Poppy Companion Planting with Vegetables

Poppy Companion Planting with Vegetables

Opium Poppy

Think before you allow poppies to proliferate.
Poppies rob a lot of goodness from your soil.

Poppies and Vegetables

  • Poppies grown close to purple sprouting broccoli and other brassicas will inhibit the plants and reduce your potential crop.
  • Poppies that are planted close together have the ability to kill off other plants.
  • Odd self sown poppies may not have a dramatic effect but better safe than sorry.
  • Beans and Peas that ‘fix’ nitrogen back into the soil may not appear to suffer such an effect but take care with green leaf crops.

Poppies as a Weed

  • The large quantity of seed produced from a few plants can cause poppies to become weed like infestations.
  • If I could convert the latex into a useful crop as they do in Afghanistan it may be another story
  • Seed remains viable in your soil for many years. One years seeding = many years of weeding
  • Long tap roots make some poppies hard to weed. If you break the root you may get two plants next time.

poppy seedheads

Uses of Poppies and Seeds

  • Seed from the opium poppy Papaver somniferum can be crushed to form seed oil.
  • Poppy seeds are used, whole or ground, as an ingredient in many foods such as bread and baked products.
  • Different varieties of poppy seed are used as a spice, a condiment, a decorative garnish and a thickener in food.
  • Seeds can be used in bird seed mixes
  • Poppy is popular in many different international cuisines.
  • The crop is grown for the production of opium, morphine, codeine and the alkaloid thebaine

Related try Growing Poppies from Seed

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