Plants growing nearby have a certain interaction with each other. Some of them are very friendly with each other, and such proximity has a beneficial effect on growth and harvest. Others behave very hostilely towards their neighbors in the garden. Using knowledge about the influence of plants on each other, you can rationally plan your bed, grow a rich harvest and avoid various mistakes when growing vegetable crops.
Mixed plantings
If the garden bed is small, but in the future you want to get a large harvest of various crops, experienced gardeners do mixed plantings. This method consists of simultaneously growing several types of vegetable crops in one area according to a pre-drawn plan, taking into account their compatibility with each other. Every experienced gardener knows that to get a rich harvest, you need, first of all, fertile soil, high-quality seeds, fertilizers and daily care. But few people take into account the mutual influence of vegetables adjacent to one another.
The essence of this mutual influence is that plants release biologically active substances into the environment, and a successful selection of “neighbors” in the garden will allow you to obtain a high yield without much hassle and with a minimum of fertilizers. A striking example of this is the rule of the American Indians that has come down to us of the unsurpassed trio “peas - corn - pumpkin”. Peas rely on corn and release nitrogen into the ground, and pumpkin protects all plantings from weeds. Therefore, we can say with confidence that caring for joint plantings is a more exciting and promising activity than caring for monocultures.
The advantages of combined plantings are as follows:
- You can harvest much more than when sowing monocultures.
- The plants' need for watering is reduced.
- Weed growth is significantly reduced.
- Costs for preparatory gardening work are reduced.
- Plants in the garden are less susceptible to disease, are healthy and have an attractive appearance.
- It is possible to refuse fertilizing or significantly reduce it due to the fact that legumes release nitrogen into the soil.
- There is no need for crop rotation, the land is not depleted or impoverished.
- There is no need to use pesticides due to the fact that plants attract many birds and beneficial insects that destroy pests.
- The harvest can be obtained throughout the season by removing ripe fruits and planting new ones.
Drawing up a planting plan
Experienced amateur gardeners who use the mixed planting method claim that such proximity of vegetables even affects their taste. For example, parsley, basil and celery significantly improve the taste of tomatoes, and sunflowers planted next to cucumbers will make them especially sweet and crunchy.
When planning mixed placement of vegetable crops, you must follow some rules:
- Study the location of your own garden bed - is it a sunny or shaded area, is it protected from the winds, what is the composition of the soil, what climate zone is it in, etc.
- When choosing plant varieties, consider the climate.
- Plan the placement of crops so that taller ones do not shade those that love sunlight, and shade-loving ones end up in a darkened area.
- Combine plants with a large root system with those crops that have a superficial root system. This is done in order to provide the necessary area for feeding all crops.
- Plant plants with different ripening periods. For example, it is better to add dill, radishes, onions and lettuce to cucumbers, eggplants or zucchini.
In a mixed bed, the early predecessor crop is usually grown first, then the main crop and the partner crop. With enough experience, you can draw up a planting plan yourself, or you can use ready-made tables and planting diagrams.
What can you plant in the same bed as carrots?
To obtain an excellent harvest of carrots with mixed plantings, the best “friends” of this vegetable crop are considered to be: all types of legumes, tomatoes, green lettuce, garlic, sage and radishes.
Neighborhood with legumes and tomatoes will allow you to get very tasty and sweet carrots.
Carrots are incompatible with parsley, beets, various herbs, anise, horseradish and beets. It is also recommended to plant carrots away from apple trees, as in the end both the vegetable and the apples taste bitter.
When to plant carrots and beets in the same bed?
As mentioned above, carrots and beets in the same bed are not the best neighbors. However, if you need to simultaneously grow a crop of these crops, and at the same time use all the necessary conditions, you can achieve good results.
Carrots are a fairly cold-resistant plant and tolerate light frosts at a temperature of -4 C°. Beets must be planted at a minimum steady-state temperature of +10 C°, since when sowing seeds below this limit they will die. Therefore, carrots are sown first, leaving room for beets. You can advance the timing of planting these crops if you choose mid-season and late-ripening carrot seeds. Beets can be sown earlier, but then it is recommended to cover them with garden film. Caring for these crops is not difficult - they both love sunlight and need weeding and watering.
When to plant carrots and dill in the same bed?
Unfortunately, carrots and dill in the same bed are incompatible neighbors. Planting these crops in one area has an extremely adverse effect on carrot roots and significantly impairs its taste, size and yield.
What to plant after carrots?
To obtain a rich harvest during crop rotation, use the “roots and petioles” rule. Since root crops suck all the juices out of the soil and significantly deplete it, crops with a small root system are sown after them.
After carrots, it is best to plant nightshades (potatoes, eggplants, bell peppers and tomatoes), legumes (peas, beans, beans), onions, garlic and radishes in the garden. In areas where carrots grew, strawberries and wild strawberries will thrive for many years. Cultivation of crops after carrots such as rye, oats and mustard disinfects the soil and suppresses the development of weeds.
The best predecessors of carrots in open ground are potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, green salad and onions. According to many years of observations, carrot precursors allow the most rational distribution of nutrients in the soil, slow down the growth of weeds and repel harmful insects.
Many gardeners at the beginning of their “agricultural career” strive to grow as many vegetables as possible on their 6 acres. The enthusiasm of a novice gardener does not dry up while seedlings are purchased or grown, while the earth is dug up, and the greenery begins to take root. To be honest, we jealously monitor how our beds grow and whether they lag behind those of our neighbors. If we are successful, we are very proud of them. But sometimes no amount of enthusiasm and hard work helps to reap a decent harvest. Something is going wrong. It seems like the weather is good, and a lot of effort has been spent...
And then the neighbor, who looked in to hear the heavy sighs, explains: “Who plants peas among onions!”
Indeed, vegetables and herbs do not always get along with each other. The proximity of some increases the harvest and diseases, the proximity of others depresses them.
Take, for example, the most common vegetable - carrots. Carrots get along well next to and mixed with peas, spinach, radishes, lettuce, beets, and chard. Carrots grow well with onions, leeks or perennial onions. Neutral to radishes and turnips. But it does not tolerate dill, celery and parsley well, and does not tolerate anise nearby.
In our gardens, dill spreads by self-sowing and often lush dill branches turn green in carrot beds by the end of June. But don’t be lazy and water the dill off the carrots and immediately put it into okroshka!
Basil grows well next to beans, peppers, fennel, cucumbers, leaf and head lettuce, tomatoes, onions, corn and zucchini. It is not recommended to plant it next to marjoram and dill.
Eggplant grows well next to bush beans, peas, and peppers; it does not like proximity to cucumbers and there are quite conflicting opinions about their proximity to other nightshades. Many gardeners who have eggplants planted next to tomatoes or next to potatoes are convinced that such a neighborhood is quite successful. Other gardeners believe that eggplants are losing their harvest. But thyme is believed to have a beneficial effect on the eggplant harvest.
Beans grow well next to many crops: corn, tomatoes and cucumbers, carrots and radishes. As for potatoes, there is one feature: beans cannot be planted mixed with potatoes, but only along the edge of the potato field. In the general ridge, beans lead in terms of nutrient consumption; potatoes will receive less, primarily potassium; tubers form small ones. But beans planted along the perimeter of potato beds repel moles. Beans do not like being next to onions (all types), garlic and peas. If a good harvest of beans is important, you should plant oregano or rosemary next to them.
Grapes grow well next to radishes, radishes, bush beans, carrots, and beets. Tomatoes, cabbage, corn, onions (all types), horseradish, and soy are considered harmful to it. Regarding cabbage - white cabbage spoils the taste of grapes, while cauliflower, on the contrary, has a beneficial effect (according to Moser), just like cucumbers - not the most optimal neighbor, but definitely not harmful. In his experiments, Moser notes the beneficial effects of sorrel, yellow mustard, spinach, alfalfa, melon and other plants on grapes. The worst effect on grapes was: eggplant, potatoes, peppers, dandelion, wormwood, nettle.
Peas have a good relationship with carrots and cucumbers, zucchini and cabbage; they do not like onions, watercress, tomatoes, and garlic.
Strawberries are compatible in plantings with lettuce, beans, garlic, spinach, and grow well next to beets, onions, radishes, and parsley. It does not tolerate proximity to horseradish; joint planting of wild strawberries and wild strawberries is very doubtful.
Zucchini is good neighbors for it - peas, onions, lettuce, bush beans, spinach. It is not advisable to plant zucchini next to pumpkin, potatoes, radishes and radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and parsley.
Cabbage – it’s not difficult to find a place in the garden. Many crops are friends with cabbage: bush beans, carrots, beets, beans, celery, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes (except red cabbage), leeks, beets. You can plant greens next to cabbage: dill, onions. There are conflicting opinions regarding the compatibility of cabbage and strawberries, wild strawberries (possibly depending on the varieties and method of planting), as well as parsley.
Different types of cabbage have different attitudes towards onions; a number of agronomists believe that Chinese cabbage and onions are incompatible, but onions and broccoli make a good combination. We recommend basing it on your own observations.
Kohlrabi cabbage differs from other types of cabbage - it is planted next to peas, potatoes, radishes, asparagus, bush beans; it does not like proximity to tomatoes, horseradish and garlic.
Potatoes - grow next to a variety of crops, it is easier to list those that potatoes do not like: these are melons, legumes (except for bush beans or beans along the perimeter of the field), cucumbers and tomatoes, as well as raspberries, sunflowers, asparagus and celery.
Strawberries can be planted next to greens (dill, parsley, lettuce), onions, radishes, beets and beans. Doesn't like strawberries, cabbage and horseradish.
Watercress is a rather selective crop. It is good to plant it next to carrots, tomatoes, radishes, spinach, but not next to legumes, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, and herbs - celery, fennel, dill and parsley. As for onions, the data is contradictory; the German gardener Hubmann recommends joint planting of watercress, chives and spinach. A number of other gardeners indicate in their notes that watercress does not combine with onions, leeks or green onions.
Corn is rarely grown by gardeners, but if you are looking for a place for it in the beds, then preferably next to potatoes or peas. You can plant it next to cucumbers or tomatoes, but not next to grapes, celery and beets.
Onions are traditionally planted next to carrots. They protect each other from the most common pests: carrots repel onion flies, and onions repel carrot flies. Onions can also be planted next to melons, cucumbers, beets, and lettuce. Onions are contraindicated in proximity to beans (only leeks are friends with them), asparagus, and legumes.
Marjoram - can be planted next to any types of onions, carrots, turnips, spinach. Joint planting of marjoram with fennel and basil is undesirable.
Carrots grow best mixed with onions, next to peas; as already mentioned, they grow well next to many crops, but do not like being next to herbs (celery, parsley, anise). Sage and rosemary protect carrots from carrot flies.
Cucumbers are good to plant next to beans (bush and climbing), peas, beans, white cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, beets, lettuce, onions, basil, dill, fennel, radishes (not clear with radishes), garlic, spinach. Do not plant cucumbers next to potatoes, zucchini, turnips, leeks, watercress, or eggplants. The issue of joint planting of cucumbers and tomatoes is controversial; it should remain at the discretion of the gardener and personal experience. The same applies to the combination of carrots and cucumbers (more data on incompatibility).
Peppers can be planted next to eggplants, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, thyme and basil. Beetroot, any beans, and fennel will be bad neighbors for it. An interesting question about the compatibility of pepper and kohlrabi - some sources claim that they are incompatible, others claim that kohlrabi and sweet peppers go well together. Perhaps it depends on the type of pepper, for example, there is no data on hot pepper.
Radishes and radishes grow well alongside watercress, green onions, parsley, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, bush beans, peas and tomatoes. It is not advisable to plant radishes and radishes next to horseradish and basil.
Turnips are sweet and tasty and will grow next to legumes, watercress, marjoram, radishes, celery, and spinach. Do not plant it next to cabbage (common diseases), there is no exact data on tomatoes, but turnips are less demanding crops in terms of nutrition, tomatoes are quite demanding, so if the soil is well fertilized and nutritious, you can plant turnips next to tomatoes.
Leaf lettuce can be planted next to cabbage, onions, strawberries, dill and parsley. Does not like proximity to celery and fennel.
Beets - a favorable location for them is next to bush beans, dill, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and zucchini. Do not plant beets next to perennial onions, peppers, or climbing beans.
For a better harvest, tomatoes are planted next to basil, beans, watercress, perennial onions, carrots, radishes, radishes, lettuce, celery; you can plant cabbage next to them (except kohlrabi). But plant tomatoes away from grapes, peas, potatoes, as well as zucchini, kohlrabi, dill and fennel. The issue of planting tomatoes and cucumbers together is controversial; perhaps it depends on the planting method and varieties.
Pumpkins are often planted together with zucchini, but this is wrong, they are cross-pollinated, and as a result something average with low taste grows. Pumpkin can be planted next to beans, beans or peas. Although it is better to plant pumpkins separately somewhere on the compost heap. The main thing is that there are no plantings of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, potatoes, peppers nearby - pumpkin takes a lot of nutrients.
Lentils and beans the requirements are quite similar - in joint plantings they are friends with radishes, spinach, cucumbers, they grow well next to tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, beets, celery; Americans often practice them with cabbage (all types). Very contradictory data with onions: it is permissible to plant leeks next to lentils and beans, but all other onions (including decorative ones) are not allowed. You cannot plant garlic, fennel, or dahlia flowers next to beans and lentils. To help beans and lentils, sowing savory in the immediate vicinity will help (repels aphids). Pumpkins and zucchini have neither a positive nor a negative effect if they are planted next door.
Not everyone knows that you can plant beets next to carrots. Within the same ridge, these two crops do not get along very well, so you can plant them next to each other in exceptional cases. If all conditions are met, obtaining a rich harvest is quite possible, but the compatibility of these crops is the subject of much debate.
The main rule for a good harvest is compliance with agricultural technology when sowing seeds. It is equally important to observe the conditions in which the planting process is carried out. The timeliness of sowing is a fundamentally important point for carrots and beets, two of the people’s most beloved crops.
Plants located close to each other interact in a certain way. Some provide each other with invaluable assistance in pest control, while others only harm their neighbor, shading it and preventing it from fully developing. To avoid mistakes when organizing mixed beds, you need to understand which crops can grow together during crop rotation and how to organize the care of such a bed.
Mixed plantings
If the garden area is small and you still have dreams of a varied harvest, then you can plant plants in compacted rows. An even better choice is mixed beds. This is an option in which a gardener simultaneously cultivates several crops in one area. They must be planted taking into account the compatibility of the plants. It would be useful to adhere to a certain scheme.
Wanting to get a good harvest, the summer resident begins in the fall to think through the layout of the beds on the site for the next season, the assortment of plants, and care options. Of course, without high-quality fertilizers, good soil and skillful hands, you cannot get an excellent harvest, but it is also important to know how to correctly arrange crops in terms of their influence on each other.
The biochemical effect of crops on each other is called allelopathy. It is designed to provide conditions for the existence of plants that are beneficial to both cultures. In some cases, the neighborhood can have a depressing effect. The fact is that each part of the plant releases phytoncides and antibiotics into the environment - active substances that are absorbed by the “neighbor” and have a beneficial effect or have a negative effect on the plants placed nearby. The same factor should be taken into account when the question arises of what to plant after carrots next year.
The key to obtaining a successful harvest is the competent selection of plants that have the ability not only to coexist together, but also to produce a good harvest. Beautiful healthy fruits of carrots in open ground and beets will be the best confirmation of this.
Drawing up a planting plan
The formation of a planting plan should take into account the compatibility of crops. It is better to think over a plan for what to plant after carrots next year in the winter, because with the onset of field work, the need arises to form beds, and there is no time to think about what can be planted and where.
Plants differ in terms of ripening. Rational use of the territory assumes that crops with vegetative periods of different lengths can be placed in one place - this way the land will not stand idle.
The fundamental factor taken into account when planning joint plantings is the likely compatibility of vegetables within the same bed. This factor may affect the harvest in the future.
Different parts of the dacha differ in the composition of the soil and its fertility. Among the crops, there are those that consume significant amounts of nutrients, and there are those that practically do not use soil resources. When drawing up a plan for planting beets and carrots in open ground, these characteristics of the crops should be taken into account.
So, all plants should be divided into three conditional groups:
- Plants that consume nutrients as much as possible. These are vegetables that require a large amount of nitrogen to grow: pumpkin, cabbage, chard, onions, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini.
- Average consumers are radishes, eggplants, potatoes, chicory, spinach, kohlrabi, carrots and beets.
- Crops that use virtually no nutrients found in the soil. These include beans, peas, herbs and spices.
Based on this condition, carrots and beets can be planted in the same bed - the vegetables will not deprive each other of valuable nutrients.
However, before planting, you should still take into account some details that can become an important condition for the successful growth of both crops and will help determine what should be planted immediately after carrots next year.
Carrot
You can find carrots in almost every summer cottage. The optimal neighbors will be:
- sage;
- peas;
- beans;
- tomato;
- radish;
- salad;
- rosemary.
There are also crops that we don’t plant next to carrots: celery, parsley, dill. It is better to place these plants at some distance. Do not forget about the predecessors of carrots, which should not be too demanding on the composition of the soil.
Beet
Its benefits are difficult to overestimate. The vitamin-rich composition is simply irreplaceable in winter, so growing this vegetable is a must. Not everyone knows whether it can be planted next to other crops. The most productive impact of beets will be if the following grow nearby:
- broccoli;
- asparagus;
- salad;
- cauliflower.
It is not recommended to place mustard and beans in close proximity to beets.
When to plant carrots and beets together
The first condition that must be met when planting carrots in open ground and beets in the same bed is the correct planting time. The most favorable days for this are considered to be periods when the daytime air temperature becomes more than 3 °C. These crops tolerate frost well, but you need to be careful about the type of crop you want to grow.
The variety of root crop determines the date of sowing carrots. Varieties can be:
- early ripeness (growing season - up to 100 days);
- mid-season (growing season - up to 120 days);
- late ripening varieties (growing season - up to 140 days).
At the end of April, the seeds of this crop can be placed in the soil. If this procedure is postponed to the first ten days of May, then it is necessary to sow mid-season varieties. Carrots intended for long-term winter storage are planted until the beginning of June.
It is important that the timing of planting beets and carrots in open ground may coincide, but then the varieties must be different in terms of ripening time. Beets are more cold-resistant, but may die during frosts. This means that planting seeds is possible no earlier than early May. At the same time, it is necessary to plant mid-season carrots.
When forming beds in vegetable gardens, one should also take into account such a factor as the size of the tops. Carrots, as a rule, grow stronger, and if early varieties are planted on the sunny side, then later the beet tops can be drowned out by carrot leaves. You should pay close attention to this fact and plant carrots of medium ripeness next to the beets.
Rules for caring for a mixed bed
The main procedures that need to be done when caring for a carrot and beet bed are watering, fertilizing, weeding and pulling. Experienced gardeners know what they will have to face when growing. The approach to each plant should be individual, because the care requirements of vegetables are slightly different.
The first thinning of carrots can be done immediately after the first leaves appear. After a couple of weeks, the procedure is repeated. Planted plants should be watered infrequently, but efficiently. Whenever possible, you should weed and loosen the part of the bed where the carrots grow.
Beets need frequent weeding and thinning because they love light. Weeds and plants that are superfluous in the garden bed will prevent the required amount of light from entering, and the beet harvest will leave much to be desired. This will happen if access to sunlight is limited by the strong growth of the carrot leaf.
Pulling out beet sprouts is done at the moment when two true leaves appear. The excess can be pulled out again after two weeks, the gap between plants should be about 5 - 7 centimeters.
Some gardeners believe that beets and carrots can change the taste of each other, so if there is enough space, it is better to grow them separately. If this is not possible, then the rules for caring for both crops must be followed.
When caring for an adjacent bed in which carrots and beets grow together, special attention should be paid to watering the plants. The first steps in this direction should be taken even before planting the seeds in open ground: it is necessary to thoroughly water the soil. Having absorbed all the water, the earth will become perfectly permeable to moisture.
During the process of growing root crops, the soil should be moistened evenly, otherwise the fruits will begin to crack and hurt.
» Vegetable garden
When planning garden beds, it is important to consider the compatibility of vegetable crops. Gardeners have more than once had to deal with the problem of low yields in the absence of any prerequisites for this. And the reason may be trivial - an inconvenient neighborhood, so you need to know what can be planted with and what not.
This article reveals all the secrets of arranging a vegetable garden, because the growth and development of both crops depends on which plant is planted in close proximity, and what is important is their fruiting.
When landing, taking into account compatibility, it is quite possible increase productivity by 15-20%. You should be especially careful when choosing a neighbor when placing several types of vegetables in one garden bed or greenhouse.
Approximately the same growing conditions make it easier to care for the shoots:
- lighting intensity;
- watering mode;
- preparing the soil for planting;
- introduction of fertilizing.
If you plant bad neighbors- this is fraught with the following consequences:
- attracting insects that create many problems for young shoots;
- fungal infection as a result of waterlogging;
- the negative impact of waste products, as a result of which the neighbor develops poorly or stops growing.
Experienced gardeners use invaluable knowledge in practice, annually observing the interaction of nearby plants.
To make planning easier, they draw up a plan for the garden, dividing it into beds for vegetables and berries before planting. Thus, the rules of crop rotation and the laws of compatibility in open ground are taken into account.
What can you plant next to potatoes?
One of the most popular vegetables, which is included in the list basic products for winter preparations. Before planting, predecessors are taken into account.
The best are considered:
- carrot;
- green manure;
- cucumber;
- legumes;
- pepper;
- cabbage;
- beet.
Not worth it use the same area annually, it will not be possible to get a good harvest with such a layout. Low rates of fruiting of potatoes are also noted if they are placed on a former tomato bed.
In relation to its neighbors, the plant shows more tolerance than mutually beneficial consolidation. The best compatibility is noted only with beans.
The vegetable does not like to be friends with cucumbers, onion sets, tomatoes and cabbage. And you definitely shouldn’t place potatoes nearby: peas, beets and celery. The root crop gets along well with other plants.
Neighbors for tomatoes
A favorable place for growing tomatoes is considered to be areas where the following crops were previously grown:
- cauliflower;
- turnip;
- cucumber;
- greenery;
- carrot;
- beet.
Among worst predecessors: potatoes, peas and zucchini. According to the rules of crop rotation, vegetables are planted in the same place after 3-4 years, therefore, you should not use a former tomato bed for tomato seedlings.
- beans;
- radish;
- corn;
- radish;
- cabbage;
- pepper;
- onions and other green vegetables.
There is no negative impact on tomatoes from neighboring beds with parsnips, strawberries, kohlrabi, lettuce, and spinach.
Planting peppers with other vegetables
When planting pepper, it is worth considering its varietal characteristics. Sweet, Bulgarian and bitter varieties are placed separately from each other to prevent cross-pollination. The most suitable predecessors are:
- legumes;
- cabbage (early varieties);
- greenery;
- cucumbers;
- wheat (winter);
- perennial herbs.
Not worth it choose areas after potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes and physalis. When growing other plants in the planned bed, there are no strict restrictions on pepper.
Arranging a bed of peppers Can close to the following crops:
- carrots;
- basil
- onions;
- coriander.
If you plant marigolds, oregano, and nasturtium for decorative purposes or as a preventative against pests, then the pepper will simply smell fragrant from such companions. And you should avoid the proximity to fennel, beans and kohlrabi.
cucumbers
The soil environment is more suitable for growing greens after cabbage and tomatoes. And the predecessors from the pumpkin family are the most undesirable.
Has a positive effect on the yield of cucumbers dill, so it is taken not only as a companion, but also sown interspersed.
The following have a beneficial effect on the development of crunches: onions, beans, peas, garlic, spinach. Calendula placed between the rows will create reliable protection against insects feeding on young cucumber foliage.
Recommended from proximity to potatoes, radishes and tomatoes refuse, plants have a negative effect on each other.
Cabbage
Cabbage planting is planned after peas, beans, cucumbers. Do not spoil the soil environment: peppers, carrots and herbs. And fodder beet and other representatives of cruciferous crops are considered bad predecessors.
It’s easy to choose a cabbage companion for your immediate surroundings fit many plants:
- beet;
- beans;
- sage;
- celery;
- dill;
- salad.
It is allowed to plant flowers and herbs: oregano, chamomile, nasturtium, mint, etc. Won't fit strawberries and tomatoes as companions.
Good neighbors for carrots in the garden
When choosing a place for sowing carrots, preference is given to the following predecessors:
- cucumbers;
- tomatoes;
- potato;
- cabbage;
- leek;
- greenery;
- legumes
Experienced gardeners notice that after zucchini, celery, parsnips and parsley it turns out bad harvest carrots, the root crop develops poorly, as if it lacks nutrients (although fertilizing is introduced according to schedule).
The carrot bed should be planned in close proximity from such crops:
- garlic;
- tomato;
- radish;
- peas.
Sage, marigolds and scorzonera can be planted between rows to repel pests.
Unfavorable neighborhood celebrated with beets, beans and dill. Carrots get along with other plants without any problems.
Zucchini
Everyone's favorite zucchini bear fruit well on the soil after legumes and early varieties of cabbage. Do not spoil the structure of the soil and the environment: greens, onions, garlic.
And such predecessors as carrots, tomatoes and cabbage of late ripening are considered most unsuccessful.
Zucchini (squash) can be safely planted next to the following plants:
- beans;
- corn;
- peas;
- beans.
Pumpkin
Disembarkation rules pumpkins in many ways similar to zucchini, they have the same recommended predecessors. However, the neighborhood is slightly expanded; additional tomatoes, radishes and sunflowers can be planted.
The pumpkin crop only tolerates potatoes. Gets along well with other plants.
Beet
Beet sowing can be done on former beds:
- carrots;
- potatoes;
- cucumbers;
- Luke;
- greenery
The root crop develops well after green manure. In addition, after such a change in layout, there is a decrease in the growth of weeds.
Beets and onions are a good combination You can safely add: cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, and onions to beets. To repel insects, you can plant catnip, mint, oregano between the rows.
- potato;
- corn;
- spinach;
- bulb onions;
- carrot.
Growing in a garden with other neighbors does not cause any particular concern.
Where to plant strawberries in open ground
Strawberry crop doesn't show capriciousness to the soil environment, so there will be no difficulty in choosing a place for planting young shoots. Useful precursors for strawberries are:
- parsley;
- radish;
- garlic;
- legumes;
- corn;
- carrot;
- dill, etc.
You should refuse to use a plot of land for strawberries if there is were previously grown:
- potato;
- tomatoes, peppers;
- eggplant;
- cabbage;
- raspberries
Arranging vegetable beds, as neighbors for strawberries it is recommended to choose:
- spinach;
- salad;
- radish;
- cabbage;
- carrot.
The sweet berry will also be comfortable with other plants, since there is no obvious competition between them.
What crops are suitable for proximity to eggplants?
When choosing a place to plant eggplants, preference should be given to the following predecessors: onions, cucumbers, early ripening cabbage, perennial herbs.
From former beds with potatoes, tomatoes, physalis and peppers it's better to refuse. It is also necessary to follow the rules of crop rotation, It is impossible to place and grow a crop in the same place every year(an interval of at least 3 years is observed).
When planning an eggplant bed Can select as companions:
- peas;
- beans;
- basil;
- salad;
- tarragon;
- thyme.
The representative of the nightshade family gets along quite well with the rest of its neighbors. The blue ones have no special prohibitions regarding combinations.
Peas and beans
The best predecessors For peas and beans, root vegetable crops, cabbage, and representatives of the pumpkin family are considered. The legumes themselves create the most favorable environment in the soil when growing, so after them you can grow almost anything.
Not worth it When organizing a bed after sunflower, the quality and yield are significantly reduced due to fungal infections and contamination with carrion.
When selecting companions, first of all, the proximity to each other (peas and beans) is excluded. This is caused by several factors:
- attracting pests;
- interweaving of stems;
- possibility of cross-pollination.
The most suitable for close proximity are:
- kohlrabi;
- carrot;
- salad;
- radish;
- celery;
- corn;
- cabbage;
- potato.
Planting with other crops has no special restrictions.
Greenery
When selecting precursors for greens (onions, dill, parsley, garlic, cilantro), preference should be given to legumes and vegetable root vegetables.
Not recommended plant greens after umbrella crops; the relatedness of the plants indicates their identical nutritional needs. Because of this, the yield will decrease significantly every year.
Close to planting greenery can be placed beds with cabbage, kohlrabi, cucumbers, strawberries, peppers and other green vegetables. Definitely not suitable for growing together: carrots, parsnips, tomatoes. The proximity of greenery to early varieties of potatoes and representatives of legumes is allowed.
Crops table
It is useful to supplement the gardener’s diary with a table of compatibility of crops grown on your site.
In red indicates incompatibility of cultures, green- the most favorable neighborhood for development and fruiting. Colorless window indicates the neutrality of interaction between plants, which does not exclude their proximity in the garden.
There is absolutely no difficulty in planning beds if you think everything through in advance. Autumn tillage should be carried out taking into account the agricultural technology of those vegetables and berries that will be grown on it in the next season.
Many are sincerely surprised that someone comes to mind next to each other, and therefore together plant carrots and onions. What's strange about this?
Personally, this is exactly how I’ve been planting these crops for more than 30 years: it’s both convenient and the plants are happy with each other. There have never been any misfires with harvests.
It’s a pity that I don’t have a camera (but my husband doesn’t give it to me: he says he doesn’t have batteries or anything else), otherwise I would show the result of my labors.
And I do everything like this. First, I turn to the lunar calendar and prepare the garden bed at the required time. Then, when planting time approaches, I plant onions first.
Then, 7-8 cm after it, I make a furrow for the carrots, then I stick the onion in again and dig a ditch for its neighbor - and so on until the end of the bed. When I plant the onions, I take care of the grooves for the carrots. I water them well with warm melt water.
I open the packet of carrot seeds, pour the seeds into a shallow bowl and add a handful of dry sand. For what? And then you don’t have to worry about thinning it out.
I mix well and sow, then sprinkle the furrows with earth and pat them down with my hand. If the first week is dry, I water the beds.
I plant three such beds in total, and I have different varieties of onions on them. As soon as it hatches from the ground, I immediately stop watering. When it’s time to weed it, you’ll see that your neighbor’s carrot has already grown up. Weeding the onions, immediately
I loosen the soil near the bulbs and see how many bulbs are emerging. If there are more than five pieces in the nest, then I pull out the extra ones.
In other words, I divide the nests. This is to make the bulbs larger. I do it as follows: I press 4-5 pieces to the ground with my left hand, and remove the rest. This onion tastes very good, and I love it very much: I eat it quickly.
I start harvesting with onions, and also according to the dates of the lunar calendar. After harvesting it, the carrots reign for another whole month in the once again loosened bed.
The combination of onions and carrots in one bed
Over the past years, we have repeatedly returned to the topic of increasing the productivity of the garden, including by compacting plantings. And now we are again recalling one of the most famous, textbook options - a combination of onions and carrots in one bed. It would seem that this method of planting is well known, what new can be learned? Don't rush to conclusions. Candidate of Biological Sciences Sergei Lyubarsky shares his experience.
So, let us remind you: the main crops in this garden bed are onions and carrots, or rather carrots, since they occupy the territory almost the entire season. Onions, since their growing season ends quite early, can be conditionally classified as compacting crops.
Let us note that for many years now we have abandoned the use of onion sets and biennial onion crops. Why?
Growing seedlings ourselves is quite a troublesome task for us - small plants are sensitive to changes in soil moisture, are easily clogged with weeds, and require a lot of manual labor. Preserving small bulbs until the next season requires a certain temperature and humidity regime. In warm weather it is easy to dry it out, in cold weather it can be vernalized or even frozen. Purchased seedlings in the spring are a “pig in a poke”, and even at such prices...
But there are many varieties that allow you to get a completely marketable bulb in one season. There is only one caveat - if, as recommended, you sow the seeds in early spring directly into the ground, then most of them will not have time to form a good bulb in time, since the seedlings are very sensitive to soil and air temperatures and the length of daylight hours.
However, there is a way out. We need to make seedlings. This is not as troublesome as it seems, but it takes quite a long period of time.
Sow onions for seedlings
We “bury” onion seeds usually in late February - early March. A trough measuring 20x50 and 7-8 cm deep is enough for one bag of seeds. Sprinkled with about one centimeter of soil, the seeds come out in “loops” after one to two weeks from sowing, after which you just need to keep them in a cool, bright place and water them until planting.
When will there be carrots?
May has arrived. We are not in a hurry to form a garden bed, because carrots sown too early produce uneven shoots, sometimes go into arrows, and are stored worse...
Practice has shown that “early” sowing of carrots does not produce the desired results, but the overall yield and its preservation suffer. Finally, her turn comes.
Finally they met!
For planting carrots and onions, we make narrow beds - about 70 cm, in this case there are four longitudinal rows on them. The two extreme ones are onion seedlings.
No special “executions” such as cutting leaves and
We do not trace the roots of the onion seedlings, we simply lay the plants along the furrow and carefully sprinkle the roots with soil. The main tool for this is a flat cutter. Onion seedlings allow you to immediately “outline” the crops, since the bed is made level with the path.
The middle two rows are occupied by carrots. In order for it to rise well and evenly, the groove under it is not raked, but pressed through with the edge of a small board.
As a result, the seed bed has the same depth and is slightly compacted, which further helps to “pull” soil moisture through the capillaries exactly where it is needed.
For uniform sowing, mix carrot seeds with sand. We also add some radish seeds to it. In the future, he will work first with the “lighthouse” crop, and then give the first harvest. Thanks to the “lighthouse”, which is the first to reach the surface, it is possible to loosen the rows with weeds even before the carrots come out.
Garden bed care
To seal in moisture and reduce weeding, it is very advisable to mulch the paths up to the onion row, which clearly marks the border. In this capacity, cardboard, newsprint, weeds mowed outside the outskirts, weeds thrown out by a neighbor, grass mowed from the lawn by another neighbor will be used... In a word, everything that can cover the ground and then rot right on it.
With neat mulch that lies evenly (compost, mowed grass) you can also mulch the row spacing in the garden bed itself. The number of weedings will be significantly reduced!
Friendly neighbors
Carrots and onions go well together because they hardly shade each other, they feed on different soil horizons and at different times. Onions practically finish their growing season by mid-summer, and carrots produce their main growth closer to autumn. In addition, onions repel carrot flies, whose larvae bore root crops. And the carrots, accordingly, “hide” the onions from the onion fly.
True, onions receive such care “from the beginning to the end” of their journey, and carrots are protected only from the first generation of insects, since at the end of summer they are in splendid isolation.
We tried to rectify the situation by adding seedlings of low-growing marigolds and basil into the gaps of the carrot rows every meter later, when the threat of frost had finally passed. This also made it possible to decorate the garden bed, improve the soil health, and obtain additional spicy herbs.
And also, where for some reason the carrots did not come out, you can plant beet seedlings - they are ready for us much later. But still, it is advisable to eat the beetles young - their wide leaves over time begin to oppress nearby carrots.
Such a complex ridge, even in the last difficult summer, allowed us to obtain a harvest of high-quality products that completely satisfied us.
Our search for optimal gardening solutions will undoubtedly continue. In the meantime, we share our achievements so that the harvests and gardens of our readers grow.