Beans and Onions: Too Close for Comfort?

[Jim Carlock]

Perhaps. But upon re-reading it it seems to suggest using aromatic crops, perhaps as a border crop. Why it suggests potatoes as aromatic I don't know. Do potatoes produce smelly flowers or leaves?

This is what I'm getting out of the book...

All members of the cabbage family are heavy feeders and like a rich soil (rich meaning manured). They also crave calcium (lime). Potatoes on the other hand dislike limed soil. And while the book states that the fragrance of potatoes (and other aromatic crops) helps, it doesn't state to plant potatoes next to cabbage. (In fact, it states under the "Potatoes" section, that potatoes dislike lime). It appears as one of those overlooked things while she wrote the book (easy enough to do).

That's the way I'm taking it. So perhaps planting potatoes around but not next to cabbages works well, to keep whatever causes clubroot from getting to the cabbage.

Great catch! Thanks for pointing that out.

Jim Carlock Post replies to the group.

[Glenna Rose]

Actually, Jim, some varieties do have fragrant flowers. Having always thought of veggie blossoms as generic regarding smell, it was quite a surprise to realize that the blues have a very fragrant flower.

But perhaps the reasons some use potatoes (???) as a border might be that the critters think it's too lowly a food for them to eat, like royalty did centuries ago. (The story of the potato in Europe is rather interesting.) You do realize, of course, that I'm joking about the critters, don't you? Seriously though, some of the "different" varieties of potatoes I've grown can compete with many flowers for the pleasant fragrance. Never thought of them like that at all until one spring in the garden, I located the source of that wonderful aroma - a blue potato plant in bloom.

However, I wouldn't think that even the most aromic (sp) of them would repel anything.

Glenna

[Jim Carlock]

It's amazing how sometimes one's senses become sensitive. I'm feeling chills coming up from the depths of planet earth. Seriously. Very weird. Things should start getting warmer but that's not what I feel. Perhaps it's the ice melting in Iceland. Saint Petersburg FL is a small peninsula surrounded by water on the western coast of FL. I take my shoes and socks off and I feel temperature sensations coming through the floors of the house. In fact, I can keep my socks on and my calves yet feel chills. And as I sit hear typing I'm feeling more chills resonating up through my spine.

Thanks, I was just thinking, yeah, potatoes do have a definite odor to them, even without any flowers or leaves.

Flies supposedly like some smells (rotting smells) and dislike other smells (fresh leafy basil). I don't really know. Just trying to pay more attention to it all.

I'm going to plant some more basil tomorrow.

Too many bugs showing up.

Thanks for commenting on the smells of the potato blossoms. Blue potatoes you say? Hmmm. I've got some purple grass. ;-)

Jim Carlock Post replies to the group.

[simy1]

Yes, there are ways to accomodate potatoes in your garden, but really very few possible companions. Potatoes will like semi-composted wood chips mixed with compost, high organic matter, well drained, high Ca, but low pH. I suppose garlic is one of the few veggies that will thrive in similar conditions. The other veggies I know that accept some acidity (tomatoes, squash family) are all no-nos.

The interesting part is that you can make life comfortable for your veggies, simply by knowing their preferred pH, and major nutrient requirements, using only wood ash (alkaline), manure (basic fertilizer), wood chips (acidity). Wood chips might be 0-0.2-0.2, pH about 4. to 5.5 depending on how advanced their composting is. Manure is 2-1-2, dry weight, and about neutral. Ash is 0-2-7, pH 10.4. Of course I use also leaves (neutral, low nutrients) and composted kitchen scraps (high nutrients, similar to manure).

The best gardening books will usually tell you pH range and nutrient requirements for each veggie. You then proceed to group them according to their fertilization requirements, and then within the bed you might decide to interplant them according to companion preferences.