Broccoli Dilemma

March is an ideal time for a lot of low desert gardening activities. It is usually the time I make changes in my vegetable plot and start planting warm season vegetables. However, the CRAZY weather pattern we have been experiencing makes this rather difficult. My broccoli has flowered and that is usually the end of it...but the cold temperatures alternating with warm days have befuddled it. The big heads have been picked and eaten, but the plants have sprouted so many tiny off-shoots that we are able to continue harvesting and the tiny florettes are so delectable that I hate to discard the plants. In the meantime, the bush beans I planted in a flat are ready to transplant...and, beans are not companion plants to broccoli!

I wish I had never heard of companion planting. It makes gardening more difficult - a lot more difficult, but I have been adhering to the concept for many years. If things were only black and white ( in this case, green and brown ) there would be no problem. But, some stubborn plants just refuse to die! Chard is one example...still thriving and not a friend of beans. Most gardeners know that beans LOVE corn and squash ( AKA the Three Sisters ). CARROTS LOVE TOMATOES and ROSES LOVE GARLIC by Louise Riotte were the first books I read on the subject...but, if you want a really bewildering list, including common and scientific names, which plants a particular plant will help, which plants will help it, what bugs are attracted or repelled by it, which plants it should avoid plus additional comments, check out Wikipedia under LIST OF COMPANION PLANTS. You will find out that Fennel and Dill are absolute loners- unliked by most other plants!

Leeks and onions are planted next to my broccoli. Beans dislike them, too. I have one elevated bed containing chard, beets and carrots. The beets are almost gone and I could pull the rest of the carrots-but, I am wondering whether chard will allow a bean to grow nearby. I guess we'll see, because my planting calendar informs me that it is time to plant melon seeds in my flats. Time for the beans to move out. I hope the melon seeds grow fast...I understand they are very good friends of beans!