Companion planting

[Kew]

There's nothing like a friend to watch over you. That's just as true with plants as much as it is in our world, possibly more! Very few of our home grown beauty's have what it takes to defend themselves from all attackers but each and every plant has an in-built defence against something.
As an axample, sowing alternate rows of carrots and onions can confuse both the carrot fly and the onion fly.....now that's what I call working together.
There are many instances of this in nature and it's becoming more and more important in this chemically polluted world to use natural defences rather than man-made pollutants.
Do you have a question or input on companion planting?

[Trevor Ellis]

Do you have a question or input on companion planting?

In my previous garden I had a whitefly problem on brassicas - clouds of them when disturbed. I eventually got round to trying something that I'd known about for years but had never got round to trying i.e. planting Marigolds in the vicinity. I think the marigolds have to be the African variety and as I remember, Thomson & Morgan sold them as 'Special Marigolds' for this purpose. I put a marigold in between each of the sprouts and some amongst the cabbages and lo and behold - no more trouble with whitefly! Coincidence or not, I don't know, but I think not. Well worth trying and the veg garden looks the better for the additional colour.

[ideasguy]

Good tip there Trevor!
I (we) now have a veg patch. I helped my son and his wife to reclaim a "fallow"  patch of the garden for their veg patch.
Results were very encouraging,so we will definitely be growing veg next year.
The tips here will be useful

[Trevor Ellis]

Further to the observations on companion planting, I found this site which has a fair amount of information in table form about companion planting in general. The link is www.sciotoblooms.com/files/35187975.xls. It can be viewed in PDF or html format.
Further to the marigold solution it seems that African marigolds repel nematodes whilst French marigolds attract hoverflies that eat aphids. The effect of the African type is said to remain effective in the soil for years after the plants themselves have gone.