Companion Planting

The picture above is absolutely not my garden but I hope that it will resemble it in a month or two. My post from a couple of days ago prompted a question that I think would be beneficial to address in an official blog post. In my previous post I mentioned that marigolds would have an added value to my garden besides a simple splash of color, they can actually help keep pests out! This is one example of companion planting but there are other reasons to interplant different plants like to enhance the flavor of a particular fruit or vegetable or to attract beneficials (insects, birds, etc.) to your garden. The list of companion plants goes on and on but I will address the most common vegetables found in gardens and then you can do your own research for specific plants.


Tomatoes are one of the most common plants in the garden and luckily for us, there are quite a few plants that can help them succeed. My favorites to grow between tomato plants are basil and marigolds. Basil is said to improve the flavor of tomatoes and it also repels mosquitoes and thrips. Scented marigolds keep bad nematodes away and also discourage whiteflies and many other pests (except slugs and spider mites). I'm going to plant a tomato then marigold then basil then marigold and repeat the pattern (at least this is the plan).

Beans are great for plants that deplete the soil of nitrogen such as corn. You can plant your corn and then plant the beans right next to them and train the beans to climb up the corn as if it were a trellis. This will save you precious space in the garden and they will carry on a helpful symbiotic relationship. If you like the herb Summer Savory, you can plant this along side of this pair to enhance the flavor of the beans and keep bean beetles away.

Since I've mentioned corn above I'll keep going with it. You can plant the beans, corn, summer savory and pumpkins/cucumbers all together. They all work in harmony and will help you reduce water usage because the pumpkin/cucumber plants create a living mulch in a way. You should take any help you can get with corn in this way - it drinks a lot of water.

Cucumbers not only like growing next to corn but they are happy with sunflowers and will grow up the sturdy stems. I think a pretty and beneficial planting is sunflowers, cucumbers and nasturtiums. Nasturtiums are a spicy, edible and beautiful flower that comes in reds, yellows and orange colors. They are great in salads to add a little spice, color and elegance. Imagine your eye moving around the garden. You see the tall and sturdy sunflower and then your eye moves down to the flowering vines of the cucumber and the lush ground covered in colorful nasturtiums. Not only is it beautiful but nasturtiums improve the flavor and growth of the cucumbers.

Eggplants like to live along side a variety of common garden plants such as peppers, beans, peas, okra and spinach.

Pepper plants like to be by tomatoes, onions, okra, cucumbers and eggplants. They also like basil, parsley, rosemary and oregano.

Oregano, basil, nasturtiums and marigolds offer general pest protection so plant them around the edges of your garden. I think they would make a lovely boarder that you and beneficials can enjoy and pests dread.

For more information on companion planting, you can visit one of the many websites dedicated to this practice. A very good one that I can recommend is Golden Harvest.

Daphne