When you are preparing to plant your gardens this year, take the time to consider how you can naturally boost their performance by companion planting. What is companion planting (sometimes called companion gardening)?
It is the method of placing plants that respond positively to each other by being nearby. By understanding which plants benefit from each other and which suffer from each other, you can have the most lush garden ever. Companion plants help contribute more minerals to the soil or help by keeping plant-specific pests away.
Last year, we planted our garden haphazardly, and our results were only mediocre (of course, the dogs jumping into our boxes and eating our tomatoes and cucumbers didn’t help). We planted cucumbers on a trellis, hothouse tomatoes, jalapeños, bush beans, carrots, and zucchini.
We only have two raised garden boxes, so our selection is limited. We always line our garden boxes with marigold plants. Marigolds are beneficial to everything, and they help keep bad bugs out and good bugs in!
At the end of one box, we grew our cucumbers up a trellis, planted a line of marigolds across the middle of the box, and then one hothouse tomato plant. Cucumbers and tomatoes aren’t necessarily complimentary, but they aren’t antagonists either. Our second box housed two zucchini plants at one end. Next to those was a row of bush beans, and next to those one jalapeño plant flanked by two rows of carrots.
As I mentioned, we didn’t have much rhyme or reason for the way we planted the garden last year, but I’m happy to say that we didn’t have any negative reactions! If you read the attached companion planting chart, you can actually boost the production of your garden just by planting cucumbers next to corn, for example.
This year, I will not be so lazy about where I plant what. There will be plenty of planning involved, and I can’t wait to share the results with you all. You’ll be with me every step of the way. I can’t wait for spring!
Companion Planting Chart Benefits
One of the most important aspects of the companion planting theory is attracting beneficial insects, birds, and reptiles to your garden and, more importantly, keeping them there. All living beings need food, water, and shelter. Aside from the obvious meal (garden pests), benficials love to indulge in pollen and nectar, which will be abundant in your diverse array of veggies, herbs, and flowers.
Strategically planted shrubs can act as windbreakers, protecting the AC compressor or outdoor components of your AC system. By breaking strong winds and preventing debris from getting too close to the HVAC unit, you can avoid potential damage and ensure the system’s efficiency isn’t compromised.
Adding rocks and pebbles to your bird bath will offer a way for insects to reach the water as well as the birds, or creating “bug-baths” on the ground using pie plates or something of the like. Shelters can be created using hedges, perennials, living mulches, and even rock piles.
There is lots of advice out there for organic gardeners about natural pest control, building organic matter in your soil, attracting pollinators, etc., but companion gardening wraps it all up in a single package. It will allow you to create a symbiotic relationship between your crops, insects, wildlife, and, ultimately, your dinner plate.
I’ve made a free companion planting chart based on one I found on the Permaculture Research Institute’s website. The reason I made this one is I couldn’t find one that I could edit.
| Plant | Companion(s) and Effects |
| Asparagus | Tomatoes, parsley, basil |
| Basil | Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor); said to dislike rue; repels flies & mosquitoes |
| Bean | Potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage, summer savory, most other veggies & herbs |
| Bean (bush) | Sunflowers (beans like partial shade, unless you live up north, sunflowers attract birds & bees for pollination), cucumbers (combination of heavy and light feeders), potatoes, corn, celery, summer savory |
| Bee Balm | Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor). |
| Beet | Onions, kohlrabi |
| Borage | Tomatoes (attracts bees, deters tomato worm, improves growth & flavor), squash, strawberries |
| Cabbage Family (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi) | Potatoes, celery, dill, chamomile, sage, thyme, mint, pennyroyal, rosemary, lavender, beets, onions; aromatic plants deter cabbage worms |
| Caraway | Loosens soil; plant here and there |
| Carrot | Peas, lettuce, chives, onions, leeks, rosemary, sage, tomatoes |
| Catnip | Plant in borders; protects against flea beetles |
| Celery | Leeks, tomatoes, bush beans, cauliflower, cabbage |
| Chamomile | Cabbage, onions |
| Chervil | Radishes (improves growth & flavor). |
| Chive | Carrots; plant around base of fruit trees to discourage insects from climbing trunk |
| Corn | Potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash |
| Cucumber | Beans, corn, peas, radishes, sunflowers |
| Dead Nettle | Potatoes (deters potato bugs) |
| Dill | Cabbage (improves growth & health), carrots |
| Eggplant | Beans |
| Fennel | Most plants are supposed to dislike it. |
| Flax | Carrots, potatoes |
| Garlic | Roses & raspberries (deters Japanese beetle); with herbs to enhance their production of essential oils; plant liberally throughout garden to deter pests |
| Horseradish | Potatoes (deters potato beetle); around plum trees to discourage curculios |
| Hyssop | Cabbage (deters cabbage moths), grapes; keep away from radishes |
| Lamb’s Quarters | Nutritious edible weeds; allow to grow in modest amounts in the corn |
| Leek | Onions, celery, carrots |
| Lemon Balm | Here and there in the garden |
| Marigold | The workhorse of pest deterrents; keeps soil free of nematodes; discourages many insects; plant freely throughout the garden. |
| Marjoram | Here and there in the garden |
| Mint | Cabbage family; tomatoes; deters cabbage moth |
| Nasturtium | Tomatoes, radish, cabbage, cucumbers; plant under fruit trees; deters aphids & pests of curcurbits |
| Onion | Beets, strawberries, tomato, lettuce (protects against slugs), beans (protects against ants), summer savory |
| Parsley | Tomato, asparagus |
| Pea | Squash (when squash follows peas up trellis), plus grows well with almost any vegetable; adds nitrogen to the soil |
| Petunia | Protects beans; beneficial throughout garden |
| Potato | Horseradish, beans, corn, cabbage, marigold, limas, eggplant (as a trap crop for potato beetle) |
| Pot Marigold | Helps tomato, but plant throughout garden as deterrent to asparagus beetle, tomato worm & many other garden pests |
| Pumpkin | Corn |
| Radish | Peas, nasturtium, lettuce, cucumbers; a general aid in repelling insects |
| Rosemary | Carrots, beans, cabbage, sage; deters cabbage moth, bean beetles & carrot fly |
| Rue | Roses & raspberries; deters Japanese beetle; keep away from basil |
| Sage | Rosemary, carrots, cabbage, peas, beans; deters some insects |
| Soybean | Grows with anything; helps everything |
| Spinach | Strawberries |
| Squash | Nasturtium, corn |
| Strawberry | Bush beans, spinach, borage, lettuce (as a border) |
| Summer Savory | Beans, onions; deters bean beetles |
| Sunflower | Cucumber |
| Tansy | Plant under fruit trees; deters pests of roses & raspberries; deters flying insects, also Japanese beetles, striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs; deters ants |
| Tarragon | Good throughout garden |
| Thyme | Here and there in garden; deters cabbage worm |
| Tomato | Chives, onion, parsley, asparagus, marigold, nasturtium, carrot, limas |
| Valerian | Good anywhere in garden |
| Wormwood | As a border, keeps animals from the garden |
| Yarrow | Plant along borders, near paths, near aromatic herbs; enhances essential oil production of herbs |
Please take this free companion planting chart and edit it with your own observations and share it back. I would love to see your comments and changes.