{"id":22887,"date":"2019-07-20T13:12:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T11:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=22887"},"modified":"2019-07-20T13:20:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T11:20:00","slug":"companion-perennials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=22887","title":{"rendered":"Companion perennials"},"content":{"rendered":"

It always amazes me how edible plants in my garden find their own best companions andystem create together really productive microsystems, often on really marginal parts of the garden that I never imagined could be so productive, such is the magic of perennials!
\nHere are\u00a0 a couple of videos showing two of these areas:<\/p>\n

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  1. The edge of what was a shady bed previously used to grow annuals. I planted Hosta sieboldiana<\/em> and Rumex scutatus<\/em> on the edge of this bed with an Onoclea sensibilis<\/em> (sensitive fern \/ perlebregne), one of the species sometimes eaten as fiddleheads. The shade encouraged first a Hablitzia to self-seed and next to it a large stinging nettle.\u00a0 A siberian hogweed (Heracleum sibiridum<\/em>) also found a place in the mix!\u00a0 Perennial kales are growing on the rest of this bed this year! The video starts with the flower umbel of a pink flowered Heracleum sphondylium<\/em> (common hogweed):
  2. The second area is at the end of one of my originally annual beds where I struggled to grow vegetables as it was very dry and under the shade of a large birch tree. Here I planted a number of Hablitzia plants 12 years ago and they love this spot producing good yields and climbing up into the birch tree in summer with the help of stakes I provided for them. Now, hogweeds have moved in (self-seeded), both Heracleum sibiricum<\/em> and H. sphondylium <\/em>and the Hablitzia<\/em> is now using the 2.5m high hogweeds as climbing support!
    http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Hablitzia-and-Heracleum.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n