Neighbor vegetables that improve each other's taste
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IS IT TRUTH THAT THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF VEGETABLES HELPS TO IMPROVE THEIR TASTE?
My neighbor says that mint, which grows near white cabbage, makes the leaves and their thick veins juicier and less bitter. But is it possible to improve the taste of vegetables at a distance? If so, maybe there are other such "sweet couples"?
A. Prokhorova, Yaroslavl
The influence of plants on the taste of neighboring vegetables in the garden, for obvious reasons, has been little studied. Firstly, at the everyday level it is difficult to accurately capture and describe in words the nuances of tastes and smells, and especially their combinations. Secondly, the perception and experience of such subtle sensations is subjective, which means that these descriptions will be different for different people.
And yet, there is plenty of evidence for the coincidence of observational results. Unfortunately, all of them are often fuzzy, indefinite. Nevertheless, there are no categorical rebuttals to such assertions.
On the contrary, it has been proven that plants communicate with each other using the real language of thousands of chemical molecules that they release into the air and soil and carry information of various kinds.
See also: Neighborhood cabbage - good with onions, bad with sorrel
IMPREGNATE WITH APPETITE SMELL
The easiest way to deal with spicy herbs. It is quite possible to be saturated with the smell from the side if you are near its source for a long time. It's just that the effect will be temporary and not as bright as we would like. And it is not at all necessary to rub the leaves of one plant into the fruits of another. Physical contact is unimportant, because odors are transmitted through the air in the form of molecules of odorous substances and settle on surrounding objects.
Therefore, oddly enough, we eat smells when they get on the mucous membrane of the mouth. It is important that they are pleasant and in harmony, and not dissonant. And the fact that the smell affects the taste does not need to be proved, elementary experience testifies to this.
The delicious durian fruit can be eaten only by plugging your nose. But someone cannot eat durian at all. And vice versa, anise completely beats off the taste of sivukha from moonshine, it’s not for nothing that anise tincture and fragrant Greek vodka ouzo are so popular.
The own smell of those fruits, the taste of which you want to improve, also matters. It is difficult to kill a strong tomato spirit, but it is possible to supplement and enrich it. And based on your preferences. For example, you don’t like cilantro - it smells like bedbugs, you shouldn’t sow it nearby on a tomato garden, but basil with a clove or lemon smell can please.
The aroma of the companion plant should be intense, bright and come without outside help, by itself. In the closed environment of the greenhouse, penetrated by the sun and moisture, it is more effective. And the distances between the bushes are small here, and the drafts are not strong - the fragrance will not be carried away. Therefore, in protected ground, such experiments are more effective.
But there are examples from open ground. Radishes grown next to salads are juicier. Savory speeds up the growth of green beans and makes them more flavorful. Oregano, marjoram, mint give an additional "own" flavor to any vegetable in general. Dill on the beds with beets and the same white head of cabbage gives sweetness to the first, and softens and even eliminates the sharp cabbage flavor in the second. But marigolds oppress cabbage, although they protect against pests. Volatile substances of these spicy flowers repel, for example, cabbage whites and many other small gluttons.
PROTECT FROM BAD FLAVOURS
Improving the taste of vegetables is also due to phytoncides, which may not exude obvious odors at all, but they always kill harmful microorganisms at a distance. Agree, the fruits from healthy plants untouched by diseases and pests are much more appetizing. Although we still sometimes eat and partially spoiled. But even because of such, albeit minor flaws, vegetables are either slightly bitter, or with a putrefactive aftertaste, or a little juicy and fragrant.
It turns out that the phytoncides of herbs and flowers, which repel insects and other pathogens and protect the crop from spoilage, preserve the taste given to it by nature or breeders, as they say, in the bud. These inconspicuous substances do not bring something new and special to the taste, but they help the fruits grow with the highest quality. That is, they "taste" them indirectly and secretly!
Again, there are plenty of examples. Sage, wormwood, peppermint, nasturtium, tansy, thyme, vegetable beans work against the Colorado potato beetle. Dill and basil proved to be excellent against caterpillars of cabbage butterflies. Onions and garlic save from spider mites, celery from cabbage flies, and wormwood from cruciferous fleas.
In addition, phytoncides of garlic, onion, horseradish and pepper kill many types of protozoa, bacteria and lower fungi in the first minutes and even seconds. And all these "secret" substances support the natural immunity of plants to various diseases.
DRINK WITH UNDERGROUND COCKTAIL
Root secretions of plants into the soil are also natural "tasty". They are by no means ephemeral, but very significant. This is a complex mixture of different substances that can nourish or oppress the surrounding living organisms. A real cocktail that is drawn in, as if through straws, by the roots. Chemistry in its purest form, helping plants to extract food from the solid phase of the soil.
In these secretions there is a lot of everything valuable or harmful, sweet or bitter, than our green pets generously share with each other.
See also: Neighborhood of vegetables in the garden - a table-memo
PROFITABLE NEIGHBORHOOD OF VEGETABLES - VIDEO
© Author: G. ZELENSKAYA, amateur vegetable grower
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