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Re: Bed Depth

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

This is interesting. As I was looking at the Companion Planting books I
mentioned on the list yesterday, I ran across a little sidebar about root
depths of common crops in the Rodale book. I was strongly impressed to post
it to the list, but didn't. Guess I'll do that now. <g>

Btw, I don't have any comments on the proposal -- am just passing this
along because it seems like it might be useful information. I was certainly
surprised by some of this information.

Patricia
Zone 7b, West Georgia

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from Rodale's Companion Planting


Rooting Depths of Common Crops
Interplanted combinations in a vegetable garden work better if the roots
occupy different soil layers. Interplanting crops with different rooting
depths makes more efficient use of garden space and reduces competition for
nutrients. That's why shallow-rooted onions thrive near deeper-rooted
squash or beets, for instance. Here are the root characteristics of some
common crops, based on research conducted by David Wolfe, associate
professor at Cornell University's department of fruit and vegetable science.

You'll find that these characteristics can vary depending on your cultivar
selection and soil type; roots tend to move deeper in sandy soil and stay
shallower in heavy or shallow soil. Transplanting can also cause normally
deep-rooted plants -- like peppers and tomatoes -- to form shallower, more
branching root systems.

* Very shallow rooters (to 18 inches deep): Celery, lettuce, onion, and radish

* Shallow rooters (to 2 feet deeph): Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower,
Chinese cabbage, cucumber, muskmelon, pepper (transplanted), spinach, and
tomato (transplanted)

* Intermediate rooters (to 4 feet deep): Been (snap, beet, carrot,
eggplant, pea, pepper (direct-sown), rutabaga, and summer squash

* Deeop rooters (to 6 feet deep): Asparagus, beans (lima), parsnip,
pumpkin, tomato (direct-sown), watermelon, and winter squash


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