Growing vegetables in your own garden, but also vegetable beds on the balcony, are gaining more and more fans. With clever cultivation planning, even relatively small bed areas can be optimally used. If you also note which plant neighbors get along well, you can almost always do without chemical pesticides.
Mixed cultures are less susceptible to pests
Examples of the correct classification
If you follow the old growing rule of dividing the area of the vegetable garden into four areas, you will save yourself a lot of planning work when it comes to crop rotation. This prevents one-sided use of nutrients, the soil does not leach out and you save on fertiliser. Each year one area includes:
- Heavy consumers such as celery, leeks, cabbage or kohlrabi.
- The middle eaters. These include carrots, fennel, onions, garlic, many salads, radishes and radishes.
- Peas, beans, lamb's lettuce for the weak eaters. Many herbs also belong to this group.
- A bed is planted with soil-supporting plants such as buckwheat or phacelia. These bring leaf mass and thus humus into the soil and loosen the soil with their far-reaching roots.
Examples of useful and unfavorable mixed cultures
In nature, too, plants of different species unite to pool their defenses and fight off pathogens and pests more effectively. You can also take advantage of this with mixed cultures in your home vegetable patch. Thorough planning of the vegetable garden sets the course for a successful harvest.
Here are some examples of good plant neighborhoods:
| bush beans | Cucumbers, cabbage, lettuce, kohlrabi, chard, radishes, celery, tomatoes |
|---|---|
| peas | Cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, onions and dill |
| potatoes | Broad beans, kohlrabi, spinach |
| cabbage | Beans, peas, cucumbers, leeks, carrots, radishes, lettuce, celery, spinach |
| leek | Strawberries, cabbage, kohlrabi, carrots, salsify, celery, tomatoes |
| tomatoes | Beans, garlic, cabbage, leeks, carrots, lettuce, radishes, spinach |
| onions | Cucumbers, strawberries, carrots, kohlrabi, beets |
Certain species, on the other hand, hinder their growth and take care of themselves. If you plant them next to each other, the harvest will be poor. These are for example:
| beans | Peas, Garlic, Leeks, Onions |
|---|---|
| cucumbers | Potatoes, radishes, tomatoes |
| garlic | French beans, peas, cabbage |
| lettuce | parsley, celery |
| Kohlrabi | cabbage |
| spinach | Cauliflower, Beetroot |
| tomatoes | Potatoes, peas, cucumbers |
tips
Lay out the beds with a width of 1.20 meters. In between there is a path about 30 centimeters wide, which you can cover with stones or wooden boards, for example. This allows you to easily reach the middle of the bed from both sides, which makes work noticeably easier.