The Rural Voice, 1992-05, Page 261
RURAL LIVING
PLOTTING AGAINST THE BUGS
Glorious May. I believe all my
yearnings for spring are ready to ex-
plode by the time May arrives. The
first warm day finds me in a fevered
burst of energy dancing around the
garden. Scratching around, uncover-
ing secret spots where I planted trea-
sures the fall before; peeking under
leaf piles and poking carefully under
low hanging lilac branches to see
what has come through the still cold
earth to greet the warm sun and my
searching eyes.
While the flower garden is warm-
ing up and taking care of itself I turn
to the vegetable patch. It keeps me
from disturbing too much in the per-
ennial garden and possible breaking
off some late bulb shoots. By the
first of May you can have the vege-
table garden tilled and be plotting out
your rows or plots. Last year was
one of the first years that I got some
seeds in early. Lettuce, snowpeas
and swiss chard all appreciate being
planted early to take advantage of
those cool days. Once the heat of
mid-June hits the plants don't seem
to do as well.
I read as many gardening articles
and blurbs about organic gardening
as I car. and try to practise as many
tips as I remember or can find time to
implement. A lot of the tips you hear
about take only moments but I never
remember to implement them until
the damage is done.
One year I planted all our toma-
toes, pepper plants and a few cabbage
plants a little early in the season.
They looked glorious standing in
their lovely rows, so neat, so full
of promise, just an indicator of how
great the year's crop was going to be.
Early the next morning, before
anyone was awake, I took a slow
walk out to the garden to admire the
new plants and savour the look of the
orderly garden. I almost wept when
my eyes, searching for those lovely
shoots, saw nothing! Upon closer
inspection there were only little
stubby green stalks were my summer
promises had stood. Cut worms or
over zealous birds or possibly a
raiding groundhog. Who ever did
this had some nerve!
Back to the planning board. This
time the new plants were protected
with can collars and survived to
produce a bountiful harvest. You use
a three inch collar around the young
plants extended one inch into the
ground to foil the cutworms. Perfect
for the job are toilet paper or paper
towel rolls or cut off the top and
bottom from a quart size milk carton
and cut the remainder into three
collars. If you use plastic containers
or tin cans you can then re -use them
next year.
Some of us have to see the proof
of what we read before we actually
implement new ideas. Aphids were
feasting on my roses. I had some
chives to relocate so why not by the
roses. 1 had read that chives are good
companions for roses and last
summer they proved just what good
friends they can be. The roses, with
their protective green guards, did far
better than the roses at the opposite
end of the flower garden. So you can
see what will be shuffled around in
the garden this year.
Back to the vegetable garden. We
have not had any real problems in the
garden with bugs aside from those
little cut worms. Our garden is
medium size, 10 x 20, and we rotate
the rows where possible. Last year I
switched the potato end with the to-
mato end and found out later what a
poor idea that was. The tomatoes
were small and few in numbers.
Unless they are diseased, tomatoes
like to stay where they are. They are
heavy feeders and enjoy lots of com-
post and deep waterings from the
bottom. We mulch the whole garden
heavily with straw through the
season. This cuts down on the te-
dious job of pulling weeds and every
spring the tiller chews its way swiftly
through rich black soil that not that
long ago was poor in humus and very
stoney.
Old fashioned vegetable garden
designs included herbs and aromatic
plants in the border for a very good
reason. Healthy plants are able to
repel most diseases and will go on to
prosper when protected by
companions like garlic, marigolds,
nasturtiums or chives.
Companion plants assist another
plant in the control of a disease or of
an insect pest. Marigolds, aster,
chrysanthemums, cosmos and
coreopsis are among the flowers
whose scent is repellent to assorted
insects. Most aromatic herbs also
achieve this highly desireable effect.
Among these are basil, anise,
coriander, rosemary and sage. Of
course there are some plants when
planted together distress each
together. Here are two lists you
might find useful when plotting out
your garden. Happy planning.
Incompatible plants:
Pole beans and beets or kohlrabi
Red and black raspberries
Tomatoes and fennel or kohlrabi
Compatible plants:
Beets and onions
Cabbage and beans
Carrots and peas
Celeriac and leeks
Celery and bush beans or leeks
Corn and peas
Cucumber and bush or pole beans
Early potatoes and corn, beans or
horseradish
Kohlrabi and beets
Leeks and beans
Onions and beans
Potatoes and corn
Radishes between rows of lettuce
Tomatoes and parsley or basil
Turnips and peas.0
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger, in
addition to working in advertising
production for The Rural Voice,
raises two children, and is a skilled
cook and gardener.
22 THE RURAL VOICE