Companion Planting, Making Best Friends in the Garden

Well the last couple of days we have had sunshine and great temperatures.  Then guess what happens?.....Mother Nature drops snow on us!!

Oh well this is February in New Hampshire. If you don't like the weather wait 10 minutes. That is what the old saying says at least.  Well during this time I have started several of my seeds.  Onions, Broccoli and Cauliflower, Peppers are all happily incubating in the little window green house. 

So now that I have begun to start my little plants I am thinking about how to I lay out my garden beds?

I needed to figure out what plants would do well with the other ones? I don't want to have any wasted space in the beds and I want to have as little weeding to do as possible.  That is why this year I am using the Square Foot Gardening Method.

In order for my garden beds to be really productive I need to find out what plants do well together and which ones don't.  This is called companion planting.   Below is a great graph that explains what works and what is incompatible really well.

Hope that you can come and join us at the Patchwork Living Blogging Bee #19.

Plant	Companions	Incompatible
Asparagus	Tomato, Parsley, Basil
Beans	Most Herbs & Vegetables	Onion
Cabbage	Aromatic Herbs, Celery, Beets, Onion Family, Chamomile, Spinach, Chard	Strawberries, Tomato, Dill
Carrots	Peas, Lettuce, Onion, Sage, Tomato	Dill
Celery	Nasturtium, Onion, Cabbage, Tomato
Cucumber	Beans, Peas, Sunflower, Raddish	Aromatic Herbs, Potato
Lettuce	Carrot, Radish, Strawberry, Cucumber
Onions	Beets, Carrot, Lettuce, Cabbage	Beans, Peas
Parsley	Tomato, Asparagus
Peas	Carrots, Raddish, Turnip, Cucumber, Beans,	Onions, Potato
Potato	Beans, Cabbage, Horseraddish, Marigolds	Sunflower, Cucumber, Tomato
Raddish	Peas, Nasturtium, Lettuce, Cucumber	Hyssop
Spinach	Strawberry, Faba Bean
Tomato	Onion, Marigold, Asparagus, Carrot, Parsley, Cucumber	Cabbage, fennel, Potato
Turnip	Pea	Potato

Plant Series: Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli

Now that many of us are starting our seeds if not already seeing some little sprouts, it is time to really learn about our plants.  I have placed my first order with Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and I simply can't wait to have the shipment arrive.


Each installment of this series will teach you about a different Heirloom seed plant.  Hopefully instilling confidence in you to start your own Heirloom seeds for your garden.

Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli

Photo Credit


"(B. oleracea) An Italian heirloom that was brought to America in the 1880s, 5-8" heads and many side shoots." Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds


These two words are simply different varieties of the same kind of plant:

Calabrese-Calabrese heads are on the larger side and are green

Broccoli-produces purple or white heads and is smaller

Most times Calabrese are marketed in the supermarkets under the name Broccoli.



How to Grow:

Calabrese can be planted in Early May, under covers about three weeks earlier. It prefers full sun but will tolerate up to partial shade and still produce nicely. It does prefer a well dug, rich in nutrients soil.


Harvesting/Storing:

For the best Broccoli (all types) begin picking before the flowers start to open. By removing the main head from the plant you will encourage the side shoots to continue producing heads. Both Calabrese and Broccoli freeze really well. All you really need to do is blanch the spears in salted water for about three minutes. Then let them cool out in the room for about five to ten minutes after which you can promptly freeze them.  If you prefer to use them right away they will store in your refrigerator for about one week. 

BROCCOLI FOLKLORE

The Romans were enamored with broccoli. Pliny the Elder, an Italian naturalist and writer, 23 to 79 CE, tells us the Romans grew and enjoyed broccoli during the first century CE. The vegetable became a standard favorite in Rome where the variety called Calabrese was developed. The Calabrese is the most common variety still eaten in the United States today. Before the Calabrese variety was cultivated, most Romans were eating purple sprouting broccoli that turned green when cooked.

Roman Emperor Tiberius, 14 BCE to 37 BCE, had a son named Drusius who took his love of broccoli to excess. Excluding all other foods, he gorged on broccoli for an entire month. When his urine turned bright green and his father scolded him severely for "living precariously," Drusius finally abandoned his beloved broccoli.

Roman farmers called broccoli "the five green fingers of Jupiter".