This is the first year I have tried to create guilds of plants in the garden. I added a dozen young fruit trees to the front this year, and I started each of them off with growing companions suggested by folks who know a whole lot more about permaculture than I do. Each bare-root tree was planted with something that would help fix nitrogen, like the peas pictured here, something deep rooted that would help accumulate minerals, a root crop to help break up the clay soil, use the space well and provide leaves for eating, shade, and mulch, and something from the Allium family.
Each guild also has it’s own ollas for irrigation since we’re in an arid climate in yet another drought year and evaporation is not our friend. You can see the top of the terra cotta ollas sticking up. The white stopper on top helps stop evaporation and keeps lizards and slugs out of the water. Lots of compost and mulch was added around the growing area, but not up against the trunk of the young tree. They apparently need some breathing room where the trunk meets the soil.
Now that it’s July, the guilds have shifted from peas to beans for nitrogen, and from compost to a green mulch of leaves from squash, cucumbers, melons or sweet potatoes. I have also added an “aromatic pest confuser” to each guild. This is usually an herb that has a strong scent, something I like in the garden anyway, and which can be used to essentially hide the plants damaging insects may be looking for. Each of my young squash plants is mulched twice in the spring with rosemary cuttings for this same reason. It may seem a little weird, but no squash borers have turned up to call me on it. ;-)
This young peach tree has basil, carrots, leeks, chamomile, squash, and a lettuce plant in it’s guild. I am going to add perennial runner beans to fix nitrogen. Behind the tree, you can see the long, flat leaves of the horseradish patch. I may see if I can encourage the horseradish to expand away from the tree roots, but for now, they all appear very happy together. This tiny tree even produced three gorgeous fruit this spring. I expected it to take several years before I got to taste these peaches, so that was a very welcome surprise and I’m taking it as a good sign.
If you want to start a guild of plants around any of your trees to create a supportive growing neighborhood, it’s very easy to get started:
1. Choose a perennial nitrogen fixer, like a runner bean, or add annual nitrogen fixers such as peas in spring, beans in summer, peas again in fall.
2. Choose root crops or deep-rooted herbs that will reach down into the subsoil and help bring nutrients up to where the other plants in the guild can share them. Comfrey is a perennial favorite of permaculture fans. Borage is another one that requires no work at all to grow.
3. Choose aromatic pest confusers, herbs that you will want to smell and maybe eat yourself that help keep pests away from your guild. I like Lemon Balm, oregano, basil, and thyme.
4. Grow a living mulch that will contribute food for you as well as shade and leaves to mulch in place to keep the soil moisture consistent for the guild.
5. Enjoy!
What are your favorite plants to use in guilds or as companions for other crops in your garden? I would love to hear about them in the comments.
Many of the fruit tree guilds started this spring are doing very well right now. The grouping around the ‘Eva’s Pride’ peach still has summer leeks, carrots, basil, a ‘Rugosa’ squash, lettuce, and the last remains of the chamomile all growing nicely. The squash is not as vigorous as the one planted nearby that doesn’t share space with other plants that close, but it’s producing squash.
Today I pulled all the Morning Glory I could get my hands on, the spent onions and other small plants lost to the drought and refreshed the bed with compost and some Eden Valley Blend Organic Garden Soil, which I’ve never tried before. It’s nice to work with and doesn’t smell up the car too badly. Normally I would have used FoxFarm Ocean Forest soil but the nursery was out. I added a second good-sized ollas to the opposite corner of the bed and seeded in some new guild members. This time I chose cumin, beets, ‘He Shi Ko’ bunching onions, ‘Glorious Gleam’ nasturtium, ‘Dolico’ bush cow peas, and “Petis Pois’ bush peas. (Surely one of the legumes will be happy with the weather if the other is not.)
From Dirt to Dinner 