Yesterday I put together a small vegetable layout plan for my raised bed garden. It’s just one of many possibilities for companion planting and it only deals with a small number of plants. This plan features tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and marigolds in a 4 foot by 8 foot bed. All of these plants are listed in various companion planting guides as being compatible with each other. The cucumber will serve as a green mulch, which reduces water loss and helps to protect the soil. The onions will do well in the smaller spaces and the marigolds will help to repel unwanted insects and pests. I may substitute squash in place of the cucumbers. You could also replace the tomatoes with peppers.
A Few Good Tomato Companion Plants:
Asparagus, Onions, Basil, Marigold, Nasturtium, Beans, Celery, Carrots, Cucumber, Peas, and Parsley.
New Uses with Old Lumber
I did some collecting yesterday in the cold drizzling rain. Some friends of my parents wanted to get rid of a pile of wood that used to be their deck. They remodeled their house a while back and hard-scaped around the pool so they didn’t…
Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Update
Yesterday evening we had storms. Heavy winds and rain knocked down sunflowers and pretty much every perennial planting over 2 feet tall that wasn’t staked up. If it could catch the wind – it did. Unfortunately our Bradford pears remained in tact – I’ve been…
Common Raised Bed Garden Questions Answered
Raised beds are one of the absolute BEST ways to grow a garden but there can be challenges to growing in raised beds. Often gardeners have questions about the best methods to grow in a raised bed. In this post I’ve taken some common raised…
My Vegetable Garden Video Update!
Since I bought my new toy (a Sony Handycam HDR-CX130) I’ve been playing around with filming my garden in different areas. I have to admit – talking to a camera by oneself while wandering around your garden is a weird sensation. I’m convinced that my…
Filling a Raised Bed Garden with Woodchips
Last year I built two new wooden raised beds for my vegetable garden. After building them I needed a way to fill them up with soil. Since I already had a pile of wood chips in the front yard from a tree trimmer I thought…
Blank Slate
It will be fun to think of what next year’s growing season will bring. The yard here is pretty much a blank slate still. I’ve done a few things, like making a garden bed or two, making a bird bath garden, and added trees but…
good post on companion planting.
You are educating me about companion planting. Are marigolds edible? A little arugula and other lettuces and there is a fabulous salad in your backyard.
gail
Looks good to me. I saw another version that is 10 x 10 with an X for walk ways. That way you have 4 different pie shaped beds easy to get to. Sure wish I knew more about companion planting. I knew some plants help others. Then there’s rotation planting. Makes my head spin.
Pierce holes in a large plastic cola bottle. Bury the bottle in the middle of your veg patch and top up the water in the bottle when needed. The plants get the water into the roots. Very successful.
I put up 3 4×8 boxes today.
What do you use to stake your tomatoes? I was planning on putting my tomatoes is separate self watering boxes.
I'll be back for more tips.
Hi Robin,
Last year I jury rigged a structure out of tomato stakes and bamboo. It held up but wasn't the best solution. Probably the best way to stake up tomatoes is to use concrete reinforcing wire or fence panels with 4" openings so that you can easily pick the fruits. Traditional tomato cages just don't cut it for indeterminant varieties!
A good use for stakes are old tension curtain rods and ripped up pantyhose. LOL the tension rods can 'grow' with the plants and re-using pantyhose works well for holding them to the 'stakes'. pantyhose are also great for holding melons such as cantaloupes up off the ground- they stretch to allow the melons to grow but keep them off the ground. also, human hair clippings around the edge of your garden will help to keep critters out- rabbits, etc.
Hope this helps someone! 🙂
Happy gardening!
Aislynn
Im about to plant my first veggie garden ever! I was interested in companion planting. I was wondering how close together the plants can be,i.e. planting carrots and onions to tomatos. My other concern is that I have to wait about a month longer to plant the tomatos due to frost. Will this be distrubing the crop I already have going. Any tips will help. Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Good questions! In general the guidelines on the seed packages work well. I try to give my tomatoes about 2 square feet each to start with. They will need pruning as you go to keep them tame. If you take a pot and turn it upside down in the bed where you want to plant the tomatoes then plant the other plants around it you should give yourself enough room to plant the tomato plant without disturbing its neighbors!