Tomato Companion Cold Crops, Anyone ?

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

I think your plan is spot on. Your Feb and March sound like my April progression and your April sounds like my early/mid May. The stuff you're thinking of growing should do well in those temps.

JM, thanks for your support.
I have direct sown chives and parsley , directly in the garden. a month ago. Now they have sprouted and are growing. Now this has been in January, our coldest month.
per forecast , our temperature around mid Feb will be : 42F low ;;and 62F high.
Now my cold frame is ready and soon I will start lettuce and chard. Nothing to lose but a pack of seeds.

[MuddyToes]

I have 4 raised beds and a bunch of containers/grow bags. Last year I was glad I didn't plant leafy vegetables in the beds with tomatoes because I needed to spray the tomatoes...lots of fungus issues in Delaware. But I don't mind planting root crops and flowers there. Last year I planted beets and signet marigolds between tomatoes. Signet marigolds smell amazing and help repel mosquitos. I got sweet onion sets from Walmart last week and will plant those soon. I will also put in some carrots and radishes between tomatoes. The brassicas go in a different bed because I need to keep them under row cover (Too many bugs find them irresistible here). My lettuces and salad greens also go in a separate bed that I keep pretty much free of sprays/insecticides, even the organic ones.

Once the summer heat kicked in, I planted basil and yardlong beans with the tomatoes. They all got along well together. I didn't harvest the beets until fall/winter, long after I pulled up the tomato plants. I kept the basil to the edges of the box where I could minimize drift from sprays.

Now that I have so many new tomatoes to try, I'm trying to figure out where to put the chard.

Leave the radishes when they bolt. The seedpods are delicious.

[bower]

At my friend's farm, I've seen the results of different kinds of early plantings, where the tomatoes are planted in afterwards and the early crop harvested before the tomatoes get too shady.

Lettuce and spinach did fine. Carrots were an excellent choice as well.
Turnips were terrible! They planted turnips on one side and carrots on the other one year, then planted the tomatoes in before the earlies were done. The tomato plants on the turnip side were super stunted cw the carrot side. They didn't even start to catch up until all the turnips had been removed.

Dill has turned out to be a great tomato companion in their greenhouse. The dill plants aren't removed entirely but some are allowed to continue happily on among the tomatoes, they grow very tall and produce a ton of seed by season's end - plenty for harvest and enough to also self seed year after year, there is no need to make any effort at all.
My own experiments with companion planting in tomato containers in my greenhouse have not been successes, even in larger containers the tomatoes seem to get the better of everything else.

[jmsieglaff]

Originally Posted by LDiane

Leave the radishes when they bolt. The seedpods are delicious.

Thanks for the reminder! We've got about 6 jars of pickled radish pods left in the basement! I'll have to crack one open tonight!

[MuddyToes]

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

Thanks for the reminder! We've got about 6 jars of pickled radish pods left in the basement! I'll have to crack one open tonight!

I've never had radish pods, nor pickled radish pods. Tell me more. How do you go about pickling them?

[paulgrow]

Great post, great ideas

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by paulgrow

Great post, great ideas

I thank you , Paul.
Yes, there are a lot of great posts with good ideas.
I have learn some and will put those ideas to work.
Right now I am involved with a project but soon I will start seeds, both in my cold frame and directly. This way we can enjoy tasty veggies until tomatoes give us ripe fruits
As I have mentioned my Parsley, chives, cilantro have germinated (direct sown) and growing, though slowly now. The next item is lettuce to grow.

[gardeninglee]

I planted some greens in the same containers as my overwintered tomato plants. The sorrel plant did pretty well and purslane.

[Gardeneer]

I just learned about Fusion Power's " Hole Method" of germinating. I will try it the next time.
It sounds very interesting way to germinate certain seeds.
For the next 7 days we will have lows down to low 30s. So I will wait until it improves.Then the lows will be in 40s.
My chives and parsley under plastic hoop coming along slooowly.

[jmsieglaff]

Originally Posted by MuddyToes

I've never had radish pods, nor pickled radish pods. Tell me more. How do you go about pickling them?

I use the same recipe we use to make spicy pickled green beans--just substitute radish pods. Basically just use your favorite pickling recipe and there ya go!

I've never pickled them. I just nibble them in the garden, add them to salads and include them in a stir-fry.

[MuddyToes]

I see. We call them dilly beans. I will give that try. Thanks!

[Gardeneer]

COMPANION:
Yesterday I planted a 25ft row of sweet peas. I will be growing tomatoes in that tow . So b the time the tomatoes get big/tall ( 2ft +) the peas will be finished. The next companion crop will be Mesclun ( lettuce and other salad mix ). Today I started a tray of it in the cold frame. The next item will be spinach and chard. I will germinate them in the cold frame also. .