June 6, 2008
by Shobha Vanchiswar
I had mentioned in an earlier article that I’d be reporting on Pam Wright’s endeavors in her garden. I visited it this week and will be doing so each month so we can all follow its progress.
Although Wright has been growing vegetables for ten years, this is her first attempt at companion planting. This was inspired by a speaker at a meeting of the Chappaqua Garden Club.
The garden is fenced securely, so there is no worry of deer or other marauders. Grapes, and more recently hops, are being trained to grow on the fence. The ground is not mulched but Wright intends to top dress the soil. A thick underplanting of the companion plants is designed to keep the weeds at bay. Watering of the garden will be done about twice a week. Pam hopes this will not stress the plants too much and will instead make for a hardy, productive garden. A slow release fertilizer such as Osmocote will be used. The aim is to have a garden that is not high maintainance or fussy.
In terms of companion planting, the idea is for certain combinations of plants to be placed together in an area so as to deter common pests. With this in mind, Wright has done the following: tomatoes underplanted with basil and bee balm (Monarda); newer tomatoes have parsley; marigolds and nasturtiums are used extensively as they are good for all plants ; leeks, chives and mint give company to cabbages; and hyssop to grapes and more tomatoes. The tomatoes will be caged for vertical support.
There are other areas on her property where Wright has planted vegetables like cabbage, squash and chard within perennial beds. At this point, this garden is still young but, I’m sure by next month, there will have been much progress.
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