Fruit and nut tree companioning

companion orcharding is great, Mike. You don't have to stop with 
just cover crops and weed companioning, either. I've seen beautiful 
productive orchards with garden rows between the fruit and nut 
trees. The veggies and herbs between the rows were on soaker hoses, 
which would branch out to a drip fixture to each tree, and there were 
cover crops underneath the trees. The single row was narrow enough 
to reach to the middle from both sides, and raised a bit, making it 
easier to tend. Many of their herbs and veggies were allowed to bolt 
and set seet, providing plenty of space for beneficials, along with 
the clover and vetch under the trees. 

Tansy (f you surround the tansy plants with yarrow plants, they tend 
to duke it out between themselves and don't seem so invasive 
elsewhere), pennyroyal, horehound, nasturtiums, chives, mint, 
marigolds, angelica, chamomile, elderberries (great companion for 
peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries...etc...), comfrey and 
stinging nettle (chop some up and make a tea from them and you have 
an excellent calcium foliar spray which also deterrs insects. Also, 
comfrey can be planted as a border around gardens or orchards as an 
excellent fire barrier, or barrier against a very invasive noxious 
weed), lupines(around apple trees), horseradsh (helps combat fungal 
problems), clover (great trap crop for wooly aphid), hot peppers, 
rue, and asparagus plant around the base of trees to deter climbing 
borers).

Strawberries, especially the wild northern strawberries, make a great 
groundcover around the base of trees, and are edible, too. Planting 
understory fruit and nut bushes, like currants, blueberries, 
lingonberries, huckleberries, gooseberries, hazlenuts, quince, 
aronia, amelanchier, or ribes, on to three bushes per two trees is 
another way of companioning your fruit trees.

With all those fruit and nut trees, make sure to interplant the 
occasional black locust, especially if you are going to plant walnut, 
butternut, or any other nut with juglone. A border of black locust 
around the nut trees will help the growth and production of the nut 
trees, AND provide a barrier between the juglone producing plants and 
other plants which might not do well under their influence. 

Don't forget the ANIMAL companions to fruit trees! Keeping chickens 
and/or ducks or guinea fowl around the trees helps to keep the insect 
and weed population at bay. Since keeping tall plants away from the 
trunks is advisable, a portable pen keeping the poultry around the 
trunks of the trees where they can scratch and shred the weeds 
looking for bugs is a great idea. Even varmints like rabbits and 
guinea pigs can nibble around at the greens at the base of the tree, 
and provide an all natural fertilizer in the process. Most 
importantly, however, an integrated orchard is ideal for beehives!
From:   "cynthia brennemann" <thornkell@charter.net> 
Date:  Sat Jul 19, 2003  8:51 am