Inter & Companion Planting the Edible Garden
Trending now is a new generation of back-to-the-land
gardeners reviving and reinventing a very old concept in gardening:
interplanting home-grown vegetables and herbs with flowers to make the most of
urban spaces. Area gardeners are creating spaces where families can retreat,
eat, educate, and entertain. Thunder Bay is becoming a city where back lanes
are grazing grounds, where neighbours plant seeds, ideas grow, and biodiversity
is the aesthetic consideration of our backyard gardens.
Filled with healthy plants that provide both beauty and abundance,
there is an ever increasing interest in edible gardens, whether in a backyard,
a community plot, or on a balcony. No matter the size – edibles are everywhere.
People are growing tomatoes and peppers upside down from balconies, or on them:
herbs and peas in pots combined with favourite annual petunias, calibrachoa,
edible pansies and marigolds. This is inspiring; the possibilities are endless.
Companion
planting in the eco-friendly garden understands the symbiotic relationships
between the plant species, and with pollinators. The ways in which opposites
attract in the garden can be used to establish beneficial habitats: sun lovers
provide shade for those who require it, nitrogen fixing plants can be paired
with heavy feeders to balance soil nutrient, and deep rooted plants together
with those with shallow roots can work together in the same space.
Attracting
pollinators and beneficial insects by planting their favourites, which in the Thunder
Bay area include beautiful, hardy deciduous shrubs such as hydrangeas or
weigela, perennial cornflowers (bachelor buttons) and coneflowers (echinacea ),
monarda (bee balm), sedum, and veronica – these and other plants with high nectar
concentrations will draw in helpful hummingbirds , bees, and bats. Herb plants,
such as coriander, dill, and parsley not only complete a kitchen garden, but
are all the preference of beneficial bugs.
Prevention
as pest control can be easily achieved both in containers or garden beds. Interplanted
sage, calendula (pot marigold), mint, and geraniums repel pests through summer,
while migratory birds are lured by late fruit bearing shrubs and trees. Here, a
pesky mosquito problem can be taken care of with the inclusion of a bat house
in the garden. Bats are active members of the garden ecosystem and also work to
pollinate fruits trees, tender annuals, and disperse seeds.
Understanding
soil composition is a good preventative step, and helps to simplify the process
of soil building. By topping up and amending we improve soil nutritional quality;
plants grow strong, more resistant to harmful insects, and produce more flowers
and fruit. Supplements such as bone and blood meal, NPK compounds (nitrogen,
phosphorus, and potassium), and by replenishing mulch will provide the balanced
nutrients for plants to bloom profusely, and produce large yields. Choosing appropriate
plant type fertilizers saves valuable energy and improves the efficiency of the
garden.
Our Boreal
climate, with its many shifts in temperature, allows us optimal chances to
observe seasonal blooms: through our long (often confusing) spring time
weather, tolerating the heat of July becoming lush in August lasting through
October. By designing environments which are diverse, stable, and have the
resilience of natural ecosystems, our garden spaces will thrive and require
less intervention.
printed in:
May 2012 Home & Garden flyer
distributed by the Chronicle Journal
Sunday, 13 May 2012
