Vegetables in the Home Garden

and the plants that help them to thrive

Asparagus is happy with basil, marjoram, parsley and tomatoes. It is only worth growing if you plan to stay put; it takes years for asparagus to become properly established.

Beans of all kinds thrive in the company of any member of the cabbage family, as well as marjoram, rosemary and sage, but they don't do well close to onions or garlic. Climbing beans are much easier to look after than dwarf beans, although the latter probably include the ones that are nicest to eat, notably butter beans. Try to support dwarf beans off the ground or they're likely to be nibbled by insects. Old fashioned perennial climbing beans, like scarlet runner, look quite spectacular growing on a trellis or arch, but the beans themselves can be tough and stringy unless you pick them when they're very young.

Cabbages and their close relatives—cauliflowers, broccoli and Brussels sprouts—like to be grown near other green leafy vegetables, any kind of beans or peas, as well as tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. They also grow well close to nasturtiums, which is interesting, as nasturtiums are a favourite of the cabbage white butterfly. Cabbages need to be planted in very well manured and composted soil. Broccoli is probably the most easily grown member of the family. If you keep picking the heads as soon as they're ready, more will develop. When buying cabbage plants, choose small varieties. They take up much less space and are generally more useful.

Carrots will grow happily in the same area as almost any vegetable other than parsnips. The most important things to remember when growing carrots are that the soil must be deep and crumbly and that some other crop should have been grown since the last time manure was applied. Neglecting either of these criteria may cause the carrots to have branching roots.

Corn will grow well in most company, provided that the ground is well manured and gets full sunshine throughout the day. It's a particularly good plant for small children to watch growing, as all the stages of development are very obvious. It also has the advantage of loosening the soil for subsequent root crops, such as carrots or parsnips. It does take a lot of space, though, and takes about four months to produce. It must be staked to protect it from the wind, and it can overshadow more useful crops, depriving them of sunshine.

Cucumbers need a sunny area that is open to the wind. They like plenty of manure, and a good way to arrange this is to dig a hole big enough to accommodate about half a bucket full, fill it, cover it with earth, press it all well down and then build a hill on top, using about twice the quantity of earth that you dug out in the first place. Put two or three seeds or plants on the summit of the hill. The rotting manure will warm the soil and the young plants above it, and will be less potent and likely to burn the roots when they eventually grow down to it. Being slightly elevated, the plants will be less subject to dampness, which can cause the leaves to develop a growth of mildew. Water will run to the bottom of the hill, soak into the ground and be available to the roots, leaving the leaves high and dry.

Lettuces grow happily near beans, the cabbage family, cucumbers, carrots and strawberries. That said, it's best to put them where there's nothing that prefers overhead watering. Sprinkling can ruin lettuces, turning their hearts into a disgusting slimy mess. Try to form a small gutter beside a row of lettuces, or around individual plants, so that water can be applied at ground level and will run to the roots without over-wetting the leaves. Lots of manure or compost dug in a few weeks before planting will ensure their growth. Snails are very fond of young lettuce plants, so make some provision to protect them.

Parsnips may not be worth the trouble. They have similar requirements to carrots, but both crops suffer if they are grown close together, and carrots are far more versatile. There are few uses for young parsnips pulled out to thin the crop, and if they are crowded they tend to be uniformly poor. As well as that, although parsnip seed is viable for a very short time—seed more than twelve months old doesn't always germinate—a single parsnip plant allowed to go to seed will have generations of offspring springing up all over the garden. If you're fond enough of this vegetable, make sure that the soil is deep and crumbly, and remember not to use manure or compost.

Peas peas in pods like to grow near beans, cabbages, and any salad vegetables except for the onion family. The climbing kind are much easier to look after, and come in both the ordinary varieties and the sugar snap or snow pea types. Put them near a fence or trellis, or erect something for them to climb on. A tepee arrangement of bamboo or thin stakes makes a good foundation, and you can strengthen it with ordinary baling twine. When the time for sowing peas begins, put in a row or circle every couple of weeks. Sowing more seeds between existing plants seems to work well. The younger plants can use the bigger ones for support. Gardening books recommend that the ground for peas needs to be limed. This varies from place to place, so ask someone in your area whether they find liming necessary. Snails are very efficient at finding newly emerged pea plants. If you think that your peas haven't sprouted, maybe they came up one evening and were all eaten by morning.

Radishes grow quickly and easily, so are a nice thing for little children to try. The ground needs to be reasonably crumbly, although not as deep as for carrots. A very small patch is easier to look after than a long row. Keep the water up to them so that they grow quickly and aren't too hot. Some people sow radish and carrot seed together. The radishes develop first, are pulled and eaten, and make way for the growth of the carrots.

Silver beet is one of the most rewarding things you can grow at home. It grows quickly in ordinary well composted soil and you can go on picking just as much as you need for months on end. It's one plant that's happy to grow near onions, too, as well as any other garden plants. If you don't have a garden, grow one silver beet plant in the biggest pot you can find. Plastic pots are better for this than terra cotta, even though they don't look as nice. Terra cotta allows too much evaporation from the sides. If you need to leave the pot unattended for a couple of days, fill large plastic lemonade bottles with water and poke their necks into the potting mix near the edge of the pot. Potting mix is preferable to garden soil, because garden soil just doesn't drain as well.

Strawberries will last for years if you prepare well. Before you get your plants, dig a trench along the middle of a narrow bed. Fill it with manure and compost, and cover the earth back over, so that the middle of the bed is slightly raised. After a few weeks, remove the newly grown weeds and space your strawberry plants along the middle of the bed. Within a few months young plants will appear on runners that come out from each plant. You cut off the runners, take the biggest new plants and plant them towards the sides of the bed or between the original plants.

Strawberries are much loved by blackbirds, but there is a fairly cheap and simple way to protect them. Buy a roll of the black plastic tubing that is used for garden spray or drip systems. Cut it into pieces about twice the width of the bed and use the pieces to form arches over the bed. If the bed has board or brick sides, tuck the ends down inside them. Otherwise, drive in short narrow stakes and push the ends of the tubing onto them. When the fruit begins to colour, get black nylon bird netting from your hardware shop or nursery and drape it over the tubing arches. Let the sides and ends rest on the path so that people can easily lift the netting to pick the fruit.

Tomatoes are the favourite home grown vegetable. In the open garden you can dig in lots of manure and compost before you start planting, and there are also packeted fertilisers especially for use at tomato planting time. If you use these, though, read the directions attentively and avoid being generous. Some of these fertilisers are very strong, and overdosing can severely damage or even kill the young tomato plants. Too little is much better than too much. If you decide to grow tomatoes in pots or tubs, it's probably easier to use just compost and packeted fertiliser.

Grow a few good plants rather than lots of cheaper ones. There is work involved, and you don't want to spend your entire summer looking after dozens of tomato plants. Every plant needs to be staked, no matter what it says on the label when you buy it. Be ready to stake early, before the plants decide to hug the ground or drape themselves across paths. If you try to lift them once that happens, you'll find that they're quite brittle and breaking them is almost unavoidable. Some wise old gardeners put full sized stakes in when they first plant, even though the plants are tiny. This avoids having to drive a stake through healthy roots when the plant is established. If you think that tall stakes beside tiny plants look incongruous, put in short ones. You can pull these out and replace them a little later.

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Created on ... March 25, 2002