Gertrud Franck Companion Planting Scheme

[zazen999]

I sort of make it up as I go along!

I have upgraded the a b and c to what I said up there...and put things in my own categories. And when I need to put them in, that's when I check out the companion that can go with it.

[Maximillian]

blimey i remember that book. i have a copy that i have had for many years. i read it and wish i could be that organised lol

[VirginVegGrower]

Recent pics from the Gertrude Franck bed and not necessarily in order.

[zazen999]

I'm finding that the seedlings are not drying out nearly as much as ones without the Gert effect, no that very few have been slugged, or pidgeoned. And are looking very healthy indeed.

[VirginVegGrower]

I'm finding that the seedlings are not drying out nearly as much as ones without the Gert effect, no that very few have been slugged, or pidgeoned. And are looking very healthy indeed.

I too am finding the same. I may be a convert yet.

[nellie-m]

Next season, the rows move 50cms along ... Crop rotation is achieved by moving each row 50cms annually.

There's a teensy error, VC, in that the rows are moved only 25cm the following year, so the new plants will benefit from the compost that was produced by the layer of mulch (like you said). Where the crops were the spinach is sown as early in the year as possible (when the ground is still frozen!), to start off the new layer of mulch for the next gardening season. (you had the system right but not the distance )

[veggiechicken]

Its this metric malarky - I'm still a feet and inches, stuck in a timewarp, kinda girly
You must be the first person, other than me, who has heard of Gertrud Franck - pleased to meet you, nellie

[nellie-m]

You mean a "what's that in REAL money" kinda girly? How wonderful. I loved the old coins...


It's great to hear that Gertrud's book is available in English, too. The German one is out of print and costs astronomical prices second-hand. I've got a copy, but I wouldn't dream of selling it


I bought her first tiny brochure at least 30 years ago, when the spacing of her rows was still 40cms and she was using paper bags for mulching. Kept it but forgot about it as I didn't even have a garden then; until I came across her book maybe fifteen years ago, and from that time on I have tried to use her system, never getting it to her standard of course. She lived in the South, where it's warmer and the soil is richer. The pictures in that little green booklet are quite amazing, her garden must have been huge but then I think she produced veggies for the market.

I even managed to get hold of two old titles by Franz Boden and another by A.G. Wirth that seem to have been even earlier pioneers in that field. Judging from those books, companionship planting was a field of interest in agriculture before the war, very fascinating really as they tried to increase yields from a field by interplanting different crops. Back then, a lot of the work was still done by humans instead of machines, of course. There are pictures of whole fields of potatoes with cabbage rows in between, really big scale. Official research was done to find out which companionships were an advantage, and which ones were not so good.

Today, all that is mostly forgotten, and in agriculture the soil is no longer seen as a living thing that needs feeding and care but only as a substrate to hold roots. Ah well...

[nellie-m]

Old posts above but just in case anyone reads this again at some point...

There seems to have been some confusion about broadies and spuds. Broad beans were used by GF in two ways: mostly as green manure before planting A crops like potatoes. In that case they were cut and used as mulch like the spinach in between rows when the spuds go in, so that the potato plants benefit from the roots of the broad bean plants (which are left in the ground).

Or, if you actually want to grow broadies, they would be an A row themselves.


Parsnips go in a B row, not because you actually get two crops but because they don't grow very tall and you can save your As for something higher. I'm always short of "A"s!

[Thelma Sanders]

You can get copies of Gertrud's book for a penny plus postage, if you don't mind second-hand

That's how I got mine

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-lis...qid=1417114371

[veggiechicken]

It's great to hear that Gertrud's book is available in English, too. The German one is out of print and costs astronomical prices second-hand. I've got a copy, but I wouldn't dream of selling it

Lots of 2nd hand English ones on sale if you want a working copy Companion Planting: Successful Gardening the Organic Way: Amazon.co.uk: Gertrud Franck: 9780722506943: Books
Must find my copy now, and have another read. Thanks nellie for awakening my interest in GF.


SNAP, Thelma

[veggiechicken]

Part 2

Today, I ate spinach and remembered how foul it is - my mouth feels like the bottom of a parrot's cage! So I've found all my spinach seeds since I will never sow them for food. Then, I remembered Gertrud Franck and her use of spinach as a sheet mulch between rows of veggies.
If you don't have a few hours to spare to read this thread (and you probably won't follow it anyway) the principle is:-
Sow a row of spinach every 50cms across the plot. Wait for the spinach to germinate and use it as row markers.
Between each spinach row, sow another crop. (There are lots of variations of what to sow in these rows but I won't complicate things by trying to explain them).
Once the spinach is growing strongly, its cut down and left to wilt. This forms a path between the crops and a mulch. Grass cuttings and soft leaves are piled on top of the spinach - sort of in-situ composting!
Next year, each of the rows is moved 25cms so that the crops grow in the spinach row and spinach is sown where the crops were.
This method means that half the plot is mulched each year, the other half - next year.

Just nod and pretend you understand it!

The outcome of all this is that I'm going to sow all my spinach seeds and use them as a mulch.

[happyhumph]

Heathen - spinach is great, especially in a curry with tomatoes, lots of chillies & paneer or halumi

Sounds a good plan though - let us know how it works.

[Thelma Sanders]

Between each spinach row, sow another crop. (There are lots of variations of what to sow in these rows but I won't complicate things by trying to explain them).

I think it was that bit that made the system complicated tbh. Just used as a chop and drop mulch between any other crops works....... but do expect all the old boys think you are just lazy, growing weeds and tell you off - cos they will

[bario1]

Wouldn't work for me, i can't get spinach to grow!