stronger stalks

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by zeroma

Thanks for all the infor on beneficial plants/companion plants. I've always planted French (the stinky kind) marigolds with my tomatoes. We do it at the volunteer garden too. One it brings in pollinators, looks nice, and after the first year, you never need to buy seeds again.

I have about 2 lbs of marigold seeds right now.

We had basil with some of the tomatoes, but now Rosemary will have to be added to the tomatoes as well May as well experiement.

I wonder if lavender is as good a companion plant as rosemary? Sometimes they smell similiar? Anyone know about this? I love lavender plants.

Remember Rosemary goes with Tomatoes and Basil goes with tomatoes, but rosemary and basil do NOT go together. I made that mistake before and all 3 did terrible! I prefer basil with tomatoes as a general rule of thumb and plant my rosemary generally somewhere else. But in the south Rosemary is a perennial, so in my crop rotations I sometimes come back with tomatoes and rosemary together. When that happens, that section of my tomatoes don't get basil companions.

Lavender I don't grow because it is one of the few plants that don't particularly like heavy mulches around its roots and I mulch heavy. But it is a mint, and mints are listed as companions to Brassicas. I never tried it to see if it works though. I have found over the years that sometimes companions listed in my books don't seem to work as claimed. Maybe I used them wrong? Not sure. While I know companion planting works in general, the books sometimes seem to have a few things listed that might not be exactly legit or based on real observational science? It is hard to say why. Maybe regions vary? Just that's my experience. So try the lavender as an experiment and let us know how it worked ok? Thanks in advance!

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

Ann,
As far as marigolds go, it is the Tagetes varieties that are beneficial. Calendula varieties may be called Marigolds, but they are similar in name and appearance only. What benefits they may or may not have I really don't know. But they don't have the anti nematode characteristic. Not sure what you bought with "jaguar" But either way it's a flower, so enjoy!

Thanks for this. I'll check the packs for the Latin names, but a web search shows "Jaguar" is a Burpee exclusive, and a Tagetes. I also noticed the photo of the seeds for the Calendula don't look anything like the black-and-white spears of the four I planted. I'm assured that at least three of the types I started are Tagetes and will assume these are too until I find otherwise. My plan is to see how each grows, and then probably just transplant them around the tomatoes and peppers and everything else.

Also thanks for the dill advice. I will be starting broccoli and rappini in the other raised bed, so if I do make a dill border I'll see if that helps. Might just use it with the greens as I mentioned, or pot it up separately.