Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Interplanting
Interplanting is used in two ways. It is used to give green
manures a head start on the winter and to maximize the
amount of food that can be harvested from a given area.
Carefully chosen, interplanted crops can save on fertilizer as
well, as when a nitrogen producer such as beans or clover is
interplanted with a nitrogen consumer such as tomatoes or
corn.
Interplanting crops creates synergies.
There are some practical considerations to interplanting, and
chief among them are overcrowding and shade. Plants that
require a lot of space or sunlight, such as tomatoes, could
have difficulty if planted in an established stand of corn. If
planted before the corn has germinated, the tomatoes would
shade the seedlings. On the other hand, white clover works
well with most plants, as do beans.
Perhaps the most famous example of successful interplanting
is the so-called Three Sisters of the Native Americans—corn,
