Companion Planting & June Garden Update

Something I need to learn more about is companion planting. I find in the rush of spring planting , the thought of suitable companion plants is often overlooked. However, I did manage to plant lettuce and radish together (see photo below), which I now discover in hindsight are good companion plants. Reader's Digest has a good companion planting list which confirms this.

I planted some spearmint among the raspberries and rhubarb, though these are not listed together in the above list. In hindsight, I should have planted the mint in a container to keep it from spreading. But does not appear to be germinating, which may be due to use of seed several years old.


I gambled and planted the potatoes early (above photo), first week in May, as well as several other veggies. This year we were fortunate to have the last heavy frost on April 30, well before the average last frost date of May 20. Now to see if we have a below or above average hail year...

Future posts will include a scan of the garden layout for this year. Overall the plantings are more of the same that was planted in previous years. I did not plant peas this year as they did not do so well in the last two years. Most plants are doing well except the beans, which are struggling with poor germination and insect (or bird?) nibbling.

Happy Last Frost Day (Sort Of)

Predicting the last frost day is always a gamble. As another food growing blogger writes, "tiny farming is in the end about a very natural, basic and satisfying form of gambling". For the Calgary area, the average last frost day is May 20. Since this year is below average in general, it is possible, if not likely, that the last frost day could be a week or two later.

Statistically the average last frost date represents a 50% chance that no frost will occur after that date. If you'd like to decrease (or increase) the risk of your plant investments, you can use the following Freezing Date Adjustment Factor (below):

According to this factor you can expect the chance of frost in Calgary after June 4 to be reduced to 10% (15 days after May 20). Note that the graph does not provide a 0% chance of frost after any particular date! According to Alberta government records, the Calgary area has seen as low as -2 C in July at least once in the last century.

The freedom from frost in this part of the world is no guarantee at any time. For the Middle Earth Garden this is not a large concern. Large parts of the garden can be covered if a frost is predicted. But of course frost is not always predictable. Hence the gamble. My investment is small, but for larger commercial growers this risk can be serious. This is where frost insurance comes in. For this garden, frost insurance is the local grocery store!