Title:
Some Crops (Like Some People) Do Well as Companions
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
Companion planting is the idea that when some crops
are planted together, they help each other grow.
These compatible plants generally have similar needs
for nutrients, soil and moisture.
Advice for companion plantings is sometimes based
more on tradition than proof. But Fabian Fernandez
at the University of Illinois says there is evidence
for some combinations. These can lead to better
crops, reduce disease and help with pest control by
attracting helpful insects.
For example, some kinds of soil bacteria take
nitrogen from the air and make a form that plants
can use. The plants keep the nitrogen in their
roots. Legumes are especially good at this. Any
crops sharing the same space can get the nitrogen as
the roots decompose.
Crops like beans and potatoes can also share
territory well because their roots reach different
levels in the soil. Deep-rooted vegetables get
nutrients and moisture from lower down, so they do
not compete with shallower plants.
But some plants placed together may harm each
other's development.
For example, tomatoes do not like wet soil but
watercress does, as the name suggests. So you would
probably not want to put them together.
Even after harvest, some kinds of produce should be
kept apart. Apples, for example, release ethylene
gas, a plant hormone. It can cause other foods to
ripen too quickly. Fruits that release a lot of
ethylene also include apricots, melons and tomatoes.
Vegetables easily affected by ethylene include
asparagus, broccoli, cabbage and cucumbers.
Markets often separate high ethylene-producing foods
from those that are sensitive to the gas. But
sometimes you might want them together. For example,
if you put an apple in a bag with a green banana,
the banana will be ready to eat sooner.
Now what about peaches, plums and nectarines that
are too firm to eat? Growers in California answer
this question at eatcaliforniafruit.com. They say an
apple, banana or a riper piece of fruit is not
needed. The peaches, plums and nectarines themselves
release enough of the gas to ripen successfully.
Their advice: Place the fruit in a fruit bowl or in
a paper bag with the top folded over. Keep the fruit
at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. When
the fruit is soft enough to your liking, either use
it or place it in a refrigerator to stop further
ripening.
And thats the VOA Special English Agriculture
Report, available online at voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
