Companion Planting

Learn how to companion plant and increase your gardens yield!

Learning which plants or herbs to plant next to each other can greatly increase your garden's yield as well as keep plants healthy and disease free.  It is also a great experience to the gardener to see the wonderful way plants interact with each other - some for good - and some for - well, not so good. Here are a few examples of companion gardening.

Companion Planting

TOMATOES tend to have improved growth and much better flavor when you plant a bit of BASIL along side of them. Basil is known to deter thrips, flies and mosquitoes. BEE BALM is also another great companion plant for tomatoes. It is a wonderful way to attract bees, and is in itself a very pretty little perennial plant. BORAGE is another companion plant for tomatoes as well as squash and strawberries. Hornworms and cabbage worms detest borage!  Of course, borage is a great benefit to most any plant it's growing next to as it increases the resistance of most pests and many diseases. As an added bonus - this little wonder self-seeds!

One of my all-time favorite companion plantings is the pretty little flower NASTURTIUMS. Just plant them as a small hedge or barier around your tomatoes, radishes, cabbage, cucumbers, and under fruit trees. Nasturtiums deters wooly aphids, whiteflies, squash bugs, cucumber beetles and many other pests. They are an easy companion plant as well as they tend to likes poor soil with low moisture and no fertilizer. And don't forget that all parts of the plant make a wonderful addition to salads! The leaves and flowers have a tasty peppery taste.

CABBAGES, CUCUMBERS and ONIONS will all benefit from GERMAN CHAMOMILE. Chamomile is an annual and is known to improve flavor. Chamomile also increases the oil production from many herbs. If you don't pick the pretty little flowers, it will also reseed itself. If you choose Roman Chamomile, the pretty little low gowing perennial, it will tolerate most any soil condition - both like full sun. As with being a tonic in our tea, it can be considered such for any garden!

CARROTS and TOMATOES are both improved in not only growth, but increased in flavor when planting the companion herb of CHIVES. It helps deter Japanese beetles and carrot rust fly. Some say that if you plant it near the apple trees scab may be prevented. By making a sort of tea from chives it can also be sprayed on cucumbers to prevent downy mildew.

CABBAGE  has an overall better growth and flavor when planting DILL nearby. It attracts not only hoverflies but predatory wasps, as well as repelling aphids and spider mites - well, at least that's what they tell me! It is also said to repel that nasty little critter - the squash bug!  Not only can you make a 'tea' from the DILL but you can also scatter its leaves over the plants that attract squash bugs to help keep them from eating your favorite squash.  DILL also spreads its protective mantel for lettuce, onions and cucumbers - however it DOES attract the tomato hornworm - so plant away from tomatoes! Enjoy butterflies? Then you'll be pleased when the swallowtail butterfly caterpillar takes a liking to dill - both the caterpillar and the butterfly are a welcome addition to the garden..and the soul.

CARROTS, and POTATOES will benefit from a companion planting of  FLAX.  The tannim and linseed oils of flax tend to repel the Colorado potato bug. It's a pretty annual plant with bloe or white flowers that self sows - but does get up to 4 feet tall.

POTATOS will benefit from HORSERADISH! Just plant it in small containers in your potato rows to keep that nasty little Colorado potato bug on the run. You can even make an effective spray with the root of the horseradish plant.

ASPARAGUS - use a companion planting of PARSLEY. This feathery, and attractive herb can be planted among your aspargus bed or sprinkled on both asparagus and tomatoes. Use it as a tea and it will repel asparagus beetles, but it does attract hoverflies and the planted seed attracts tiny parasitic wasps that will feed on pests!

more to come...
 

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