It's always a pleasure to see some companion planting in action. I visited my parents over the weekend - my first venture out of Greater Manchester in six months, all masked up for the journey - out into fresher air and slower living where I probably belong. We visited the spacious, meticulous gardens of Castle Howard on Sunday afternoon, where one veg bed has been arranged by someone who obviously knows a thing or two about combining plants. While its neat-and-tidiness may not to be your liking, if you look past that you can see the spirit of permaculture at work
Nasturtiums in the corner of the plot, along with marigolds, distract and repel the aphids and other pests that would otherwise be scoffing on the brassicas (beetroot and kale). Here's some almost entirely pest-invisible kale:
Curly and magnificent.
Beans and squash, perhaps going for a "three sisters" (or two sisters, anyway) effect - perhaps not, but looking very happy together all the same. Planting the beans a bit closer to the sweet peas trellis may have been part of the plan - sweet peas, in any case, will attract pollinators to the beans.
Their website refers to an "an ornamental vegetable garden styled on a French kitchen garden, known as a "Potager", where vegetables, fruits and flowers intermingle and are formally laid out for ornamental purposes," which I can only assume is what this is. So we have a cross-pollination of purposes, if you will: aesthetic and organic. Nothing wrong with that.
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