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Subject: Re: Plants to protect our veggies
From: slave2microbes@webtv.net (Sean Phelan)
Organization: WebTV Subscriber
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 00 06:46:59
Message-ID: <MOD$000105.19077@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$000104.6479@rec.gardens.ecosystems>



Here's a site on companion planting:

http://www.hitech.net.au/utegrrl/table.htm

In addition, OG did a study a few years back on best drawers of bennie
insects. Top 5 were dill, mint, white cosmos, single maris (eg. gem
series) and single zinnias(eg. chippendale or old mexico). All are east
to grow, easy to save seed from (don't want fancy hybrids) and give
other gifts besides. I have always trimmed my beds w/ dw. maris and dw.
nasturtiums and it's served me well.
As a whole, the bennies are wee little things so they need simple
flowers that haven't been hybridized to w/in an inch of their life. No
self-respecting ladybug is gonna pry open a HT rose!
Thus, most herbs and wildflowers work well ,too. A scruffy patch of
tall grasses and such near your veggies for them to complete their life
cycles helps, as does a water source (they love those soaker hoses, I
use abandoned hubcaps that I keep filled w/ a few stones in it for them
to land).
Beyond that , diversify in general. Mix it up- no neat rows of crops
like a neon sign calling the nasties. Interplant. Then interplant some
more.

Finally, and I can hear the groans, grow the soil. Aggressively. There
are no shortcuts. How I've come to view it is soil is the black dress or
suit. Plants are the accessories. Focus your primary energy in the
garden on the soil, the rest takes care of itself IMHO.

Sean