As we all know, opposites attract. Even in the vegetable bed, some plants like to like each other, which you don't necessarily see together on the plate. Strawberries with garlic, for example. But in the flower bed they are the perfect neighbors.

"It has been scientifically proven that plant roots communicate with each other," says gardener Svenja Schwedtke. "Above-ground, but also root evaporation and their interweaving are important for plant health." Plants can therefore help each other in two ways.

Repelling pests without chemicals

For health, shared apartments are useful, in which one partner can oppose pests that can become dangerous to the other. An example of this is celery. Cabbage whiteners do not like him, and therefore cabbage near celery is safe from the pest. Because he likes to eat up the leaves.

"Carrots with onions and strawberries with garlic are also good combinations," advises Schwedtke. "The smell of the leeks drives away the carrot fly and other pests. You can also put garlic in your vegetable beds almost indiscriminately, this will definitely benefit your health."

Soeren Stache/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa/Archivbild Freshly picked strawberries.  

How plants share food

Some plants need more food. Others benefit from it if someone has already thinned out the buffet, because they can not cope with oversupply. Therefore, the mixed culture is a centuries-old gardener's method in the vegetable patch: you let certain types of vegetables grow one after the other on an area, so that they each get the doses of nutrients that do them good. And the soil does not leach out too much.

Here's how it works: fertilize the area in the first year and then put so-called heavy consumers such as cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini. They especially need a lot of nutrients in the soil. The North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture recommends distributing about five kilograms of compost per square meter as fertilizer.

In the second year, the middle-eaters with less nutrient requirements follow. These are, for example, carrots. Even now, fertilizing is done again, but less than last year. The agricultural experts recommend about two kilograms of compost per square meter. In the third year, the weak-eaters are like lettuce. Now it is no longer fertilized. In the following year, the soil is then generously supplied with nutrients again – and the cycle starts all over again.

Among the strong eaters are cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, leeks, potatoes, celery. Medium consumers include root vegetables such as carrots and beetroot, parsley, black roots, radishes and radish as well as spinach, strawberries and also annual flowers. Low-consuming vegetables are legumes such as beans and peas, onions and herbs.

Are you okay? - Nutrient analysis of the garden soil

Clever use of gaps

Another approach is to put different types of vegetables on one site directly in a row within a short time. This mixed culture also follows the principle of crop rotation – only within one planting season. So when harvesting one vegetable, something new is planted in each gap right away.

By the way, Svenja Schwedtke advises documenting the plantings: "Write down what you have grown, when and where, so that you will still know it in four years. A beautiful garden lady is a good companion, also for the vegetable garden."

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DPA

Date Of Update: 03 April 2022, 00:00