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  • From: Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Commercial Scale Companion Planting (was: selling to rest..)
  • Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:18:27 -0400

"It would be great if you could share your companion planting project with
the list."

OK, we are doing four projects this year. One is in its second year.

The two year project is: Allium and Brassica using 30' long beds each 24"
wide with a 10" foot path. Spring production will include three varieties of
cabbage (8 beds already transplanted), high density green onions (from sets)
and high density garlic (started last October). We then direct seed a single
row of Anethum graveolens (Dill) in between the staggered heads of cabbage (2
rows per 24" bed staggered with the row of dill between them. Its a fairly
complex planting system and you need to be on your game but once you
experience it all becomes simple. The joy of it is, harvesting is SIMPLE,
which almost always the bane of companion planting for commercial sale. Last
year we did it without a control group this year we will.

We will do this again for fall with 1/2 cabbage and 1/2 brussels sprouts,
planted to take garlic later in October with a side-by-side planting of dill
(each row of Brassica has dill on either side of it. Thus a 24" bed would be
dill-cabbage-dill-cabbage-dill.

We will also be trying out:

Brassica (Kale) and Ocimum (Basil) (spring/summer)
Brassica (Kale) and Petroselinum hortense (Parsley) (spring/summer)
and
Ipomoea batatas (Sweet Potato) and Armoracia rusticana (Horseradish)

We are thinking about trying to take a stab at midsummer spinach and yellow
wax bean system where the beans are planted a couple days later than the
spinach and then in about 12 days start helping retain moisture and provide
shade for a july /august production (just to see if it can be done).

SO...that is what we are doing. Our garden manager Kate Cook has taken the
reigns of the garden and doing a fantastic job reporting to the public on it,
both via OEFFA here in Ohio (catch her brief article in the next OEFFA
Newsletter...more designed for the home grower) and on In The Garden with Ron
Wilson (AM 550) from time to time as a regular guest.

Last year we were managing about 400 heads of cabbage by removing worms by
hand. Labor was not intense and was an easy task to give to one of our
workshare volunteers. What few worms were collected (once established) were
fed to chickens off site in the City. :)

It can be scaled up or down and all aspects can be done mechanically from
tractor. The next stage will be tractor but right now we simply do not have
enough ground available for this part of our business. Maybe two more years,
then its simply a matter of setting your gear to match the system and
expanding the beds a bit to accommodate the wheelbase. The goal is to plant
enough that you economically cover your losses so that zero labor is spent on
insect removal and you tolerate a small loss, which COULD be sold to someone
that would process the cabbage and did not care about quality of leaves
over-all if discounted.

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106
http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com
rstewart AT zoomtown.com





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