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companion plants (for heritage apple pear plum) seedsaving

Wed, 01/09/2010 - 12:41 — alivealiveo

 kia ora koutou!

i'm coodinating a weeding and planting session for a project for big green challenge for the steiner playgroup/kindy/school in maia..

we'll be weeding onsite tomorrow  and i wanna get some companion plants ready - 

we are seeking companion plants( seeds or plants) sources  for  our orchard trees  to repel bugs, encourage pollination,  be deep taprooted fertilisers for chopping leaves onto dripline area etc:
 
 equisetum( horsetail) ,
wallflowers,
 sweet cicely,
 phacelia,
chives
borage,
nasturtium
tansy
garlic, 
onions
comfrey
calendula
basil
 
and any other good companion plants you happen to know about for  under plums...  the more variety the better -  but not the toxic ones like foxglove.... obviously some of this list we will be able to get ourselves but probably not in enough quantity. i want to mass plant and cover the entire area under the trees  once we've put down weedsuppressing odt/mulch etc so no weeds can reinvade...
 
also cheapest current sources of:   sheep /cow/pig/fowl  poo,( thanks for the post on bloems!) heaps of newspaper  and straw/peastraw/hay  as it is looking like we wont get it all from school/kindy community contacts...
 
cheers for any pointers you can give me!
alice
 

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Wed, 01/09/2010 - 12:46 — nick h

others

 hi alice, have you considered others such as mallow, lupins, cardoon, alexander, fennel? all edible, most fast growing, diverse and easy to source. 

nick

Wed, 01/09/2010 - 18:39 — bart

phacelia

hi alice, in addition to what's on our seed list, i have a decent amount of Phacelia seeds that i could supply to you guys...i just realised that i forgot to add them to the seed list! along with dill...

so far our seed list has focused mostly on veges and have not yet branched out into flowers and companion plants, but we are definitley looking to get more into this in the near future. we just need people to donate in some seeds.

i could probably also suss you guys out with some comfrey root cuttings. be careful where you plant comfrey though! pretty hard to get rid of although it doesn't spread too much.

Wed, 01/09/2010 - 23:09 — alivealiveo

 ah that's  champion , nick!

 ah that's  champion , nick! havent heard of alexander but will google and see.. the others i'll put a request out for within the steiner community and assume that taste nature can get the rest of the seeds in, if not our own seed list?

cheers!a

Wed, 01/09/2010 - 23:18 — alivealiveo

... and mallow, lupins, cardoon, alexander, fennel?

   many cheers bart, yes, the phacelia would be grand,  and what would you have of the above of nick's suggestions? or if not, d'you know where i can roadside or otherwise legally harvest seeds? i'm well supplied with fennel:) and will get back to you on comfrey asi've had a few offers there..

and do you happen to know if  the otago shoreside lupins have the best companionqualities or do i need ( o heck poor me:) to go for the trippy queenstown tecnicoloured ones?

Thu, 02/09/2010 - 11:54 — bart

I'm not too sure about

I'm not too sure about lupins, it would depend on how they are being used as companions. If they are to be planted around the base of trees I would have thought that their bushy nature may make fruit harvesting / pruning of fruit trees a bit difficult. As for the nitrogen fixing properties of them I'd imagine they would all be similar to each other, but if you enjoy the looks of the more colourful ones more then maybe give those a whirl... aesthetic enjoyment of things is one of the joys of life after all right!

Thu, 02/09/2010 - 21:40 — alivealiveo

lupins and also sweet cicely and buckwheat?

 all good, bart,  will plant bushier stuff on perimeters,  

have just realised that we may need to start out with the less woody companion plants anyway depending on howmuch compost i can get, ( we're also odt-ing over couchgrass as we go) so do you happen to have any buckwheat, sweet cicely, alyssum, borage?

 

Tue, 07/09/2010 - 22:12 — Judy M

Buckwheat and horsepoo

Hi Alice, if you can get out to Waikouaiti I can show you where to get lots of horse manure for nothing. Also, I have some buckwheat and alfalfa seeds to spare.

Judy

Sat, 18/09/2010 - 21:58 — alivealiveo

horse poo in waikouaiti and buckwheat/alfalfa

 yyipyipyip! thanks judy for offer, have just sorted another kindy parent, stephen whiffen,  who can pick up horse poo and buckwheat and alfalfa seed and bring it back to the kindy/school garden/orchard site in maia  for me, how do we get to you? and  can i forward your reply message to him? best ph contact now is at kindy is:4712163 ( clare will take a message for me)... fo you need donation for the seed?

many many appreciations for this!

cheers alice