.
Some
gardens sport vegetables growing in neat rows and flowers
blooming in separate beds, with no consorting allowed. In
yet other landscapes, flowers, vegetables, and herbs are
inextricably mingled because, well, they look so good together!
The term edible landscape typically means integrating food
plants in ornamental settings. This can be as simple as
tucking a few lettuce plants or red chard into that flower
bed, or as complex as landscaping an entire schoolyard with
an eye toward food production, site diversity, and beauty.
In either case, cultivating visually compelling companions
can become a design exercise in which your keen observers
consider color, textures, height, and form as they decide
what to plant where. What's more, it's plain fun! Here are
some suggestions to prompt your thinking:
