Combined And Not Combined In Growing Crops

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Plant communities in the beds

Judging by the experience of Europe, in order to increase the yields of garden crops, the use of compacted mixed plantings is widely practiced, which makes it possible to increase the yield on the plots by almost 1.5 times.

Unfortunately, as evidenced by the facts, our summer residents and gardeners have so far clearly underestimated this reserve. And this despite the fact that it practically does not require any additional financial or labor costs.

Experience shows that this method of growing garden crops is extremely simple, since it differs from the traditional one only in that crops in plantings alternate not by year, but by separate rows in one year. This creates artificial plant communities like those that exist in nature, for example, the well-known forest community of raspberries and nettles.

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Today, as evidenced by the existing experience, for almost each of the main crops one or several partner plants can be selected, which have a beneficial effect on each other, providing both physical and biochemical interactions. For example:

Good neighborhood

- for cabbage - celery, dill, lettuce;

- for a cucumber - cabbage, lettuce, radish, peas;

- for tomato - pepper, celery, onion, parsley;

- for potatoes - cabbage, onions, eggplants;

- for beets - onions, lettuce, beans;

- for carrots - onions, lettuce, tomato, peas;

- for radish - beets, carrots, pumpkin, melon.

For many years now I have successfully grown carrots and onions in dense mixed plantings, alternating their rows. At the same time, in practice, there was not a single case when carrots were affected by a carrot fly, and onions - by an onion fly. As a rule, both carrots and onions are distinguished by high quality and an increased yield, by about 30%. A roughly similar result is also achieved in the case of the carrot-garlic partnership.

A certain effect, and with significant savings in space and effort, is achieved annually in a greenhouse, where early onions, parsley and celery are grown together with tomato and pepper in a dense planting. The practice of compacting zucchini and squash with radishes, and cucumbers with dill and salad has also proven itself well. Moreover, in the first case, the radish has time to ripen, while the zucchini and squash have not yet grown much. In the second case, the best result is achieved when early ripe dill is grown, for example, the Gribovsky variety, which does not give dense greenery, is not very tall and does not shade cucumbers.

An interesting experience of the gardener M. Demyanova in the joint cultivation of early cabbage with celery, due to which the resistance of this pair to unfavorable factors in comparison with separate plantings is achieved, and celery successfully scares off cabbage butterflies. Since celery develops slowly, in the first half of summer it takes up little space and does not interfere with cabbage. At the beginning of the second half of summer, cabbage is harvested, and celery gets a large living space, due to which its weight reaches 2 kg by the time of harvest instead of the usual 1 kg per 1 m2.

At the same time, practice has revealed that with the proximity of some vegetable crops, either one-sided or mutual oppression of plants occurs, a decrease in their productivity and resistance to diseases and pests. In order for the summer resident and gardener to avoid unwanted neighbors, we will name the most characteristic of them:

Bad neighborhood

- for cabbage - tomato and beans;

- for beets - dill and mustard;

- for cucumber - potatoes and herbs;

- for potatoes - cucumber, pumpkin and celery;

- for tomato - potatoes and kohlrabi;

- for radish - hyssop;

- for onions - peas and beans.

No less useful for the summer resident and the gardener is accounting for two more factors associated with the considered compaction of various crops. Firstly, in mixed plantings, you cannot grow plants of the same species, but with different ripening periods. For example, you cannot alternate in rows or plant early cabbage along one side, and late cabbage along the other, since they are characterized by a negative influence on each other. Secondly, if the number of dressings required for vegetables growing on the same bed is the same, the crops are planted in succession, and if the number of dressings is different, then inner sides should be made across the ridges at the boundaries between different types of plants.

As practice shows, the considered reserve for increasing yields due to compacted plantings can be supplemented by an increase in the species diversity of plants on the site by overseeding to the main crops of herbs and flowers, which would provide:

- release into the habitat of phytoncidal or insecticidal substances (calendula, marigolds, nasturtium, etc.);

- attraction of pollinating insects to planting (hyssop, basil, savory, etc.);

- attraction of insects useful for planting (cumin, anise, dill, chamomile, daisies, kosmeya, zinnia, alissum, lavender, oregano, etc.).

With such an approach to planting, the plant community will increasingly approach the natural one, where there is no problem of pests, since there is a harmonious balance between different species. At the same time, most likely, the pests will not disappear, but they will not be able to multiply like an avalanche, causing considerable harm to the crops grown. For example, for several years now I have been planting marigolds and garlic in the aisles of strawberries, which reliably protect its bushes from gray rot and weevil. This increases both the quality of berries and their yield.

I believe that the proven practice of increasing the productivity of garden crops due to compacted mixed plantings deserves a wider distribution on the plots. In this case, it is imperative to take into account the need for crop rotation, which reduces the number of pests and the spread of diseases. Particular attention should be paid to crops such as potatoes, cabbage, strawberries.