“Water Quality-Friendly” Ways to Garden
We’ve all heard “chemical-free is the way to be” right? It’s not news that chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and excess
fertilizers can cause water quality problems. Chemicals were basically created as a convenience to us. Spraying a garden for
bugs and weeds is a lot quicker and easier than picking the bugs off each plant or pulling weeds by hand. Paying a company
to blanket spray fertilizer on your lawn is quicker than taking a soil test to figure out if your soil really lacks nutrients.
In this day and age, each of us are finding that we have less and less time to get everything done. So, where is the balance
for those of us who want to help keep our local water clean and have a nice place? While there is no quick or easy answer to
that, there is an “old school” method that can give you a helping hand in the garden - Companion gardening!
Companion gardening has been around for centuries as a natural method of helping plants and insects work together to
create healthy gardens. It’s a way of gardening that shows us which plants naturally work together to help one another
grow; which plants naturally repel insects, and which predatory insects eat the pests for organic pest management.
Get a little help with companion gardening!
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Sources cited—gardening.cornell.edu, planetnatural.com,
naturalnews.com, nativeplantwildlifegarden.com,
naturalyardcare.info, harvesttotable.com
Ladybugs are natural enemies to aphids and are
excellent for use in organic pest management.
For repelling raccoons, plant corn and pumpkins
together so that the large pumpkin leaves grow
around the base of the corn stalks. Cayenne pepper
sprinkled on the corn silk will also act as a deterrent.
Legumes such as peas, beans and clovers have the
ability to fix nitrogen into the soil. Dispersing them
in various areas of your garden can increase
nitrogen and improve soil quality for future gardens.
Dragon flies are excellent predators of insects,
especially mosquitos, and are attracted to native
prairie plants and water sources.
Plant a perimeter row of plants the pest insects love
so they will be attracted to them instead of your
desired interior plants, also called “trap-cropping”.
Planting all of the same thing (monoculture) makes
your garden vulnerable to pest and disease. You
can lose your whole crop in a short period of time.
Alternating individual plants or rows helps control
problems from easily spreading.
Other natural pest control species include ground
beetles, lacewings, wasps, spiders, praying mantis,
daddy long-legs and marigold flowers.
Garlic, onion, chives, culinary herbs, catnip and
mints all have pungent orders that will often
confuse insects who find their food by smell. They
have also been used to repel some pests, for example planting onions around lettuce to repel rabbits.
Be careful not to introduce or attract non-native,
invasive species (plants, animals or insects) into your
garden. You can find lists of problematic invasive
species in Ohio at Ohiodnr.com
We’ve just scratched the surface on companion
gardening in this article! There are many wonderful books,
local gardening clubs and websites that can teach you more
about reaping the benefits of natural partnerships. Please
visit your library or search on line to learn more.
Be careful to not introduce or attract non-native, invasive species (plants, animals or insects) into your garden. You can find
lists of problematic invasive species in Ohio at Ohiodnr.com
can be an invitation for destructive and problematic, invasive species that take over everything—such as bush honey suckle
and the Japanese beetle.
Dragon flies are excellent predators of mosquitos and are attracted to native prairie plants and water sources.
Or a water source such as a large birdbath or a larger water feature with aquatic plants like a pond, if you can
manage it. Ground water features like a will also attract insect-eating frogs! “Your water feature does not need to
be huge to attract the damsels and the dragons, but one that’s well designed as habitat will also host frogs, butterflies, and othr critters. And all these critters in turn attract their predators such as birds.”
Avoid mono cultures like plan— planting a diverse garden with many different types of veggies and flowers ensures that some of
the types of plants get a disease, the others will survive, instead of all of them being vulnerable to the same disease or pest.
Monocultures (planting all of the same thing) are vulnerable to pest and disease and you can lose your whole crop in a short period of time. Alternate planting helps control diseases from easily spreading.
Companion gardening can help control pests in several ways– by repelling them, the smell of onion/garlic plants and
French or Chinese marigolds confuse many flying insects such as XXX who find their food by smel. Planting them
throughout the garden helps with pest control. (garlic, onion, chives, culinary herbs, catnip and mints) interplant
these among you garden
Attracting helpful insects such as XXX by providing a habitat for them will also keep the pests away. Can also do trapcropping which is planting a parameter row of plants the pest insects love so they will be attracted to them instead of
the interior plants that you want to do well. An example of this is collards draw diamond back moth away from cabbage. And Chinese mustard can protect spinach and chard from flea beetles
works well for small gardens like square foot gardening—and is basically designed to control pests—there is companion gardening for flowers, vegies, insects to help plants and control pest insects
Insects in your garden also helps with the pollination process as they go from plant to plant
Nutrient sharing— Legumes such as peas, beans and clovers have the ability to fix nitrogen into the soil. Dispersing them in various areas of your garden can increase nitrogen and soil quality for future gardens.
5. Planting a row of asparagus between two rows of tomatoes to improves both plant’s vigor.
6. Alternating rows of beans with potatoes protects from certain types of beetles.
7. Broccoli and other members of the cabbage family do well when companion planted with celery, dill, peppermint, sage and
rosemary; as well as potatoes, onions and beets.
8. Repel moles around a vegetable garden with a border of castor beans; mice with a border of daffodils; and yarrow makes a
wonderful boarder for an herb garden as it encourages the growth of essential oils in the herbs.
9. Onions have a tendency to repel rabbits and can be inter-planted with peas, beans, lettuce and cabbage.
1. Plant carrots with leeks to deter flies.
2. Plant radishes with lettuce to repel earth flies.
3. Plant nasturiums around broccoli and bunches of chives among sunflowers and tomatoes to discourage infestations of
aphids.