EasyBloom Forum

hi, i would like to inter-crop species to meet goals associated with the practice of permaculture and creating a bed that will always have something interesting going on throughout the year. i would like to use http://earthbox.com (an earthbox) to do this. The dimensions of the earthbox are 29" L x 13.5" W x 11" H. at present i have 2 of these boxes (for inter-cropping) in service with plans to add a 3th. at present the 2 anchor plants are ginkgo biloba with plans to add a paulownia. last season i was successful inter-corpping sweet basil with the ginkgo. this year i plan to inter-crop the ginkgo with holy basil and the paulowinia with holy basil too. there is also a snake beard in the container with the paulowinia now which will move with it into an earthbox before winter solstice. i would like to set up a fourth earth box with plants inter-cropped so as to have some complementary plants to the boxes with trees. my easybloom has recommended tulip for a similar system (which now contains boston fern). how can i pick plants to inter-crop so that i will always have something attractive going on in new box with tulips throughout the year? please advise. ~alonzo

Hey Alonzo...This is a very complex topic you brought as there can be many reasons why you would want to intercrop species together. The primary reason would be to improve the soil composition and nutrient status of a soil. In your examples you pair up trees with herbaceous annuals and perennials. Normally these types of complimentary pairings are more suited to benefit the herbaceous plant. The trees usually provide the smaller herbaceous plants with a bit of protection from strong, drying winds, maybe a bit of shade and they may even increase the humidity around the plants by drawing water up with their deep roots that the smaller herbaceous plants cannot reach. In your case you are growing in earthboxes, which are not that deep so that the difference in root depths between the plants may not be very different at all. In fact the size of your earthboxes may become restricting since both your Ginkgo and Paulownia will get very big. Paulownias are known to be very fast growing trees, whereas Ginkgos are slow growing. Both however get BIG. Eventually you may want to move those trees into the ground, unless you plan on keeping them in a "quasi-"bonsai state.

As for your tulips and another complimentary plant, you can go to your reading that you took for your earthbox that has tulips being recommended. Then click on the All Recommendations tab. To the right of the webpage, you will find filters that will allow you to trim down the recommendations. I would look at different bloom seasons or click on winter interest to specify when the plant is "interesting" at different times of year. Of course your choices really depend on where you live. There are some dogwoods that have beautiful canopy architecture that really shine when the leaves drop in fall and winter. The American Cranberry Bush is another example of a shrub that is known for its winter interest. I assume you have the Ginkgo for its beautiful fall colors and the Paulownia for its astounding early spring blooms. I hope this helps and feel free to contact me again if you have any further questions. --Robby