Thursday, April 18, 2013

HB Day 2: Companion Planting

The veggie patches ready for winter crop picking!

I don't have green fingers, I never have.  I find it extremely ironic that both my green fingered mum and sister are both in Singapore and I am the one here surrounded by gardens that need cultivating and planting with winter veggies.  I started with composting all the veggie patches then wondered what one should do next.  Luckily the local garden centre helped me with the guidance and purchasing of veggies suitable for this time of the year.

I know my mum is hugely into planting things next to things that help each other grow and deter pests.  Apparently this is called companion planting, a subject I know next to nothing on.  Lucky for me I am on a first name basis with a site that has the answer to every predicament, Pinterest!  If you pop companion planting into their search engine all sorts of beautiful and informing imagines come up to greet you.

Now the reason Pinterest and I are such firm (firm) friends is I'm a visual girl, so the info-graphic put together by Lifehack was just the ticket!  My workforce was of a younger nature today so I know they also appreciated the visual guide as opposed to a written article ;)  The linked image is also pinned to my Outdoor Spaces board on Pinterest.

The perfect companion planting info-graphic you can source from lifehack.


With my newfound wealth of information on companion planting, I sat down and drew a rough sketch and made a list of all the plants I had purchased.  With the info graphic I gradually made a plan making sure I put plants that got along next to one another. I also learnt that plants love having nasturtiums and marigolds around because it helps keep the pests away, so I made sure we added some of those to each garden!



Then I rounded up the workforce and we placed the plants out before planting them in our newly cultivated land! Only time will tell whether I have managed to successfully plant out our winter veggies but I will keep you updated. What we do know is thanks to Lifehack these crops have a fighting chance as they have been planted near friends and removed from foes. Amazing, even plants have their clicks. I guess all living things have their social grievances, if we could all just get along planting and life would be so much easier!










4 comments:

Katie said...

Hi Kirsty! It's great to see you back. You have a really lovely brick path :)

Anna Cole said...

Thanks Kirsty, This is awesome. I'm a visual person too ! Loving this house BTW x

Jenny said...

So good to see Ben and Polly enjoying the veggie planting, looks like you have been busy already judging by the size of the maize plants in the background!!
Jenny x

Kirsty, New Zealand said...

Thanks for the lovely comments guys, you are so sweet!!! The corn was a leftover from the previous owners .... We've only been here 6 days!!!!