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The largest bed in the garden is reserved for the potato plants. But they don't have to be alone in growing their tubers. Other vegetable plants can thrive among their lush greenery without reducing the yield. On the contrary: if the right partners are combined, everyone benefits. The interaction is even good for the floor. And pests and diseases usually stay away. A planting plan helps to make optimal use of the time frame and available space. This is how mixed culture works with potatoes.
mixed culture
In earlier centuries, the cultivation of vegetables and fruit was more laborious. The tools and remedies that we have today were neither so numerous on the market nor affordable for everyone. However, the observations showed the farmers that some plant species got along well with each other. Knowing this, they were able to group the different strains into conducive neighborhoods. The harvest volume and fruit quality have increased significantly. That was the birth of mixed culture. In fact, it is not a new invention. For today's hobby gardeners, however, it is a new discovery or it can become one in the future. Since then it has been known which neighbors the potato prefers. The modern lore of agriculture may only gradually provide the scientific explanation for it.
Mixed culture of potatoes
There are compelling reasons why you should use intercropping when planting potatoes. It's not just about optimal use of space. Although this also plays a decisive role for many small home gardens. The benefit that this form of cultivation can bring us is far greater:
- the scent of the neighboring plant drives away pests
- Disease can be more difficult to spread
- the nutrients in the soil are used optimally
- Soil does not leach out on one side
- enables multiple harvests per year
Good potato neighbors
Vegetable varieties that form a particularly favorable plant community may grow directly next to each other. In the case of Solanum tuberosum, as the potato plant is called botanically, these are:
- horseradish
- peppermint
- valerian
- Kohlrabi
- bush beans
- broad beans
- Caraway seed
- Nasturtium
- Corn
- spinach
These plants get along well in mixed culture not only with potatoes, but also with each other. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with planting several good neighbors near the potatoes if necessary. Be it in the neighboring bed or mixed up in the same bed.
tip: Although not a vegetable, the marigold is a very useful flower. In the potato bed, its scent reliably drives away the dreaded potato beetle.
Bad potato neighbors
Solanum tuberosum is a so-called nightshade plant. Mutual incompatibility applies to all vegetables in this family. Aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins and cucumbers are bad neighbors for potatoes. Beetroot, sunflowers, peas and celery are still considered bad neighbors. None of them should share the bed with the potato, nor move into one in the immediate vicinity. All other vegetables that are not listed as good or bad neighbors can be described as more neutral. If necessary, you can try putting them in the potato patch and gain your own experience with them.
Potato as a heavy feeder
The most favorable neighbor is of no use to the potato if it does not find enough nutrients in the soil for its tuber formation. A nutrient-rich bed must be provided for in the planting plan for this heavy feeder. But simply fertilizing properly is not the best way to proceed. Ideally, the total area under cultivation is divided into three areas: for heavy feeders, medium feeders and light feeders. They alternate each year in this order. Only when weak consumers have been harvested from a bed is it enriched with compost. Then it is ready again for the heavily consuming potato. Some cheap neighbors such as corn also benefit from the good nutrient supply.
tip: When dividing the beds, don't just pay attention to sufficient nutrients. The potato also needs plenty of sunshine.
pre and post culture
Strictly speaking, mixed culture means the simultaneous cultivation of different varieties in one bed area. But even the potato, which remains in a bed for a long time from planting to harvest, leaves enough usable time before and after. The fast-growing lettuce, kohlrabi, radishes or spinach are ideal as a pre-culture. After harvesting the tubers, the empty bed can be planted with winter cabbage, for example. New potatoes in particular clear the bed so early that it borders on a waste to leave it unused until next year.
crop rotation
Observing crop rotation applies to potatoes as well as to most other types of vegetables. Only a few are allowed to regularly root in the same place. The potato tuber has to change place every year. Only after four years is she allowed to return to her old place. This crop rotation should be observed so that the soil is not exhausted too much and diseases are prevented. In the planting plan, also take into account the crop rotation of the intended potato neighbors.
planting plan
The planting plan for Solanum tuberosum is not just about choosing the potato variety, the bed and the neighboring plants and recording planting times. A planting plan has an overview of the entire vegetation period and takes into account the planting of past and future garden years. Possible pre- and post-culture, crop rotation and the nutrient requirements of the potato should be taken into account. Creating a planting plan helps to harmoniously combine all the aspects listed above. Punctually at the beginning of the planting season, each work step then only has to be implemented at the right time as planned. Below you will find four suggestions for a mixed culture with the potato.
Potatoes, beans and peppermint
Potato and bush beans get along well as a mixed culture. There is no competition for the nutrients, because beans are considered weak consumers. But both form plenty of greenery and take up space in the bed. How about alternating rows in the bed: one row of potatoes, one row of beans. You can use the available space even better if you plant broad beans. They climb upwards, which is why the rows of potatoes can be denser. It is ideal if you choose a medium late or late potato variety.
- Plant potatoes from mid-April
- leave enough space for the row of beans
- Plant the beans from mid-May
- in one step with piling up the potatoes
- Place one or more peppermint plants at the edge of the bed
- this makes them more accessible for the ongoing harvest
You can also wait until mid-May to plant the potatoes and plant them together with the beans. Conversely, this is not recommended, since the beans need "freedom from frost". Until the intercropping can start with the potatoes, you can sow your desired salads on the fallow area in early spring. Kohlrabi cultivated directly after the winter already form sufficiently large, tasty tubers at Easter.
Potatoes, corn and nasturtium
Corn plants are good neighbors for potatoes. Corn grows tall while the potato forms its foliage close to the ground. In this way, the bed can be planted more closely. However, don't forget to give the soil a good amount of organic fertilizer beforehand. Both plants need plenty of nutrients. If you combine new potatoes with corn, the use of space is ideal.
- first plant the early potatoes in March
- maintain normal row spacing
- Sow corn from mid-May to mid-June
- in the middle between two rows of potatoes
- early potatoes are harvested from mid-June
- the corn plants are then 10-30 cm high
- pile up the corn while searching for tubers
- from then on the corn takes over the bed
- Sow climbing nasturtiums near some corn plants
tip: Not only the nasturtium finds the best hold on the corn stalk. Climbing bean varieties also like this living support. Wait until the corn has reached a height of about 30 cm before sowing. Only use every third corn stalk as a climbing aid so that the bean leaves have enough space.
Potatoes, horseradish, valerian and cumin
Only a few copies of some plants are needed. Because it's not worth giving them a whole bed. Horseradish, valerian and caraway can be planted in the bed as a mixed culture with the potatoes without hesitation. Just interrupt the row of potatoes and plant one of the aforementioned plants.
- Sow caraway from April
- Put horseradish root cuttings from mid-April to mid-May
- Valerian can be planted from spring to fall
- after the potato harvest, the other plants remain
- they are harvested later, sometimes only in the following year
tip: After the potato tubers are out of the ground, you can sow the free areas with lamb's lettuce, for example. You can harvest it all winter long on frost-free days. A few autumn kohlrabi can also be planted.
potatoes and spinach
Potatoes and spinach are not only a good combination on the dinner plate. The two also get along well in the garden. While potatoes mainly form their tubers in summer, spinach is a leafy vegetable for spring and autumn. So it is ideal for a pre- and post-culture. But the planting times can also overlap.
- Sow spinach in spring
- each in rows with larger distances
- put potatoes in between from April
- let the spinach stand
- harvest in the following weeks
- at the latest when the potato plants are approx. 20 cm high
tip: Larger harvest quantities of spinach can be frozen well for the winter.