Companion planting, the technique of pairing vegetables with herbs and flowers that promote their growth, is nature’s way of mitigating pest damage, increasing yields, providing natural ground cover/shade solutions, improving soil nutrients and decreasing competition from weeds.
Basil can help to repel thrips and disorient green tomato hornworms, while marigolds and nasturtiums repel bean beetles while simultaneously improving pepper flavors.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are hungry plants that demand plenty of nutrients. For best results, plant them alongside vegetables with similar nutritional requirements like peas and beans (Pisum sativum). When planted near each other, legumes can fix nitrogen into the soil which allows tomatoes to flourish further by shading their surroundings from sun exposure during hotter weather and inhibiting weed growth.
Vegetable and flower plants make great companions for tomatoes. By deterring insects that feed on tomatoes such as hornworms or providing other benefits to the garden such as marigolds which deter pests while dispelling root-knot nematodes that damage tomato vines, companion plants can make great additions.
However, certain plants don’t work well with tomatoes such as corn and brassicas (cabbage, broccoli and kohlrabi). Planting these together will result in competition for water, soil nutrients and sunlight as well as draw worms that destroy tomato crops; as well as spreading diseases like bacterial wilt and late blight to the tomatoes themselves.
Beans
Growing beans alongside suitable companion plants will make your garden more productive. As nitrogen-fixing legumes, beans produce nodules which enrich the soil. They pair perfectly with heavy feeders like corn, squash and tomatoes while their tall growth limits weeds while providing natural shade from their sun exposure. Bush and pole beans may even share trellising systems to save space in your vegetable garden for other crops.
Beans are heavy feeders that need plenty of nitrogen, making carrots an ideal companion plant to provide this element. Beans actually enhance the quality of carrot soil by aeration – making them great companions!
Beets may stunt the growth of beans, while radishes make good companion plants as they quickly cover any extra soil space around their roots. Catmint can also provide valuable protection from flea beetles while adding color and life to any veggie garden.
Lettuce
Lettuce thrives in cool temperatures with lots of water, making it an excellent companion plant for corn, beans, carrots, peas and strawberries. Additionally, lettuce grows well alongside kale, squash, radishes and turnips; all these crops can help improve soil health by adding organic matter and breaking up compacted soil layers while providing shade as well as suppressing weed growth.
Given their shallow root systems, lettuce plants do not compete for soil nutrients with root vegetables like carrots, beets, and radishes; as a result, they thrive alongside these crops as well as tomatoes and cucumbers. Furthermore, lettuce varieties tolerate cool weather better than many other vegetable varieties, making them suitable for spring/fall garden environments.
Cilantro, chives, dill and marigolds make excellent companion plants for lettuce as they repel slugs and other pests that damage it. Nasturtiums, geraniums and rosemary attract beneficial insects that consume aphids; ladybugs and lacewings feed off these flowers; these flowering herbs can even act as trap crops to lure away pests away from lettuce plants; their strong aroma helps repel them as well. Garlic also has strong deterring powers against these pests!
Spinach
Though spinach can be grown alongside other vegetables and herbs, its cool-weather requirements make it more suitable to partner with plants that also thrive under similar conditions. Beans and peas that can be planted around the same time in spring or autumn make excellent companion plants; their legumes also fix nitrogen into the soil naturally fertilizing leafy greens!
Strawberries make an excellent companion crop to spinach. Their harvest coincides with spinach harvest, sharing many of its growing needs such as plenty of water and rich soil. Strawberry flowers also attract beneficial insects like hoverflies that help manage pests of both crops.
Herbs make excellent companion plants for spinach. Sage, thyme and basil can effectively repel spinach pests while parsley, cilantro, dill and sage attract predatory insects that help manage them as well. Calendula and nasturtium ornamental herbs make great companion plants as they attract bees, butterflies and beneficial insects that aid in garden pest control.
Cucumbers
Cucumbers require ample water and sunlight, making companion plants that help provide this essential resource essential to their success. Beans, peas and yarrow are especially good at meeting this need as nitrogen-fixing legumes which enhance garden soil. Furthermore, these crops share similar growing requirements with cucumbers while also offering support trellises when necessary.
Marigolds, nasturtiums, chrysanthemums and dill are also excellent partners for cucumbers; these fragrant flowers and herbs help repel many cucumber pests such as aphids and beetles.
Root vegetables like carrots, parsnips and radishes make ideal companions for cucumbers because their needs align perfectly. In addition, their nutrients won’t compete with cucumber roots for resources either. Cucumbers can also be planted alongside onions, garlic and kohlrabi; just be wary when planting with Jerusalem artichokes which have deep-root systems which can suffocate shallow-rooted cucumbers; also try not to plant with plants from the same family (pumpkins, squashes or zucchinis), as these may compete for light, water and nutrients!
Beets
Because beets are cool-weather crops, they make an ideal companion for leafy greens like lettuce and spinach, and other root vegetables like carrots and radishes. Furthermore, since beets and cabbage both thrive in similar cool-weather environments at similar times each year, their cabbage heads take over much of the space left by shorter beets growing more compactly in your plot.
Beans such as soybeans, butter beans and bush beans pair perfectly with beets to provide additional nitrogen to the soil and improve it with this vital nutrient that beets lack. Ideally though they should be planted elsewhere than where beets were grown last year because planting repeatedly in one location depletes it of essential minerals that enriches it with essential elements for beet growth.
Leeks, scallions and garlic make great companions for beets due to their dense growth patterns that help suppress weeds while providing shade that enhances flavor. But it is essential that flea beetles don’t find their way into your garden with insect repellents or traps in place to safeguard these crops against invasion by fleas.
Carrots
Carrots are a perennial root crop that thrives best in loose, deep soil. Planting them near plants with thicker roots or deeper ones could hinder their progress and interfere with nutrient absorption; to avoid this happening, choose companion plants that flourish under similar soil conditions as carrots and can be harvested together at harvest time.
Leafy greens like kale and spinach make ideal partners for carrots as their temperature and moisture requirements overlap with those of their root crops. Furthermore, both species thrive during cooler weather periods together – creating the ideal team.
Beans and peas make great companions for carrots as their roots fix nitrogen into the soil, helping their growth. Just make sure to leave an area unaffected by these plants as their tall stalks may shade your carrots over time.
Herbs and flowers make excellent companions for carrots, helping deter pests that could otherwise damage both. Sage and rosemary are especially effective at deterring carrot flies with their fragrant leaves masking the scent of the carrots to deter predators; Nasturtiums attract bees for pollination purposes as well.
Radish
Radish plants grow quickly from seed, with long root systems and high nutritional needs that make them the ideal partner for other cool-season vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, peas, beans, cucumbers and cucumbers. Furthermore, carrots, corn and scallion onions (Allium fistulosum) make great companion crops; planting these crops together creates a healthy ecosystem that minimizes pest pressure on each crop while simultaneously increasing yields.
Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) grow as vines that provide light shade for radishes, helping keep them cool and moist while diverting moisture away from their leaves, thus alleviating heat stress in these plants. Cucumbers do not directly compete for space with radishes as their roots occupy different soil depths and therefore diminish nutrient competition between them.
Some herbs make excellent companions for radishes, including dill (Raphanus sativus) and nasturtiums (Nasturtium esculentum). Both species repel flea beetles, aphids and other pests that damage radishes; additionally they attract beneficial insects like parasitic wasps that prey upon garden pests thus decreasing chemical pesticide usage.