Can growing vegetables with specific types of plants alter the way they taste, such as improving the quality or health of the plants?
I am curious about this topic and improving the tastes of vegetables and fruits I enjoy. If it's possible, what are some common combinations?
I don't know how true it is but there are some companion plants that supposedly improve the flavor of the plants near them. Basil is supposed to improve the flavor of tomatoes for instance.
I know if you grow different varieties of corn next to each other and they are in tassel at the same time, it will definitely affect the flavor.
Peppers can cross so planting and hot pepper near sweet peppers could make your sweet peppers hotter and the hot peppers milder.
I know if you grow different varieties of corn next to each other and they are in tassel at the same time, it will definitely affect the flavor.
Peppers can cross so planting and hot pepper near sweet peppers could make your sweet peppers hotter and the hot peppers milder.
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rainbowgardener
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So here are some suggestions culled from various companion planting guides:
- Chamomile improves the flavor of cucumbers and enriches the soil with calcium, potassium and sulfur.
Taste of cabbage and beans is improved by Rosemary
Sage improves the taste of cabbages.
Chamomile, mint, sage, or thyme improve the flavor of shallots
Summer savory deters bean beetles, improves growth and flavor of beans
Garlic improves growth and flavor of beets
Chamomile and garlic improve growth and flavor of kohlrabi
Chives improve growth and flavor of carrots
Chamomile and summer savory improve growth and flavor of onions
Basil and chives improve the flavor of peppers
Chervil improves the flavor of radishes
Along with the basil that imafan mentioned, bee balm and mint improve the flavor of tomatoes
Marjoram improves the flavor of all vegetables
Thyme is known to improve the flavor of the surrounding herbs and vegetables.
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applestar
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I think you are more likely to get quicker results by researching the vast array of varieties available for each vegetable. Particularly when you grow them from seeds yourself in your own garden, your choices are nearly unlimited and vastly superior to what is available in common supermarkets and even gourmet specialty markets.
After you have made your initial selections, you can experience for yourself how each variety tastes as grown in your own garden since flavor perception is very individual and at least among the tomato growers, said to be linked to climate and soil conditions.
Once you have narrowed down the list of different vegetable varieties to what you like, THEN you can tweak the soil and planting companions to see if you can get them even "better" as you perceive their flavors, if at all. I think that's going to be at least several years down the line.
I'm not sure about the companions except in terms of how they might improve the vegetable plants' health by helping to repel or increase resistance to pests, attracting beneficial insects that would prey on the pests, etc. There was an interesting article the webmaster posted a link for recently about how plants send chemical signals to each other. I have found some of the "companions" to be better utilized as succession crop where one follow the other and take advantage of the companion in their mature state rather than growing them side by side. Some "companions" are better used as green manure before planting the vegetable.
You certainly need to pay attention to fertility and pH of the soil, drainage, and moisture levels and other soil qualities that are best suited to the particular vegetable, sun exposure, best time and season to grow, etc. and finally, best/peak stage to harvest and how to prep and eat.
After you have made your initial selections, you can experience for yourself how each variety tastes as grown in your own garden since flavor perception is very individual and at least among the tomato growers, said to be linked to climate and soil conditions.
Once you have narrowed down the list of different vegetable varieties to what you like, THEN you can tweak the soil and planting companions to see if you can get them even "better" as you perceive their flavors, if at all. I think that's going to be at least several years down the line.
I'm not sure about the companions except in terms of how they might improve the vegetable plants' health by helping to repel or increase resistance to pests, attracting beneficial insects that would prey on the pests, etc. There was an interesting article the webmaster posted a link for recently about how plants send chemical signals to each other. I have found some of the "companions" to be better utilized as succession crop where one follow the other and take advantage of the companion in their mature state rather than growing them side by side. Some "companions" are better used as green manure before planting the vegetable.
You certainly need to pay attention to fertility and pH of the soil, drainage, and moisture levels and other soil qualities that are best suited to the particular vegetable, sun exposure, best time and season to grow, etc. and finally, best/peak stage to harvest and how to prep and eat.
Companion planting comes up every once in a while concerning changing the flavor of one of the plants or the other. Several years ago this idea was given a test in my gardens with basil and tomatoes. A couple of varieties of tomatoes were planted with one variety of basil planted all around them. The same varieties of tomato were planted in the same soil, etc. away from the basil. (far enough away? who knows.) When the tomatoes were ripe, my family and neighbors did a taste test of tomatoes from each area.
Guess what? Absolutely no difference in flavor, texture, look or internal structure. Conclusive evidence? No. Fun test? Yes. But then we didn't check to see if the basil was different.
Applestar hit it on the head with the statement about soil conditions, weather, sunlight, time planted etc, etc etc. Garden conditions and varieties planted make the difference. In my opinion, companion planting impacts more concerning insect attraction or repulsion than anything else. Give companion planting a try; there are lots of positives for doing it, but changing the flavor of vegetables may not be one of those reasons.
Guess what? Absolutely no difference in flavor, texture, look or internal structure. Conclusive evidence? No. Fun test? Yes. But then we didn't check to see if the basil was different.
Applestar hit it on the head with the statement about soil conditions, weather, sunlight, time planted etc, etc etc. Garden conditions and varieties planted make the difference. In my opinion, companion planting impacts more concerning insect attraction or repulsion than anything else. Give companion planting a try; there are lots of positives for doing it, but changing the flavor of vegetables may not be one of those reasons.
Besides planting and soil, timing matters too. Vegetables harvested in the baby stage are usually sweeter and more tender, and less seedy, than vegetables harvested mature. Vegetables that have bolted or overstayed their time in the soil or even had setbacks because of stunting or water issues are usually bitter, tough or woody and not very good. Most plants flavor will change dramatically once they have bloomed. This is especially true of herbs, lettuce and cabbages.
There are exceptions, peppers and tomatoes are picked for market before their peak. Peppers, and tomatoes that are allowed to ripen on the plant can be much sweeter than picked before they turn red. Trick is getting them before the snails and birds do.
Temperature matters when you are growing cool weather crops. Kale tastes sweeter with a dusting or snow but will be bitter in summer heat. Lettuce will bolt, become bitter and tipburn in the summer heat. Carrots aren't as sweet when the temperature rises above 70.
Vidalia onions are only Vidalias when they are grown in that county in Georgia they are named after. It is the soil, and climate that makes them as sweet as they are. Those same seeds grown somewhere else may not get the same results.
You will have to go on a journey and decide first what grows well for you and then tweak the cultivars until you find the ones that do well and have the taste profile that you desire.
There are exceptions, peppers and tomatoes are picked for market before their peak. Peppers, and tomatoes that are allowed to ripen on the plant can be much sweeter than picked before they turn red. Trick is getting them before the snails and birds do.
Temperature matters when you are growing cool weather crops. Kale tastes sweeter with a dusting or snow but will be bitter in summer heat. Lettuce will bolt, become bitter and tipburn in the summer heat. Carrots aren't as sweet when the temperature rises above 70.
Vidalia onions are only Vidalias when they are grown in that county in Georgia they are named after. It is the soil, and climate that makes them as sweet as they are. Those same seeds grown somewhere else may not get the same results.
You will have to go on a journey and decide first what grows well for you and then tweak the cultivars until you find the ones that do well and have the taste profile that you desire.
I believe it does make a difference what is in our soils. I don't know how it could be otherwise given the range of soil types that we are faced with, each in our own gardens. I've wondered about what goes in our composts and is used in our mulches and if those plants influence the flavor of our garden vegetables.
Of course, some plants have allelopathic qualities which inhibit other plants from growing close to them. And, as has been pointed out, stress results in bitterness.
My gardening has mostly been on a valley floor composed of glacial till. I used to prefer to grow acorn squash but moved and began a garden in another location. It still seemed like the same soil to me. I tried 3 different varieties of acorn squash over the first 3 years I was there before giving up on them. They all had the oddest flavor. Luckily, Buttercup squash grew fine and tasted good.
Steve
Of course, some plants have allelopathic qualities which inhibit other plants from growing close to them. And, as has been pointed out, stress results in bitterness.
My gardening has mostly been on a valley floor composed of glacial till. I used to prefer to grow acorn squash but moved and began a garden in another location. It still seemed like the same soil to me. I tried 3 different varieties of acorn squash over the first 3 years I was there before giving up on them. They all had the oddest flavor. Luckily, Buttercup squash grew fine and tasted good.
Steve
Sometimes the seeds have changed too. I got some white corn seed called Silver it is UH #9. White corn is supposed to be sweeter than yellow corn, but this one was bland. I told that to the extention agent an he said that while the name is the same the researcher has been tweaking the corn. It is still sold under the same name but it is Silver 9a,9b.9c, etc. and in conventional breeding, you cannot improve just one trait, some times other traits are also changed.
Just like Brandywine. I planted this tomato even though it isn't easy here because it really had to be sprayed every week with a fungicide. It was worth it for the taste, but I just got the seeds off the shelf at the store and did not know then how many Brandywine tomatoes there were.
I planted Delicious tomato before and it was pretty good, but the last set of seeds I got, the tomato was bland even for me and I don't mind bland tomatoes.
I planted sungold tomato which is a very sweet tomato when it is ripe but it is tart when it is not quite ripe and it cracks. It is a hybrid so does not reseed true to type, but since the birds got to them, I had tomatoes popping up from the sungold seeds that looked like sungold and were sweet but not quite as sweet as sungold but I liked them better because they did not crack as much and they were not tart under ripe.
There is also the problem when you buy seeds that the seed supplier could have put the wrong seeds in the package and in some cases I have had some packages with no seeds in them at all. Usually I can get my money back for those, Burpee actually sent me a letter and new seeds after other customers complained that the yellow Brandywine I bought was not yellow Brandywine at all, they just sent new seeds to every customer that ordered them, not just to the ones that complained.
Saving seeds can be hit and miss too especially if you grow a lot of one thing they can still cross. Even if you keep the strain pure, there will be variation in the seeds. Just like siblings resemble each other but are not exactly alike unless they are identical twins because there will be variation in the combination of genes.
Papaya here is a great example. You cannot tell by looking at the seeds which are good or not even if they come from the same papaya. Papaya are usually planted in threes. Papayas can be male, female, or hermaphrodite and you won't be able to tell that until they flower at around 5 months. Most people only keep hermaphrodites. Very rarely does anyone keep a male around, as it never produces fruit, and females will require a hermaphrodite or a male nearby to be pollinated or the fruit will just drop. It will be 8 months before you have ripe fruit and only then will you find out if it is good or not. Basically, the birds tell me what is good. The birds will always go after the sweetest fruit and leave the rest alone. If the papaya is not good, I just cut it down. Since it will take the better part of the year to find out the best tree and fruit, it is better to plant more than one in the first place. A papaya tree will last about 8 years, but if it isn't topped, it will be 30 ft tall by then and the fruit will be out of reach, so probably 3 years is a reasonable time to keep a plant at picking height.
Just like Brandywine. I planted this tomato even though it isn't easy here because it really had to be sprayed every week with a fungicide. It was worth it for the taste, but I just got the seeds off the shelf at the store and did not know then how many Brandywine tomatoes there were.
I planted Delicious tomato before and it was pretty good, but the last set of seeds I got, the tomato was bland even for me and I don't mind bland tomatoes.
I planted sungold tomato which is a very sweet tomato when it is ripe but it is tart when it is not quite ripe and it cracks. It is a hybrid so does not reseed true to type, but since the birds got to them, I had tomatoes popping up from the sungold seeds that looked like sungold and were sweet but not quite as sweet as sungold but I liked them better because they did not crack as much and they were not tart under ripe.
There is also the problem when you buy seeds that the seed supplier could have put the wrong seeds in the package and in some cases I have had some packages with no seeds in them at all. Usually I can get my money back for those, Burpee actually sent me a letter and new seeds after other customers complained that the yellow Brandywine I bought was not yellow Brandywine at all, they just sent new seeds to every customer that ordered them, not just to the ones that complained.
Saving seeds can be hit and miss too especially if you grow a lot of one thing they can still cross. Even if you keep the strain pure, there will be variation in the seeds. Just like siblings resemble each other but are not exactly alike unless they are identical twins because there will be variation in the combination of genes.
Papaya here is a great example. You cannot tell by looking at the seeds which are good or not even if they come from the same papaya. Papaya are usually planted in threes. Papayas can be male, female, or hermaphrodite and you won't be able to tell that until they flower at around 5 months. Most people only keep hermaphrodites. Very rarely does anyone keep a male around, as it never produces fruit, and females will require a hermaphrodite or a male nearby to be pollinated or the fruit will just drop. It will be 8 months before you have ripe fruit and only then will you find out if it is good or not. Basically, the birds tell me what is good. The birds will always go after the sweetest fruit and leave the rest alone. If the papaya is not good, I just cut it down. Since it will take the better part of the year to find out the best tree and fruit, it is better to plant more than one in the first place. A papaya tree will last about 8 years, but if it isn't topped, it will be 30 ft tall by then and the fruit will be out of reach, so probably 3 years is a reasonable time to keep a plant at picking height.
I know what goes into compost matters. The compost that is available to me has been tested and it is alkaline, so I add sulfur. Two of my plots are already alkaline and not good for growing acid loving plants like tomatoes, but great for cabbages and root crops which don't mind alkaline, low nitrogen soils . Corn will grow there but only the UH cultivars because of maize mosaic virus, and they will only get tall if they get additional nitrogen otherwise they will be a couple of feet shorter.
The other one had a pH of 6.4 and I used the compost as a buffer rather than lime. Tomatoes and corn grow very well there. I have a higher nitrogen in the acidic plot so the root vegetables make more tops and less roots.
The other one had a pH of 6.4 and I used the compost as a buffer rather than lime. Tomatoes and corn grow very well there. I have a higher nitrogen in the acidic plot so the root vegetables make more tops and less roots.
I'm not sure if @oggy should know about thatimafan26 wrote:Sometimes the seeds have changed too. I got some white corn seed called Silver it is UH #9. White corn is supposed to be sweeter than yellow corn, but this one was bland. I told that to the extention agent an he said that while the name is the same the researcher has been tweaking the corn. It is still sold under the same name but it is Silver 9a,9b.9c, etc. and in conventional breeding, you cannot improve just one trait, some times other traits are also changed. . .
.I've suspected it. At one time, Garden Salsa hybrid peppers seemed to be fairly large. About 5 years ago, they shrunk! I've continued to grow them because I think they are nice peppers and they do well for me. Some outfit owns the parent lines, however. Somebody must have gotten the boot and there are different parents to that hybrid than in previous years! Whaddya gonna do - sue?
Oggy, all gardening is local. Distant gardeners can share insights. There are some varieties and techniques that are broadly adaptable. There are similar situations and climates. But ... peeking through the fence at what your good gardening neighbor is up to is likely to prove valuable. Maybe you will get a sample to take home for the table!
Steve
Thanks for the replies! I was mainly just curious if this was even remotely possible.
I want to improve the taste of my strawberries and get them as sweet as possible, haha. I have one or two plants that are incredibly tasty and the rest are dull in comparison.
I want to see if a companion plant could improve them even more. I guess I will take clones from them and experiment.
I want to improve the taste of my strawberries and get them as sweet as possible, haha. I have one or two plants that are incredibly tasty and the rest are dull in comparison.
I want to see if a companion plant could improve them even more. I guess I will take clones from them and experiment.
Strawberries are usually propagated as clones.
So, you should be good to go there, Oggy.
There are varieties for which you can buy seeds. I mean, something of greater size (& usefulness) than Alpine strawberries (which I now have spreading thru my lawn grass after a few plants were set out about 12 years ago ). I really am thinking about ordering some of these new seed-grown varieties but I may have to do some work with 'em. They might turn out to range from "tasty" to "dull"
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Steve
So, you should be good to go there, Oggy
.There are varieties for which you can buy seeds. I mean, something of greater size (& usefulness) than Alpine strawberries (which I now have spreading thru my lawn grass after a few plants were set out about 12 years ago ). I really am thinking about ordering some of these new seed-grown varieties but I may have to do some work with 'em. They might turn out to range from "tasty" to "dull"
.Steve
I've never really had issues with birds as I threw a bunch of seedlings out into the yard and they went insane on my lawn.
As for terrible little slugs... I hate those things.
The strawberries I have are also alpine. I have been extremely lucky with a few plants that have produced thumb sized strawberries that are incredibly tasty. These are the ones I want to baby and get as good as possible. They're indoors now to avoid the snow and ice and other winter nasties.
As for terrible little slugs... I hate those things.
The strawberries I have are also alpine. I have been extremely lucky with a few plants that have produced thumb sized strawberries that are incredibly tasty. These are the ones I want to baby and get as good as possible. They're indoors now to avoid the snow and ice and other winter nasties.
Your climate may be similar to mine, Oggy. Drier here.
I have been told as much by people who have moved here from Vermont.
My luck was that the alpines don't have fruit any larger than peas.
Steve
I have been told as much by people who have moved here from Vermont.
My luck was that the alpines don't have fruit any larger than peas.
Steve
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jal_ut
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My thoughts are that flavor of the fruits, is more dependent on variety, soil fertility and water availability than any companion planting.
Plant characteristics are determined by the genetic makeup of the seed that was planted not by the pollen that falls on its flowers.
The pollen that falls on the flower has no bearing on the flavor of this years crop. Yes, if you keep seeds, it may have some bearing on the flavor of the next planting.
Plant characteristics are determined by the genetic makeup of the seed that was planted not by the pollen that falls on its flowers.
The pollen that falls on the flower has no bearing on the flavor of this years crop. Yes, if you keep seeds, it may have some bearing on the flavor of the next planting.
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Gary350
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Wine growers have known for years the soil, water and climate all determine the flavor of the grapes. If you take 10 cuttings from the same grape plant then plant the cuttings in 10 different geographical locations all over the world you get 10 different flavor wines.
My grandfather use to say the soil determines the flavor of the garden. After living in 4 different States and several different locations in each state I learned he was right.
My Illinois garden had the best flavor vegetables, better than Michigan or Tennessee. My Arizona garden vegetables all taste like rock. Soil and water are all 8 ph in AZ. Now I dig holes and fill them with peat moss and compost vegetables taste better but still taste like rock. I have to doctor my water too for the vegetables to not taste like rock. I mix white lime in fifteen 5 gallon buckets of water, mix well let the lime settle to the bottom of the bucket. I learned this trick from working at the ICE factory, it removes all the dissolved solids from the water and sweetens the flavor of the water. It works good for getting good flavor tomatoes that do not taste like rock.
My grandfather use to say the soil determines the flavor of the garden. After living in 4 different States and several different locations in each state I learned he was right.
My Illinois garden had the best flavor vegetables, better than Michigan or Tennessee. My Arizona garden vegetables all taste like rock. Soil and water are all 8 ph in AZ. Now I dig holes and fill them with peat moss and compost vegetables taste better but still taste like rock. I have to doctor my water too for the vegetables to not taste like rock. I mix white lime in fifteen 5 gallon buckets of water, mix well let the lime settle to the bottom of the bucket. I learned this trick from working at the ICE factory, it removes all the dissolved solids from the water and sweetens the flavor of the water. It works good for getting good flavor tomatoes that do not taste like rock.