Garden Column: Best buddies

June first is upon us! The date that every gardener in Plains eagerly anticipates and almost equally dreads! Now everything can be planted – and should be planted as soon as possible to get the most growing season for everything. Hurry, hurry, hurry and get all those cute little baby plants and tiny life center seeds into the earth!

Now I seem to spend too much time staring at my garden, wondering what to do with the fifty or so last plants in the greenhouse as all my garden space has already been taken. What to do? One of my answers lies in what Girl Scouts used to call the “buddy system.” If it works for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, why not my garden? Well, it’s a little more complicated than just having a buddy to hang out with, but not much.

Just as we humans like to be with friends, so do plants. Not just vegetables, but flowers and herbs, too. (Some experts claim weeds among the buddies, but that may be going too far!) So when faced with planting season choices (OK, last minute cram-ins!), looking to see what really grows better right next to what other plant can help get those last few plants a home.

Now, ideally, you and I drew all this into our garden plans that we made last January. But garden plans are only just that, plans, and plans have a way of changing. Too many volunteer lettuce plants in one area scrambled some of my plans. I just didn’t have the heart to disturb them, as they seemed so happy. So I planted celery in the lettuce area. And somehow I am short on carrot and beet space... Interplanting best garden buddies in closely spaced rows and beds makes the most use of your garden space.

Tomatoes love parsley and carrots and grow more vigorously near those plants. Onions, garlic and marigolds repel insects from tomatoes. Beans do well with corn and summer savory and cucumbers. Radishes entice pests away from beans. In fact, radishes help most plants, including all the cabbage family, carrots, lettuce, peas, spinach, and all squash, cucumbers and melons by discouraging insect critters. For a more colorful garden with less insects, plant nasturtiums with squash, cukes, melons and cabbage family, and marigolds with beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes.

So when you have a few, or more than a few, extra plants to find homes for, try the buddy system. Sneak those last few tomatoes into the asparagus bed. Put the extra onions between the tomatoes. Try a row of beets 4 or 5 inches from a row of carrots (less weeding!) At the least you will have much healthier plants, and probably a higher yield, too. Buddy up! And happy gardening!