Alliances can form among the plants in this database in order to ward off diseases and pests by joining forces. Anyone who is familiar with how a mixed culture works will benefit from the convincing advantages in the home garden. This guide explains the exact procedure of the organic cultivation strategy. Familiarize yourself with the connections here and get to know proven plant coalitions that complement each other perfectly as neighbors.

Strawberries and leeks go well together

What is mixed culture? - Explanation of terms for practitioners

The mixed culture as an ingenious cultivation method results from precise observations in untouched nature and practical experience of ecologically oriented home gardeners. Scientific research on this topic, on the other hand, is still in its infancy, so that the findings and procedures are mainly based on empirical data. As the term suggests, the socialization of different plants has a beneficial effect on growth, profitability and health in the kitchen garden. The following definition sums up the knowledge about mixed cultures:

  • Mixed culture is the joint cultivation of different types of plants that influence each other positively

In the long version, this definition states that plants can support each other, despite different demands on the nutrient and water supply. Differing root penetration depths ensure that plants in a mixed culture do not get in each other's way. Rather, local resources are used perfectly without leaching the garden soil. The bundling of root exudates, root residues and escaping odors strengthens the body's defenses against diseases and pests in harmony with nature. Simply put, the motto 'opposites attract' from human dating is carried over to the planting plan for the vegetable garden.

Monoculture - dark opponent with chemistry in the baggage

If you plant too much of one variety in one spot, you often cannot avoid using chemicals

A look at the principles of monoculture illustrates the outstanding importance of mixed culture for plant cultivation according to ecological principles. Cultivating plants of identical botanical assignment has numerous negative effects. To compensate for this, commercial agriculture uses chemical aids. The use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers as well as other methods that are harmful to the environment and health is the order of the day in monoculture fields.

tips

To ensure that only the advantages of mixed cultures come into play in your home garden, important prerequisites must be observed. Choose a location that is suitable for all plants. Dig the garden soil two spades deep and incorporate compost, bark humus or manure. Avoid using artificial fertilizers and chemical pesticides so that the diverse plant community can fully exploit its natural strengths.

To good neighbors - dream teams of the mixed culture

The prime example of a successful socialization of useful plants according to the principle of mixed culture is the carrot and onion duo. The carrot effectively repels onion flies, while the onion repels approaching carrot flies. In other alliances, the benefits go in one direction because one plant sacrifices itself for the other. In this way, horseradish attracts approaching Colorado potato beetles so that potato plants remain unmolested. The following table introduces you to proven dream teams in the kitchen garden that favor each other:

mixed culture Good neighbors beneficial effect
cabbage tomatoes Protection against cabbage fly, cabbage moth, flea beetles
tomatoes parsley, onions Repel late blight pathogens
potatoes horseradish Drives away potato beetles
cucumbers peas Natural wind protection
beans Corn Natural climbing aid
Corn beans Nitrogen enrichment and soil aeration
leek strawberries Defense against gray mold spores
strawberries borage Promotion of flowering and fertilization

Another important premise for successful mixed cultivation is that the neighboring plants do not shade each other. Therefore, ensure sufficient planting spacing if you choose one of these floral coalitions. Horseradish, for example, can do its job perfectly as a natural bulwark against Colorado potato beetles if the plant is planted at each of the four corners of the potato bed, away from the shady potato leaves.

Colorful flowers and aromatic herbs - ideal companion plants for mixed cultures

The strategic implementation of a mixed culture in the kitchen garden does not mean that you have to do without colorful flowers or aromatic herbs. The following flower beauties are also useful as good neighbors in the vegetable garden:

  • Tagetes: Promotion of soil health
  • Lily of the valley: Healing effect on blight and late blight
  • Echinacea: Defense against snails
  • Marigolds: repel wireworms, bean aphids and nematodes
  • Sweet lupins: enrichment of the soil with nitrogen

Where chives join vegetables, fungal infections are at a disadvantage. The ethereal root secretions effectively repel cunning fungal spores. Chamomile ensures that neighboring beds build up a stable defense against diseases. Where nasturtium thrives, whiteflies, lice and ants take to their heels.

Bad neighbors - conflicts are inevitable here

The downside of the mixed culture medal is unfavorable plant combinations. By no means all useful and ornamental plants maintain a harmonious neighborhood, but rather impair each other in terms of growth and vitality. Therefore, please do not socialize your favorite plants indiscriminately, but research in advance exactly what the neighborly compatibility is like. Among other things, the following vegetables are not suitable for a mixed culture:

Bad neighbors
beans Peas, carrots, leeks, tomatoes, cucumbers
cucumbers Beans, Lettuce, Beets, Tomatoes
potatoes Tomatoes, Peas, Celery, Beets, Onions
tomatoes exporter of Potatoes, Beans, Peas, Cucumbers, Onions, Beets
carrots Beetroot
Beetroot Carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes

The aversions within incompatible plant combinations even go beyond the immediate vicinity. So it is not recommended to grow cucumbers next to carrots because the soil may be infested with nematodes. Cucumbers are also not suitable as a crop rotation for potatoes, due to the risk of wilted fungi remaining in the soil.

Balcony gardeners like to grow strawberries in flower boxes. In terms of mixed culture, marigolds and marigolds are ideal as colorful neighbors, while tulips attract various pests, such as wireworms and nematodes.

Practical example of a mixed-culture vegetable patch

The following practical example illustrates how the concrete implementation of mixed cultures in your own kitchen garden works. We have created a planting plan for a total of 4 beds from popular plants in this database. These are cultivated in mixed cultures with the aim of providing a family of four with delicious, extremely healthy vegetables from spring to late autumn. The beds have a working width of 1.20 m and are separated by 30 cm wide paths.

Cabbage and lettuce have a beneficial effect on each other

In bed 1, plant 3 rows of your favorite types of cabbage, such as rose, red, cauliflower or white cabbage. A row of plants is in the middle of the bed. Lay out the other two rows 10 cm from the edge of the bed. The planting distance within a row is 50 cm. Since it takes some time for cabbage to fill the space, put early lettuce and early kohlrabi in between. You have harvested these plants long before cabbage closes the rows.

In bed 2, plant French beans, kohlrabi and celery. The planting distance within the rows is 50 cm. The rows themselves can be spaced at a distance of 40 cm, since these types of vegetables do not thrive as expansively as cabbage in bed 1.

Cucumbers, lettuce and early kohlrabi should thrive in bed 3. Just plant a row of cucumbers 30 cm apart in the middle of the bed. Since the planting season for cucumbers does not begin until mid-May, use the area until then with two additional rows of your favorite lettuce variety. Early kohlrabi and lettuce act as border plantings.

Tomatoes, peppers and chili peppers are planned as the main crop for bed 4, supplemented with radishes, lettuce, cress and spinach as secondary crops. At the beginning of April, sow 4 rows of spinach or place early young plants on the windowsill. Garden cress, lettuce and radishes will follow at the end of April. Harvest these plants after 6 weeks, when spinach takes up more space. The spinach plants then have to give way in mid-May because the planting season for tomatoes, peppers and peppers begins. Plant tomato plants in the two middle rows. The two outer rows are for peppers and hot peppers. In the middle of the main rows, sow parsley, marigolds and marigolds as a mixed culture.

tips

If conspecifics of different genera meet in the bed, plant health and yield suffer. Classic examples of fatal neighborhoods are cruciferous, legume and umbelliferous plants. Therefore, avoid a mixed culture of cabbage types such as cauliflower, Brussels sprouts or kale. Peas, beans and vetches are just as incompatible as carrots, dill and celery.

Intercropping for advanced users - How to include crop rotations

If you are familiar with the basic functioning of mixed culture after a while, you can optimize the cultivation principle. For this purpose, the planting plan includes the correct crop rotation of the crops. In concrete terms, this means that the bed planting alternates between low, medium and high eaters from year to year so that the soil is not leached out. Annual crop rotation guarantees that soil fertility is maintained, which significantly reduces the need for fertilizers. The table below explains how it works:

crop rotation bed 1 bed 2 bed 3 bed 4
1 year green mantle heavy feeder medium eater weak feeder
2 years heavy feeder medium eater weak feeder green manure
3rd year medium eater weak feeder green manure heavy feeder
4th year weak feeder green manure heavy feeder medium eater

Typical heavy consumers are cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans and spinach. Peas, radishes, onions, leeks, celery, carrots and spinach are attributed to the middle consumers. Salads, almost all herbs and garden cress are considered weak consumers. However, the boundaries are fluid. Various attributions are a matter of controversy among gardeners. In this context, green manure has the task of regenerating the garden soil and preparing it for next year's planting with heavy feeders.

The art of implementing intercropping with crop rotation is to include all aspects, including nutrient requirements, in the planting plan. Accordingly, the carrot/onion duo, as a medium eater, follows the corn/bean dream team from year to year in order to live off what the heavy eaters left in the way of nutrients.

Category:

Vegetable garden