African Blue Basil not only keeps a ton of bees in my garden, but also loads of beneficial wasps. I haven’t had a single caterpillar in my garden since I introduced the basil.
I let my flat-leaf parsley go to seed this summer (which it does rapidly in the heat) and the hoverflies (syrphid flies) loved it. Don't forget to let your dill, cilantro, fennel, etc., bolt and go to flower to attract beneficials. The goal is not to eliminate all pests, but to create biodiversity in the garden where there are some pests to feed the beneficials who come to eat the pests, and so on. The hover flies come for the flowers, and then they lay eggs from which their larvae emerge to eat the aphids, or other delicacies. You know, that whole circle of life thing. (Feel free to break into song)
Interplanting works well with my adhd. I plan and map where I’m going to plant things then when It comes time I plop it wherever there looks like there is space 🤷🏻♀️
A great book on this subject which looks at the science is "Plant Partners: Science Based Companion Planting by Jessica Walliser. I love a wild garden with lots of interplanting and flowers and herbs and I think this is the the easiest way to waylay pests and attract the bugs you want. It also looks beautiful (or horrible if you are a die-hard precision planter - it's a personality thing). Flowers like cosmos and calendula will readily self-seed and come back every year (also dill and coriander, whose blooms attract those tiny beneficial wasps) - the hardest thing for me is pulling out these volunteers which can take over your garden if you aren't careful.
This was my first year of being very intentional about companion planting to mitigate pests and I have to say I’ve yet to spray anything in my garden so far. I could have sprayed my cabbage because it was a battle to keep the cabbage worms at bay but was determined not to spay. Picking them off and hosing off the aphids worked well enough. Overall I was really happy with the results of this method and the produce I was able to harvest and will certainly do it again. Happy Fall gardening everyone.
The thought popped into my head that the companion planting suggestions you give seem to be bug equivalents to "eat this, not that" and "nothing to see here, move on". Great video, thanks.
I’ve been experimenting with companionship gardening for a few years. I have picked up a lot of tips from your videos. From one of your other videos, I interspersed my herbs in my beds. The technique worked great. I also did a lot of disbursed planting, planting my cabbage in a lot of different places. I didn’t have nearly as many of the green caterpillars as other summers. Next year, I will try alyssums. They are pretty and smell great :)). Thank you for another great video.
I raise canolope.....My canolope crawls about 5' in all directions....A few years ago I had about 12' of beets in the row beside my canolope and the only place that the canolope didn't crawl over was the beets no canolope touching any of the beets and lots of healthy canolope running every other direction.
I’m going to try and plant chives with my carrots and also grow some cosmos flowers in my garden thank you for the hints👍just love your videos so helpful. Keep up the great work .Diane from Washington state
I tried companion planting for the first time this past summer (marigolds at the base of my tomatoes) and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. I will try some of the ideas for my fall garden, too. Thanks for showing what the hover fly larvae look like; I think I have inadvertently picked some off in the past thinking they were small worms, oops.
I didn't know ow what they looked like before this picture. I saw them eating the aphids and knew they must be good guys. So I looked them up and thats how i knew!
Marigolds and basil for tomatoes, however, marigolds do nothing for rabbits. I had a rabbit nest in my tall birdies container between 2 marigolds next to my cucumber !
@@master11pizza63 Yeah, I thought my marigolds and/or basil helped keep the tomato hornworms away last year. This year, having a ton of seed from last year’s dried marigolds, I grew even more marigolds. Lots. And basil. But had a lot of hornworms. It was cool to see the little white silky cocoons on the body of the hornworms from the parasitic wasp larvae that ate their way out from under the hornworm’s skin. Maybe next year There will be a lot of these tiny wasps to maintain control?
As a new gardener I really appreciated this video. I heard about companion planting but I never knew exactly which plants do well with which plants. Thanks for the information. It will help me when planning out the garden.
I' m glad you did this video. It is very useful. I always wondered what that squiggly little bug was that was eating aphids on my milkweed. But I knew they were good bugs. I just recently discovered that they are the larva of the hover fly. It's good to do research before randomly killing all insects. They're not all bad. Thanks for sharing this video. I'll be watching it again for sure!
Thanks for the information on interplanting. Lots of great information packed in the video. Regarding Monarch butterflies our local gardening group is propagating narrow-leaf milkweed from seed to increase the availability for Monarch eggs and larvae. I noticed a lot of lady bugs and hover flies on cilantro plants last season especially when it went to flower. I’m going to try it, cosmos, allysum and alliums to intersperse in this season’s Fall garden. Thanks again for the excellent content.
I love cilantro and replanting myself right now as the HEAT in Texas kept killing it ...found out its better in early spring which is still hot here , but fall it is starting to get cooler compared to 10yrs ago . Thank you ...
I'm a noob, only a second year gardener with just a handful of successes under my belt, and one of those successes has been carrots with bunching onions planted in a 30 gal felt pot in bullseye formation: carrots in the center, onions round the edge. I planted last October, using the 'board' method, and now, just in time for a new planting (a year later), I've eaten all the onions and most of the carrots. (I have just enough carrots for second year flowers.) I just pulled'em as I ate'em, left it all in the pot. Texas 9A/B beachfront
At the base of all 10 tomato plants (in containers) I’ve planted seeds of alyssum and basil in half circles. They’ve sprouted so we will be ready for Spring 2022.
I used to hate seeing the larger wasps like yellow jackets, paper wasps and red wasps around my living spaces... But then one day I saw one attack and kill a caterpillar on my pepper plant. I no longer hate them. 🤣 I would love to attract some smaller (less scary) predatory wasps to my garden, though!
You know I did better last year with my cabbage by planting them all around the garden, pests hit some and then left others alone so im gonna try that again this year.
Good info, and I do follow a lot of it. I have had issues growing some crops. It also makes sense to value which crops to spend the time growing versus buying some crops at the store. I love to grow cucumber, radish, spinach and dill in the fall, but I have trouble with lettuce and since its not expensive , I buy it at the store. I had issues growing beetroot here this spring, I will try again this fall but if it fails I have no trouble buying beetroot at the store.Growing in 9b Sacramento here, growing tomatoes into December, no prob.
There were quite a few tricks here I didn't know about, thanks so much. I have always planted marigolds with my tomatoes, its something my mom taught me. I couldn't tell you if there is actually a scientific base to it but it I don't seem to have any trouble with bugs on my tomatoes.
🤣🤣🤣 Talk about confused, you should see the cabbage butterflies flitting around my collards and cabbage beds that are covered with mesh. They can't get in but keep coming back, circling over and over, multiple times all day. It's fun to watch!
You should make a color landscape drawing the describes these aspects in your garden, it's really not hard I was making them in the first year of architecture school. just use a large size paper like the D which is 24x36 or larger so you can update it like a map.
Sounds great...except planting in Sept. makes alyssum, cosmos and other plants like dill difficult to sow now. However great for next spring (in France). Still love wstching you and thanks for all the great info
Most of my second crop of peas are doing pooly. But in late summer it is 45 degrees at night and rarely reaches 70 degrees in the afternoon. Nasturium and marigolds helped me a lot this year, though, with many of the plants.
I first watched this video a few days ago BUT I was just outside talking to my potted turmeric about where it wants to live and you'll never believe what I found! My first volunteer hairy vetch of the season! Weeeeeeeeeeee! I just had to come back to share.
This was a great video. Great infirmation. Thank you..i am adding more flowers in my fall garden so Alyssum and cosmos are a must. Do you know any plants that will help add more beneficial nematodes to soil in containers to prevent Grubs?
Hey Brian I have a TON of grubs in my raised beds. Should I get rid of them? If so, could you please suggest some ways to do that? Love, love, love your channel!!!
One plant that I got was milkweed. Not only does it attracts monarchs and other beneficial insects, which benefits my garden, their Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed. So it’s a win-win situation, but it also works like a trap plant that all the aphids that come and devastate my garden at least twice a year( I’m currently dealing with them right now in December in South Texas in 9a) and they’re only attacking the milkweed despite it being crammed up against okra plant. I don’t do anything for the aphids because I have a lot of ladybugs, and I even allow a wasp, what we call a yellow jacket here in Texas, to live on my property even though I’m highly allergic because they also eat the aphids, grasshoppers and caterpillars and thankfully leave me alone. I did so well I bought seeds for milkweed a different kind so hopefully the yellow jackets won’t be eating the monarch caterpillars.
We have serious problems with gophers, rabbits, ground squirrels and fruit rats. Some things that DON’T work: mothballs, chewing gum, dried blood, urine, dryer sheets, gopher purge, peanut butter, corn meal, gluten, red pepper, aromatic oils (mint, lavender etc), garden hose, gopher bombs, road flares, bar soaps, metal stakes, electronic signal generators and many more!
@@NextLevelGardening At the risk of being commercial, GopherHawk trap, Squirrelanator live trap, electronic zapper traps, gopher wire, coyotes and neighborhood cats.
That list was hilarious and I felt it deeply. The magic bullet for me this year has been the motion detecting sprinkler. Tomato god Craig Lehoullier recommended it on a podcast. So basic but so perfect.
@@jennifervert2601 we strongly considered that!!! We looked into barn cat programs and pondered converting one of our two, pampered indoor cats to a hard nosed, scrappy critter hunter but alas, the sprinkler has treated us well. The slugs, worms and caterpillars on the other hand, I'm looking for a bigger boat for them.
My garden spider population this year has been insane and they've actually gone and taken care of my cabbage loopers before I get my bf to hand pick them off for me! Always thankful when we don't have to touch those nasty things. (Caterpillars, slugs and snails are my mortal enemies) 😅 Attracting birds for caterpillars is another great option too!
Those parasitic wasps are kind of cool, seeing the little white silk cocoons from their larvae eating their way out from under the skin of tomato hornworms.
I love alyssum, it grows all year round where I live so I use it quite a bit. I think of cosmos as a summer flower, are you saying it will grow in fall too? Do you sow seeds or buy seedlings?
In Southern California I just picked up a six-pack of cosmos at the garden center. We have plenty of time to get blooms before a frost (if we get a frost).
Thanks Brian, great information! I do believe in companion planting, next spring I will taking your advise to the bank. I’m going to try starting from seed some of those companion plants. Did I hear calendula is also a good companion plant? Thanks again🌺💚🙃
Interesting. Those hover flies @9:10 look like what I see feasting and eating holes in my strawberries in mid September. I didn’t know what hover flies looked like. I have Alyssum growing that perhaps attracts more, but no brassicas that would benefit. I’ll have to look into them more.
Like Yaya, I did basil with tomatoes this year and really had no problem with the hornworm. The problem with all of these is determining cause/effect. Was the basil in my case really the determining factor for me not having a hornworm problem? I don't know, but I know that for now I'm going to continue the practice of planting basil with my tomatoes.
I’ve had to deal with almost everything this last 2 months. I’ve had grubs in one raised bed, aphids, leaf miners, ants and cabbage loopers and gnats. It almost feels like I’m losing a battle to save my garden 😓
This is my first year for a fall garden. Thanks for the companion planting tips! I hate pests! Not only because they mess up my food but because I can't stand to kill ANYTHING!!
I have not heard you mention green lacewings. They are a generalist predator best known for feeding on aphids, but will also control mites and other soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars, leafhoppers, mealybugs and whiteflies.
As far as complaining planting. How do I incorporate them into square foot gardening. Should I plant a few in squares with veg or in separate squares? Also is using BT and the mosquito bits too much? (both being BT derivatives)
Brian. I had written to you about planting basil in az. I tried inside/outside/changed soil. Fertilizer etc. Now I planted basil with pumpkin and the basil is growing. Companion plant. Idk. I've never planted basil in late august/early September because the temp is still over 100 degrees. I'm thinking it may be the pumpkin. I've never planted pumpkin. Tboughts???
TULLE!!!❌🐛 much cheaper than insect fabric. Must be gentle if you want it to use it from season to season but it has been a game changer against cabbage moths for me!!!♥️
I bought tulle thinking I’d save a bit of money over garden insect netting. It didn’t hold up to the sun - I found holes after a couple of months in the heat, and I hadn’t even handled it after initially putting it up.
I bought a bolt of green tulle on Amazon, and it has held up almost as well as my ag fabric. The only holes are from a clumsy gardener. My rabbits and raccoons don't like it, and it kept the finches off my sunflower plants while I waited for blooms. I'm going to try it for my brassicas. I love that I can water right through it, and see what I'm watering.
I planted marigolds and nasturtiums in my tomato beds this year. It kept away a lot of pests but unfortunately didn't stop the whitefly from causing a major infestation. I never knew about alyssum. I'll add that to my list.
Well, that takes care of the bugs, but what about that cute little critter you showed a couple videos ago? I just came in and all my 12" high Dragon Tongue beans were nothing but sticks. Darn rabbit.
@@NextLevelGardening I've looked into fences, but they are so expensive. Especially with a yard and garden the size I have. Good luck with yours, I can't wait to see your fix.
In Pennsylvania, rabbits ate my bean sprouts. 2 weeks before planting beans, I planted carnations. They liked the carnations better and left the beans alone.
I have queen Anne's lace TAKING OVER MY GARDEN..it was here before I got the garden so if anyone plans on planting it...PLEASE plant with caution as it will take over!!!! Lol
Thanks for all your help over the years! I was wonderfully surprised at how well companion planting worked this summer. I had almost no weeds! I wanted to try planting hairy vetch this summer for the first time. Is it good to plant with most fruits and veggies or should I leave some of my beds free of the hairy vetch? Thanks again!
Hi Brian, thanks for the info! I am in zone 6B on the east coast of Canada -- Nova Scotia and have a small urban garden. The bane of my garden, are slugs and snails. I intersperse crops with Calendula, herbs, etc. but nothing seems to deter these fellows. I even tried surrounding the plantings with thorny stems from my wild roses since I read that that would help. No such luck. I have never used the slug and snail bait on the chance that it might make our (and our neighbors) pets ill. Any ideas? I also deal with the European Fire Ant -- not too bad for the garden, but very painful for the Gardener!
Fire ants aren't great for the garden either. They eat the roots off plants and make the soil look like it's inhospitable! It's like they take all of your beautiful soil, chew it up and it comes out like powder! ☹ I can't stand them and have been bitten more times than I can count. 😠
You might want to get some food grade diatomaceous earth to use on your fire ants. It takes a little while to eliminate the nest, but diligence pays off. Getting rid of most of our ants has eliminated 90% of the aphids because they don't have the ants protecting them anymore.
I am going to get copper scrubber pads and cut them so can wrap around any stems to keep slugs away. Research it to see how people do it. I have lots of the suckered too.
It would be lovely if you displayed the spelling of some of the items you talk about. You talk quickly and it is hard to get the words. Obviously, most people can spell carrots, onions and chives. But a few of the plants and plant groups are harder to spell.
![Summer Walker - Heart Of A Woman [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SFddctbZzw8/mqdefault.jpg)
African Blue Basil not only keeps a ton of bees in my garden, but also loads of beneficial wasps. I haven’t had a single caterpillar in my garden since I introduced the basil.
Nice!
How to tell the beneficial wasp. I have a phobia since I got bit -the wasp somehow got between my foot and flip flop.
@@bycfr08 Most of them are very tiny - don't look at all like the big, scary wasps we usually think of.
@@bycfr08 they’re only a few millimeters in size.
Thank you ,I grow basil ,now I will put some in my Garden also .
I let my flat-leaf parsley go to seed this summer (which it does rapidly in the heat) and the hoverflies (syrphid flies) loved it. Don't forget to let your dill, cilantro, fennel, etc., bolt and go to flower to attract beneficials. The goal is not to eliminate all pests, but to create biodiversity in the garden where there are some pests to feed the beneficials who come to eat the pests, and so on. The hover flies come for the flowers, and then they lay eggs from which their larvae emerge to eat the aphids, or other delicacies. You know, that whole circle of life thing. (Feel free to break into song)
Interplanting works well with my adhd. I plan and map where I’m going to plant things then when It comes time I plop it wherever there looks like there is space 🤷🏻♀️
I plan so hard.... and still do the same 😂 My garden is all containers so at least I can rearrange later if I need to.
A great book on this subject which looks at the science is "Plant Partners: Science Based Companion Planting by Jessica Walliser. I love a wild garden with lots of interplanting and flowers and herbs and I think this is the the easiest way to waylay pests and attract the bugs you want. It also looks beautiful (or horrible if you are a die-hard precision planter - it's a personality thing). Flowers like cosmos and calendula will readily self-seed and come back every year (also dill and coriander, whose blooms attract those tiny beneficial wasps) - the hardest thing for me is pulling out these volunteers which can take over your garden if you aren't careful.
Thanks for the book tip!
Thank you 😊
My lemon balm plant kept all the pests off my potatoe plants in a 12x4 ft bed.
This was my first year of being very intentional about companion planting to mitigate pests and I have to say I’ve yet to spray anything in my garden so far. I could have sprayed my cabbage because it was a battle to keep the cabbage worms at bay but was determined not to spay. Picking them off and hosing off the aphids worked well enough. Overall I was really happy with the results of this method and the produce I was able to harvest and will certainly do it again. Happy Fall gardening everyone.
Cover your cabbage tulle (it is a cloth use in some thing like bridal gowns) the butterfly can not get to your cabbage.
The thought popped into my head that the companion planting suggestions you give seem to be bug equivalents to "eat this, not that" and "nothing to see here, move on". Great video, thanks.
I’ve been experimenting with companionship gardening for a few years. I have picked up a lot of tips from your videos. From one of your other videos, I interspersed my herbs in my beds. The technique worked great. I also did a lot of disbursed planting, planting my cabbage in a lot of different places. I didn’t have nearly as many of the green caterpillars as other summers. Next year, I will try alyssums. They are pretty and smell great :)). Thank you for another great video.
I raise canolope.....My canolope crawls about 5' in all directions....A few years ago I had about 12' of beets in the row beside my canolope and the only place that the canolope didn't crawl over was the beets no canolope touching any of the beets and lots of healthy canolope running every other direction.
Interesting…they must not like high Oxylates…..for a deep dive..Sally K. Norton…interviews on RUclips.
I put basil in every one of my tomato containers and never saw a hookworm!
Yes!
Great idea thank you 😊
Saving this info! Thank you for the extra pictures of what you are talking about!
Planting marigolds worked worked very well. I put them next to my plants to fight nematodes.
I’m going to try and plant chives with my carrots and also grow some cosmos flowers in my garden thank you for the hints👍just love your videos so helpful. Keep up the great work .Diane from Washington state
Same. Just picked up some chives and cosmo seeds.
I have yet to have success growing nasturtiums. Do you have recommendations? I live in zone 9A in Northeast Florida
@@zaria5785
M planning this too…haven’t got the seeds yet. I never knew chives can grow in winter.
I watched companion planting in action a few days ago when I saw the moth land on the marigolds instead of the chard!
Nice!
Thanks for explaining companion planting! I am definitely going to try it.
Hey Brian...do you have a garden calendar? So much info my brain can't remember all this.
I tried companion planting for the first time this past summer (marigolds at the base of my tomatoes) and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. I will try some of the ideas for my fall garden, too. Thanks for showing what the hover fly larvae look like; I think I have inadvertently picked some off in the past thinking they were small worms, oops.
I didn't know ow what they looked like before this picture. I saw them eating the aphids and knew they must be good guys. So I looked them up and thats how i knew!
Marigolds and basil for tomatoes, however, marigolds do nothing for rabbits. I had a rabbit nest in my tall birdies container between 2 marigolds next to my cucumber !
@@master11pizza63 Yeah, I thought my marigolds and/or basil helped keep the tomato hornworms away last year. This year, having a ton of seed from last year’s dried marigolds, I grew even more marigolds. Lots. And basil. But had a lot of hornworms. It was cool to see the little white silky cocoons on the body of the hornworms from the parasitic wasp larvae that ate their way out from under the hornworm’s skin. Maybe next year There will be a lot of these tiny wasps to maintain control?
As a new gardener I really appreciated this video. I heard about companion planting but I never knew exactly which plants do well with which plants. Thanks for the information. It will help me when planning out the garden.
My summer cosmos and alyssum are spent. Wish I had known to restart seeds to go in as companions with the fall plants. Note for next year!
I' m glad you did this video. It is very useful.
I always wondered what that squiggly little bug was that was eating aphids on my milkweed. But I knew they were good bugs. I just recently discovered that they are the larva of the hover fly. It's good to do research before randomly killing all insects. They're not all bad. Thanks for sharing this video. I'll be watching it again for sure!
Awesome information. Very much needed. Thank you 😊
Thanks for the information on interplanting. Lots of great information packed in the video. Regarding Monarch butterflies our local gardening group is propagating narrow-leaf milkweed from seed to increase the availability for Monarch eggs and larvae. I noticed a lot of lady bugs and hover flies on cilantro plants last season especially when it went to flower. I’m going to try it, cosmos, allysum and alliums to intersperse in this season’s Fall garden. Thanks again for the excellent content.
Thanks Bob. That's great news!
I love cilantro and replanting myself right now as the HEAT in Texas kept killing it ...found out its better in early spring which is still hot here , but fall it is starting to get cooler compared to 10yrs ago . Thank you ...
I havent seen one aphid this year. Cosmos work great. I planted them everywhere
I'm a noob, only a second year gardener with just a handful of successes under my belt, and one of those successes has been carrots with bunching onions planted in a 30 gal felt pot in bullseye formation: carrots in the center, onions round the edge. I planted last October, using the 'board' method, and now, just in time for a new planting (a year later), I've eaten all the onions and most of the carrots. (I have just enough carrots for second year flowers.) I just pulled'em as I ate'em, left it all in the pot. Texas 9A/B beachfront
Thank you for this super helpful video!
I notice that cilantro and arugula flowers attract the beneficial wasps too
At the base of all 10 tomato plants (in containers) I’ve planted seeds of alyssum and basil in half circles. They’ve sprouted so we will be ready for Spring 2022.
I used to hate seeing the larger wasps like yellow jackets, paper wasps and red wasps around my living spaces... But then one day I saw one attack and kill a caterpillar on my pepper plant. I no longer hate them. 🤣 I would love to attract some smaller (less scary) predatory wasps to my garden, though!
Great video... thank you for sharing
Another great one Brian!
I use many beneficial plants in my garden and flower beds such as chives, basil, marigolds and onions. Will be adding garlic soon to both.
Great content Brian! Thanks
You know I did better last year with my cabbage by planting them all around the garden, pests hit some and then left others alone so im gonna try that again this year.
Good info, and I do follow a lot of it. I have had issues growing some crops. It also makes sense to value which crops to spend the time growing versus buying some crops at the store. I love to grow cucumber, radish, spinach and dill in the fall, but I have trouble with lettuce and since its not expensive , I buy it at the store. I had issues growing beetroot here this spring, I will try again this fall but if it fails I have no trouble buying beetroot at the store.Growing in 9b Sacramento here, growing tomatoes into December, no prob.
There were quite a few tricks here I didn't know about, thanks so much. I have always planted marigolds with my tomatoes, its something my mom taught me. I couldn't tell you if there is actually a scientific base to it but it I don't seem to have any trouble with bugs on my tomatoes.
With all of these confused bugs out there it would be a great time to be a bug psychologist! 😂 love the shirt!!!
🤣🤣🤣 Talk about confused, you should see the cabbage butterflies flitting around my collards and cabbage beds that are covered with mesh. They can't get in but keep coming back, circling over and over, multiple times all day. It's fun to watch!
Thank you! Good stuff. Now to find allysum!
It self seeds well in mine herb garden..plant once..similar to Cosmos..sunflower.. and Borage.
loving all that info..thx
The two radishes I've let go to flower have been a big attractant for hover flies/sweat bees.
Did you know you can eat the young seed pods from radish plants? Yummy. Taste like spicy snow peas.
You should make a color landscape drawing the describes these aspects in your garden, it's really not hard I was making them in the first year of architecture school. just use a large size paper like the D which is 24x36 or larger so you can update it like a map.
great info! thank you!
Sounds great...except planting in Sept. makes alyssum, cosmos and other plants like dill difficult to sow now. However great for next spring (in France). Still love wstching you and thanks for all the great info
Thank you for this information
Most of my second crop of peas are doing pooly. But in late summer it is 45 degrees at night and rarely reaches 70 degrees in the afternoon. Nasturium and marigolds helped me a lot this year, though, with many of the plants.
Could you please explain why you don't put a plant with aphids in the compost. I thought the heat would destroy the aphids.
Not everyone does hot composting.
I first watched this video a few days ago BUT I was just outside talking to my potted turmeric about where it wants to live and you'll never believe what I found! My first volunteer hairy vetch of the season! Weeeeeeeeeeee! I just had to come back to share.
This was a great video. Great infirmation. Thank you..i am adding more flowers in my fall garden so Alyssum and cosmos are a must.
Do you know any plants that will help add more beneficial nematodes to soil in containers to prevent Grubs?
Great video, Brian 👍
I'm in Windermere, Florida zone 9b 🇺🇸
I'm about to plant for cooler weather.
Hey Brian
I have a TON of grubs in my raised beds. Should I get rid of them? If so, could you please suggest some ways to do that?
Love, love, love your channel!!!
Best vlog title of the day 😅
One plant that I got was milkweed. Not only does it attracts monarchs and other beneficial insects, which benefits my garden, their Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed. So it’s a win-win situation, but it also works like a trap plant that all the aphids that come and devastate my garden at least twice a year( I’m currently dealing with them right now in December in South Texas in 9a) and they’re only attacking the milkweed despite it being crammed up against okra plant. I don’t do anything for the aphids because I have a lot of ladybugs, and I even allow a wasp, what we call a yellow jacket here in Texas, to live on my property even though I’m highly allergic because they also eat the aphids, grasshoppers and caterpillars and thankfully leave me alone. I did so well I bought seeds for milkweed a different kind so hopefully the yellow jackets won’t be eating the monarch caterpillars.
Three sisters didn't work for me in my area, but interplanting chrysanthemums, marigolds and other flowers ect. have kept down some bug pressure.
We have serious problems with gophers, rabbits, ground squirrels and fruit rats. Some things that DON’T work: mothballs, chewing gum, dried blood, urine, dryer sheets, gopher purge, peanut butter, corn meal, gluten, red pepper, aromatic oils (mint, lavender etc), garden hose, gopher bombs, road flares, bar soaps, metal stakes, electronic signal generators and many more!
Now I have all those things. That's ALOT that DOESNT work! Is there anything that does??
@@NextLevelGardening At the risk of being commercial, GopherHawk trap, Squirrelanator live trap, electronic zapper traps, gopher wire, coyotes and neighborhood cats.
That list was hilarious and I felt it deeply. The magic bullet for me this year has been the motion detecting sprinkler. Tomato god Craig Lehoullier recommended it on a podcast. So basic but so perfect.
Have you tried farm cats?
@@jennifervert2601 we strongly considered that!!! We looked into barn cat programs and pondered converting one of our two, pampered indoor cats to a hard nosed, scrappy critter hunter but alas, the sprinkler has treated us well. The slugs, worms and caterpillars on the other hand, I'm looking for a bigger boat for them.
Some of the info I knew and was glad for the confirmation. I love planting dill around the broccoli and Brussels sprouts it really helps!
I use Diatomaceous earth when there is an "infestation" will use water, dawn at night and Neem oil for prevention methods....
My garden spider population this year has been insane and they've actually gone and taken care of my cabbage loopers before I get my bf to hand pick them off for me! Always thankful when we don't have to touch those nasty things. (Caterpillars, slugs and snails are my mortal enemies) 😅 Attracting birds for caterpillars is another great option too!
Those parasitic wasps are kind of cool, seeing the little white silk cocoons from their larvae eating their way out from under the skin of tomato hornworms.
I love alyssum, it grows all year round where I live so I use it quite a bit.
I think of cosmos as a summer flower, are you saying it will grow in fall too? Do you sow seeds or buy seedlings?
In Southern California I just picked up a six-pack of cosmos at the garden center. We have plenty of time to get blooms before a frost (if we get a frost).
I’m in northern Idaho and my cosmos is still blooming strong. I planted from seed late spring early summer.
Excellent lesson. Thanks so much!
Thanks Brian, great information! I do believe in companion planting, next spring I will taking your advise to the bank. I’m going to try starting from seed some of those companion plants. Did I hear calendula is also a good companion plant? Thanks again🌺💚🙃
Yes it is! I forgot to mention them
Interesting. Those hover flies @9:10 look like what I see feasting and eating holes in my strawberries in mid September. I didn’t know what hover flies looked like. I have Alyssum growing that perhaps attracts more, but no brassicas that would benefit. I’ll have to look into them more.
Very helpful, thank you.
And all those flowers and herbs will look pretty, too! Especially since many are edible themselves, too!
Yes!
Like Yaya, I did basil with tomatoes this year and really had no problem with the hornworm. The problem with all of these is determining cause/effect. Was the basil in my case really the determining factor for me not having a hornworm problem? I don't know, but I know that for now I'm going to continue the practice of planting basil with my tomatoes.
Really sad not to see too many hummingbirds in Tennessee this year had no problem ever living in Maryland
Great advice thank yu
Thank you
It grew up a climbing rose.....the vetch is strong.
Nice!
I’ve had to deal with almost everything this last 2 months. I’ve had grubs in one raised bed, aphids, leaf miners, ants and cabbage loopers and gnats. It almost feels like I’m losing a battle to save my garden 😓
Thank you for the info.
You're welcome!
My vetch is manscaped.
🤣🤣
This is my first year for a fall garden. Thanks for the companion planting tips! I hate pests! Not only because they mess up my food but because I can't stand to kill ANYTHING!!
Let the bugs do the killing👍🏼
great info always🤗
I have not heard you mention green lacewings.
They are a generalist predator best known for feeding on aphids, but will also control mites and other soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars, leafhoppers, mealybugs and whiteflies.
No sooner than I wrote it you mentioned them
Lol. I almost commented back.. "I THINK I said it"
I have issues with mealybugs on my flowers so I try and have things to attract green lacewings. Love your channel.
Are there any plants that will repel figeater beetles? I keep having them visit my garden to lay their eggs in the soil 😥
As far as complaining planting. How do I incorporate them into square foot gardening. Should I plant a few in squares with veg or in separate squares?
Also is using BT and the mosquito bits too much? (both being BT derivatives)
Brian. I had written to you about planting basil in az. I tried inside/outside/changed soil. Fertilizer etc. Now I planted basil with pumpkin and the basil is growing. Companion plant. Idk. I've never planted basil in late august/early September because the temp is still over 100 degrees. I'm thinking it may be the pumpkin. I've never planted pumpkin. Tboughts???
TULLE!!!❌🐛 much cheaper than insect fabric. Must be gentle if you want it to use it from season to season but it has been a game changer against cabbage moths for me!!!♥️
Yup
I bought tulle thinking I’d save a bit of money over garden insect netting. It didn’t hold up to the sun - I found holes after a couple of months in the heat, and I hadn’t even handled it after initially putting it up.
I bought a bolt of green tulle on Amazon, and it has held up almost as well as my ag fabric. The only holes are from a clumsy gardener. My rabbits and raccoons don't like it, and it kept the finches off my sunflower plants while I waited for blooms. I'm going to try it for my brassicas. I love that I can water right through it, and see what I'm watering.
Hi Brian good evening what can I plant with my Cucumber I don't get good with the cucumber I try but worm just take over
When can we buy your book?
I planted marigolds and nasturtiums in my tomato beds this year. It kept away a lot of pests but unfortunately didn't stop the whitefly from causing a major infestation. I never knew about alyssum. I'll add that to my list.
Brien, interesting video! What about the squashes? Did I miss the info?
This video was for cool season plants
I guess I should have mentioned in Fl zone 9 we can grow these in the fall and into spring gardens! We hibernate in the sumer!❤️
Hey Brian! Do you grow all these companion plants from scratch?
Still have 90 degree weather in Z8, so do I still have time for my cabbage?
What is BT never heard of that
Well, that takes care of the bugs, but what about that cute little critter you showed a couple videos ago? I just came in and all my 12" high Dragon Tongue beans were nothing but sticks. Darn rabbit.
Well. I've never had them before. So when I find something that works ill definitely pass it on
@@NextLevelGardening I've looked into fences, but they are so expensive. Especially with a yard and garden the size I have. Good luck with yours, I can't wait to see your fix.
In Pennsylvania, rabbits ate my bean sprouts. 2 weeks before planting beans, I planted carnations. They liked the carnations better and left the beans alone.
"Intersperse the brassicas"
Me after I planted all together because I read somewhere don't plant with tomatoes and peppers- 😩😩😭😭😭🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
I have queen Anne's lace TAKING OVER MY GARDEN..it was here before I got the garden so if anyone plans on planting it...PLEASE plant with caution as it will take over!!!! Lol
It's purple...
Thanks for all your help over the years! I was wonderfully surprised at how well companion planting worked this summer. I had almost no weeds! I wanted to try planting hairy vetch this summer for the first time. Is it good to plant with most fruits and veggies or should I leave some of my beds free of the hairy vetch? Thanks again!
Aphids and pinch bugs have found my yard to be their heaven 😢
This will help
Hi Brian, thanks for the info! I am in zone 6B on the east coast of Canada -- Nova Scotia and have a small urban garden. The bane of my garden, are slugs and snails. I intersperse crops with Calendula, herbs, etc. but nothing seems to deter these fellows. I even tried surrounding the plantings with thorny stems from my wild roses since I read that that would help. No such luck. I have never used the slug and snail bait on the chance that it might make our (and our neighbors) pets ill. Any ideas? I also deal with the European Fire Ant -- not too bad for the garden, but very painful for the Gardener!
You're doing great 👍🏼 I think you'll find a link to an organic snail bait on my website
@@NextLevelGardening
Thank you!
Fire ants aren't great for the garden either. They eat the roots off plants and make the soil look like it's inhospitable! It's like they take all of your beautiful soil, chew it up and it comes out like powder! ☹ I can't stand them and have been bitten more times than I can count. 😠
You might want to get some food grade diatomaceous earth to use on your fire ants. It takes a little while to eliminate the nest, but diligence pays off. Getting rid of most of our ants has eliminated 90% of the aphids because they don't have the ants protecting them anymore.
I am going to get copper scrubber pads and cut them so can wrap around any stems to keep slugs away. Research it to see how people do it. I have lots of the suckered too.
Basil has kept the dreaded tomato worm away from my tomatoes 2 years in a row. Not even one!
Anyone knows how to combat the Leaf Footed Bug??? I decimated my tomatoes. Thanks
Oops watching
Also squirrels, rats and other little critters. Don't like to put their claws in it.
In what?
Lol... Clever title!
I had companions but I planted them … hope they don’t catch me …
It would be lovely if you displayed the spelling of some of the items you talk about. You talk quickly and it is hard to get the words. Obviously, most people can spell carrots, onions and chives. But a few of the plants and plant groups are harder to spell.