Garden Adversaries

Sometimes people just don’t get along. It’s the same with plants, and placing certain ‘antagonists’ together in your garden might have more abrasive results than having the Hatfields & McCoys over for a dinner party.

While the idea of companion planting varieties that form a beneficial relationship is backed by science, the same is true for garden adversaries.

Beets, for example, thrive when planted together with cabbage, kohlrabi, garlic, lettuce, and bush beans, but could do without the company of pole bean varieties.

Brassica family varieties like cabbage, kale, collards, and cauliflower perform well when planted with cucumbers and potatoes, but have irreconcilable differences with strawberries, tomatoes and pole beans.

More than a few popular vegetable varieties are selective about their bedmates, and the list may surprise you.

Corn and tomatoes are two classic summer crops that are especially popular in the southeast, but for best results, the two should be separated in the garden.

Carrots are perfectly happy alongside peppers, onions, peas and radishes, but need some space from dill.

The lead role in many a summer garden, the tomato, has plenty of friends, but won’t want to share a dressing room with potatoes, kohlrabi, corn or cabbage.

The Cucumbers is another popular summer actor, that’s happy to share the stage with tomatoes, corn, beans and lettuce, but will take issue when cast in a scene with potatoes and a variety of aromatic herbs.

While they may join forces once they arrive in the kitchen, while still in the garden, bean and onion family varieties will perform better with plenty of space in between them.

Martha and Nancy : Next Door Neighbors, Friends...and Now Organic Gardeners

Relationships with our next door neighbors can sour faster than the pint of milk that spent spring break in your kid’s lunchbox. While a good fence always helps, barking dogs, untidy lawns, fallen leaves, and late night parties can irk even the most level headed next door neighbors.

Not the case with Cotswold neighbors Martha and Nancy.  

These two moms share a genuine friendship that goes beyond a polite smile and wave. They share family milestones, the occasional recipe, and sometimes even a company referral.

Through her network of friends, Nancy had heard several outstanding reviews about our niche organic gardening services, and one sunny afternoon, shared that news over the fence with Martha.

That referral turned out to be doubly great news for us, because we welcomed two new gardeners into the Microfarm family. Logistically, it was nice too, because we could have the delivery of 4 cubic yards of premium organic soil dropped in one spot right between the two homes. 

Nancy selected two 4’x6’ Kitchen garden style raised beds for an area adjacent to her driveway, while Martha had the perfect place for a single 4’x6’ Kitchen garden bed in a nook next to a staircase that descends into a landscaped pathway. We planted a variety of leafy greens and root vegetables for both neighbors, including Bloomsdale spinach, lacinato kale, carrots, and an assortment of lettuces.

Many thanks for the business and the convenience of being next door neighbors, Martha and Nancy - we hope your new organic gardens make your friendship even better!

Companion Planting

Like the individuals that form any good (or bad) human relationship, plants also have chemical properties that can create mutual benefit or a toxic relationship when they’re grown together.

Like that mysteriously perfect marriage your friends seem to have, these companion plant arrangements may seem too good to be true, but solid scientific research supports what growers have learned over many generations.

All plants produce a range of waste products that are emitted through their foliage, stems and roots, which can chemically change the surrounding soil environment.  Certain plants -most famously herbs-but also other varieties including African and French marigolds, nasturtiums, and even tomatoes contain strong smelling substances that are emitted by their leaves that overpower the scents emitted by other plants, confusing insect pests.  The time tested practice of planting strongly scented herbs among a vegetable garden will most certainly help avoid and mitigate insect and animal pest problems.

Borage is a tall, aromatic herb, for example, that fits nicely in a tomato patch, and repels tomato horn worms. Basil deters flies that lay eggs on tomato leaves, and is reported to actually improve the flavor of tomatoes as well. The powerful scent of the wormwood plant overwhelms the sense of smell that many mammals rely on for survival, thus discouraging them from browsing through your vegetable garden. Are you losing plants to deer, but not ready to invest in a 7’ deer fence? Strongly scented yarrow, oregano, rosemary, and lavender and mint will discourage them. Puzzled over how to reign in a mole or gopher problem? Castor oil plant will do the trick.

Not only will many aromatic flowering herbs like thyme, mint, sage, rosemary and dill discourage harmful insect pests, but they’ll actually attract beneficial insects like parasitic wasps, preying mantis, and tachinid flies that prey on them and help control their population naturally. Herbs like bee balm, thyme and mint, as well as flowers like daisies, petunias, cosmos, sunflowers, and nasturtiums will also attract pollinating bees into your garden in addition to beneficial predatory insects.

Sometimes a taller companion plant simply offers a little relief in the form of shade to a shorter neighbor, as in the case of beet tops shielding lettuces from a scorching afternoon.

But the benefits of some companion plants go beyond scented foliage. The roots of marigolds, for example, exude a chemical that discourages harmful nematode varieties. If you’ve ever found a healthy plant suddenly wilt and die, only to dig up the roots to find clusters of ball like knots, you’ve seen the damage that soil nematodes can cause.

Sold on companion planting or at least curious enough to give it a shot?  The companion planting guide below lists beneficial plants along with problematic insects that each one deters.

Aster                                     variety of insects
Basil                                      flies, mosquitoes, asparagus beetles
Borage                                  tomato worms
Calendula                           tomato worms, asparagus beetles
Catnip                                   ants, aphids, flea beetles, Japanese beetles
Chives                                  aphids, Japanese beetles, whiteflies, mites
Chrysanthemum              Japanese beetles, Mexican beetles
Coreopsis                            variety of insects
Coriander                            aphids, carrot flies, Colorado potato beetle, mites
Garlic                                    aphids, borers, Japanese beetles, spider mites
Geranium                           cabbage worms
Henbit                                  variety of insects
Horseradish                       potato beetles
Hyssop                                 cabbage moths
Lavender                             moths
Marigold                             nematodes, Mexican bean beetles
Marjoram                            variety of insects
Mint                                      ants, cabbage moths, aphids, flies
Nasturtium                         squash bugs, beetles
Oregano                              cabbage butterflies, cucumber beetles
Parsley                                 variety of beetles
Radish                                  cucumber beetles
Rosemary                            bean beetles, cabbage moths, carrot flies
Rue                                        flies, Japanese beetles
Sage                                      bean beetles, cabbage moths, carrot flies, slugs
Sunflower                           aphids
Tansy                                    ants, fleas, flies, Japanese beetles, moths, squash bugs
Thyme                                  cabbage worms

Choose the Right Rainwater Storage Tank

So you’re ready to begin harvesting  rainwater, but after just a few minutes online , you’ve realized  that size options for rainwater storage containers ranges  from as little as 55 gallons to 3,000 gallons or more. How do you know what size is best for you?

First consider these factors:

-How much rainfall do you get in your area? If you live somewhere with frequent, year round rainfall like Seattle or Portland, you won’t need as much rain storage capacity as someone in Phoenix. Here in the Charlotte area, stored rainwater will be most useful during dry spells during late spring to early fall.

-How large is the catchment surface (i.e roof area). If you have a 5,000 square foot house, there will be thousands of gallons to harvest over the course of a year, and a series of 1000 gallon tanks can hold some of it for drier times.  While an 8’x12’ storage shed or greenhouse can still harvest a useful amount of rainwater, something in the 150 to 250 gallon range would be more appropriate for a structure that size.

-What do you intend to use the rainwater for, and how much do you intend to use? If your intent is to irrigate a landscaped half acre property during a one month summer dry spell, or wash your sizable classic car collection, you’d better plan on having some serious rain storage capacity. If the goal is simply to water growing containers on your condo’s terrace, a smaller rain storage tank will do the job.

- Where will the rainwater storage tank be located, and how much space do you have there? Above ground rain tanks are typically placed within 3’ of a downspout, and can get rather bulky as they increase in capacity. Is there room for the tank, and/or room to move around it? How much site prep will be involved in creating a level placed for a tank or series of tanks to sit? If you plan to put your rain storage tank on a rooftop, can the roof safely support the weight of hundreds or even thousands of pounds of rainwater concentrated in one place?

Or try using the formulas below to calculate how much rain water you’ll need:

roof area   X  annual rainfall = maximum available for capture

Then determine….

Most days without rain  X  average daily water use = storage volume required on day one of a dry spell

If, for example, the longest stretch of days without rain was 30 days, and the average daily usage was 40 gallons, then the  volume on hand on day one of a 30 day dry spell would have to be 1200 gallons

Curious how much rainwater can your home, greenhouse, shed, garage, chicken coop, or other structure harvest ? click here to find out.

A Lesson in Lumber

What do a violin, a floor and a greenhouse have in common? They’re all made of lumber milled from trees, but apart from that, little else.  But just as the uses for these wooden projects vary widely, so do the boards used to make them, which were milled from various parts of a range of tree species, using several different sawing methods.

Heartwood, as the name suggests, is cut from the center of the tree. It’s the most dense and therefore strongest part, and also most resistant to decay.

Sapwood comes from the outer portion of the tree, closest to the bark. Sapwood is younger, less dense and not as durable and resistant to decay than heartwood.

The Annual Growth Rings in a log can also tell a lot about how fast the tree has grown and how durable the boards will be. Widely spaced sapwood rings, for example, indicate a tree that has grown quickly and less durable, while closely spaced growth rings indicate slow growth and a denser, more durable lumber.

Knots develop where branches grow out from the trunk of a tree. As the tree grows, the branch remains attached to the pith in the middle of the tree, and a knot forms where the sapwood grows around the branch. While not a huge factor in simple projects like raised beds, knots should be avoided where the lumber will be used for load bearing structures like a greenhouse or even a chicken coop. Because knots shrink at a different rate than the surrounding wood, they often fall out, leaving a hole and weakening the lumber.

The method that lumber is cut from a log can also have a big impact on it’s durability and performance.

Plainsawn, also called flatsawn or "through-and-through." Is the most efficient way to yield boards from a log. The boards are cut in parallel, one right after another, from top to bottom, right through the pith of the log. Plainsawn is the fastest, easiest and most cost effective way to mill a log, can be used for the widest variety of trees, and is consequently the cut most commonly used in sawmills. By some estimates, over 90% of all logs are cut into boards using the plainsawn method.  

Unlike plainsawn boards, Quartersawn boards are cut at a 90 degree angle from the center of the tree. Quartersawn boards are easy to spot because the growth rings run at a right angle to the face of the board. This is referred in the industry as ‘radial grain’.  Why cut boards using the less efficient, more expensive  quartersawn method?

Quartersawn lumber has a much more uniform grain pattern making it ideal for high visibility projects like cabinets, floors, table legs, etc, and while plainsawn boards  have a tendency to shrink, swell, warp, twist, cup, or bend with changes in humidity, quartersawn lumber shows very little movement over time and is the first choice for fine furniture and instrument makers.

A board is referred to as quartersawn when it is cut radially from the center of a log, and as the angle of the cut becomes less perpendicular to the face of the board, the classification of the board goes from quartersawn to Riftsawn. Riftsawn boards are basically a byproduct of the quartersawing process, and  fall somewhere in between plainsawn and quartersawn in terms of durability, cost ; sort of the lumber equivalent of mid-grade gasoline. Riftsawing process produces a more durable board than plainsawn the plainsawn method, and a more affordable alternative to pricey quartersawn lumber.