by Sharon Maddison

Created on: July 01, 2008

Organically pest controlling and soil enhancing a beginners guide to companion planting!

Aphids, carrot fly, nematodes and molluscs (slugs and snails to you or I) the blight of gardeners the world over, however if you have pets or small children certain forms of pest control such as slug pellets may be impractical, or downright dangerous, and with the advent of all things organic and raised awareness of the chemicals in our diets, I have managed to scrape together some information regarding the organic control of garden pests, by the strategic usage of other plants. Far from being purely for those erring on the flower child side of things, companion planting not only provides protection for the duration of the plants - meaning it requires minimal attention once everything's up and away other than the shaping you might ordinarily do, but also beautifies what can be utilitarian looking vegetable patches, beds or containers (the French refer to these types of garden as a potagers).

Companion planting works in one of 4 ways;

1) Repelling pests, for example: Mexican Marigolds roots have insecticidal effects on nematodes (tiny tiny worm creatures that eat your root veg) and seem to have repellent effects on certian types of slugs (keeled, but don't ask me to get close enough to ID them!).

2) By luring in carnivorous insects that eat the pests, such as ladybirds, hoverfly and lacewing- plants such as calendula, borage, echium, morning glory and nasturtium are usually good at bringing in the big guys.

3) You can use them sacrificially as decoys for your prized crop, for example, Mustard plants can be grown both for themselves and to protect crops such as cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, and turnips. Nasturtiums near radishes, cabbage, squashes, pumpkins and fruit trees will not only brighten up your patch, bed or container, but will see off a whole host of nasties, such as aphids and various squash and pumpkin beetles, and if they survive long enough, the flowers are even edible themselves!

4) It may be that the nutrients the companion plant takes from the soil are those that the plant it is a companion to doesn't use much of, and the nutrients it releases into the soil may be those that its neighbour needs, thereby creating a nice nutrient exchange instead of the 2 plants vying for the same resources and both suffering- happens even over water and sunlight- you will notice most vegetables that need a lot of water are incompatible with others who are equally heavily water

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