i'm still fuzzy on how far apart plants that are bad companions should be located. just one eg.: i want to plant peas and garlic. do they need to be in completely separated beds? or a certain distance apart in the same bed? is there a general rule of thumb for distances, or is it dependent on the types of plants? is there any useful literature on this? any help would be appreciated, kat
Re: how far apart for companion planting? Garlic doesn't get along with any other plants, as far as I know. Why not just put it in a bed by itself? After all, you usually plant it in the fall. Sue
Re: how far apart for companion planting? I'd argue garlic should be just about everytwhere - I plant mine under all my fruit trees and only "harvest" the green leaves - let the bulbs grow into a thick mass as for peas and garlic - about 30-45cm apart should be OK - that's about the root spread - and if they really don't like each other the roots won't go near each other
Re: how far apart for companion planting? reading my companion planting book (Judith Collins), peas are givers - fixing nitrogen, and I imagine that alliums that inhibit peas use this up too much for them. I think that they also inhabit the same portion of the soil, close to the surface. You could try a nice little experiment. Have an area for garlic and for peas and observe what happens where they cross over, you might find that the garlic is improved. Plant more peas for a good crop. or else, keep them in separate beds. We have a 6 bed rotation and we grow all the alliums together, the peas etc are separate. Peas like radish, cucumber, beans, sweet corn and potatoes. If you are planting now beware of frost on your pea flowers. Some broad beans might protect them. Good luck, T