Polly brought up this subject briefly at CS, which is soooooo interesting and I have a question..... I've read that sulfur is good for peppers. In Dick Raymonds book he takes some matches off of a book of matches and puts them in the bottom of the planting hole, adds a little dirt over the matches and then plants the peppers. Since onions have sulfur naturally, is it a good idea to plant them around peppers or are the onions an antagonistic plant to peppers? I'd like to be able to utilize more garden space and since onions don't take up much room, I'd like to stick em everywhere. Thanks!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 04, 2002

Answers

Not sure about onions, but I use garlic that way, since it will repel some bugs and since it is short rooted, I don't see it competing with the peppers. The garlic gives me a quick green indicator as to where I planted seeds, also.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), March 04, 2002.

I WONDERED where I read that!! Now I know who to be mad at! (Mr. Raymond, not you, Annie!) I tried the match thing last year and darn near lost all my peppers - had to pull out the matches and water, water, water and they were STILL a weird color and spindly! Home grown seedlings, too. Grrrrr. Replanted without the matches and those ones were okay.

Hubs has packed away some of my books, so I can't find my companion planting one, but if you go to www.gardenweb.com; there is a companion planting board among the forums. You can also google "companion planting" and it comes up with lots of info! PS - Louise's book on Companion planting was available at half.com for about $4 the last time I looked!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), March 05, 2002.

I always thought Mr. Raymond looked like a shady character! Hee hee When I planted my root crops last weekend, I had some onion sets left over, so I thought what the heck, I'll just stick em in the ground around where I'll put the peppers, figuring they ought to go together. I found a website through the gardenweb forum you mentioned. Thanks. It had a list of companion plants, and peppers and onions will work, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If those onions mess up my pepper plants that I've been babying, I'll strangle them!

I've just barely touched the surface of half.com What an awesome site. I'll have to contain myself, because gardening books are my downfall. Or else.....I'll just explain to Dave what a great deal I got!

Thanks Miss Polly, appreciate all the info!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 05, 2002.

Annie, I plant in wide rows and I like to use up every inch of dirt on a bed. I plant onions in between my pepper plants, it works great! I plant lettuce and spinach around my okra plants,(the okra helps shade the lettuce during the heat of the summer). Don't forget to put in a few marigolds. Best wishes!

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), March 06, 2002.

Thanks cowgirl, you've really eased mt mind. Sittin here lookin at my baby pepper plants and thinking I'm not lettin those onions mess em up! Good to know they'll get along. Thanks. Hey BC, I've always heard you should plant garlic in the fall, but have you ever put any out in Spring? I always forget to plant some in the fall. Must be because of the harvest and cleanup in the fall, I don't know, but always think about garlic in the winter after it's too late. Think it would work?

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 06, 2002.

If you plant garlic in the spring it doesn't get as big, but it still grows just fine, some places the fall plantings will rot. I don't understand peppers needing sulfur, but they do need magnesium, sulfur is use mainly to adjust the ph of the soil.

-- Thumper/inOKC (slrldr@yahoo.com), March 09, 2002.

My SFG book advises onions as a companion plant for pest control. Of course with 4x4 foot squares EVERYTHING is basically companion planted :>)

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 09, 2002.