North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Hélène Dessureault <interverbis@videotron.ca>]

To add more information about the previous posting about interplanting 
veggies with fruit trees, I would like to mention that
1 - my apple trees are on a hillside facing south
2 - I plant a squash on the south side, the trees are semi dward or under as 
far as size goes, and no there are not too much shade. For the very shady 
trees, it would be necessary to plant a little further from the trunk, drip 
line for instance. I plant just about any type of trailing squash that would 
take space. This year, I have hubbards, emerald cup (a smaller turban type 
(2 lbs)), butternut, acorn, vegetable marrow. The zuchini (on a bush) stays 
in the garden. Last year, I had squashes until May, all grown around apple 
trees.
3. It forced me to improve the soil around the trees, which is of course 
very beneficial for the trees on the long run. (I had poor gravely soil, to 
begin with).
For each squash plant, I turn in a bucket of compost with manure mixed in 
with 1/4 cup lime as squash like a high ph... I also mulch the squash, which 
also mulch the tree although I don't like straw or vegetation too close to 
the trunk as I have to watch for borers...
4. I do not spray the trees... except dormant oil.

Hélène, zone 3-4
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 10:58 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] companion planting for space


> > For the last tree years, I have planted a squash or two with each apple 
> > tree every year, thereby saving a lot of space in the vegetable garden.
>
>
> That's a neat idea, but isn't it too shady? What kind of squash do you
> plant?
>
> I like summer squash, but I don't know if they'd fit under my dwarf
> fruit trees. But something like cucumbers might, since they stay low and
> just trail all over the place. Still, as I say, I wonder if they'd get
> enough sun. It's deep, dark shade under most of my trees (they're
> crowded together pretty closely, too).
>
> Another problem is that my fruit trees would be hard to spray, since I
> wouldn't want to kill the bees visiting squash flowers. Last year, I
> removed the strawberries I had around my apples and plums. They grew
> great there, but I couldn't spray the trees when the strawberries were
> blooming - and I couldn't get around the trees to spray at other times,
> without walking all over the strawberry patch.
>
>
> >  It's an incentive to improve the soil around the trees as the squash 
> > requires fertile soil,
>
>
> In my case, that would be another disadvantage, since the last thing I
> want is more fertile soil around my fruit trees! I have a hard enough
> time keeping them small as it is.
>
> Still, I'm running out of places to plant fruit (I'd like to try
> blueberries sometime) and still have a garden, so I'd love to find a way
> to combine the two, in some locations.
>
> Bill
> Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
>
> --
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