[Sheena]

from an article in today's Telegraph;

Does companion planting work?

There have been a number of trials to find out whether one type of plant growing near another helps ward off pests and diseases. Apart from one or two exceptions, it all seems to be "unhelpful tosh" to quote Bob Sherman, director of gardens and gardening from Garden Organics. They have carried out a series of tests: summer savory with broad beans, beetroots with onions, and several others, and found no proof that any of them worked.

One that is widely practised, however, is growing French marigolds in the greenhouse to stop whitefly building up, and there does seem to be some evidence that this works, as long as the marigolds are in flower.

A Dr Coaker from Cambridge also did research on plant associations in the Eighties, and found that cabbages closely planted with dwarf French beans did confuse the cabbage root fly to such an extent that quite a few flew out of the crop altogether. Additionally, the dense planting provided ideal cover for ground beetles who adore cabbage root fly eggs.

Read the rest of the article here.

[Trillium]

What I don't get is if it's all 'unhelpful tosh', then why have a number of companion plantings been proven to successfully work in the article? From Mr Sherman's planting combinations listed in the article, it's as if he deliberately mismatched plants to ensure failure. Bet he's got a book ready to publish supposedly disproving companion planting.  :roll:

[brucesgirl]

I agree with Trillium. It's hardly an objective approach to the experiment.