Companion Planting made simple

Companion planting pairs plants together for mutual benefit. Understanding companion planting effectively can create a healthier, more productive garden.

What is Companion Planting?

Companion planting is the practice of strategically placing different plants near each other to enhance growth, deter pests, improve soil health, and maximize space. This technique relies on the natural properties of plants to support one another, creating a more balanced and self-sustaining ecosystem. Keep reading my guide for companion planting made simple.

Benefits of companion planting

• Pest Control: Some plants repel harmful insects, reducing the need for pesticides.
  • Some plants even do double duty, deterring some pests while attracting others. Borage attracts beneficial insects like ladybugs and other predatory insects, but deters cabbage worms and tomato hornworms. Borage self seeds and does spread each year, but can be easily pulled up if it grows in a place you don’t want it.
  • Marigolds emit a scent that deters aphids and nematodes, while basil can keep mosquitoes and tomato hornworms at bay. Their bright color draws harmful insects to them, keeping them distracted from your vegetables.
  • Nasturtiums act as trap crops, luring pests like aphids, whiteflies, and cabbage worms away from more valuable plants. Instead of attacking your vegetables, these pests flock to the nasturtiums, keeping your main crops safer. They also attract the ever-loved ladybugs, who are aphid, spider mite, and mealybug consumers!
• Improved Growth: Certain plant combinations enhance each other’s growth. For instance, basil and tomatoes thrive together because basil enhances tomato flavor and repels pests.
• Space Utilization: Companion planting allows you to maximize space by using different growth habits, such as planting tall crops with low-growing ones. This is especially beneficial when growing vertically. Growing trellis green beans leaves lots of space to grow herbs or carrots below them.

Companion planting for soil health

Companion planting isn’t just about keeping pests away—it also naturally improves soil health by enhancing its structure, nutrients, and microbial life. Here’s how:

• Beans, peas, and clover team up with special bacteria in their roots that pull nitrogen from the air and turn it into plant food. This naturally fertilizes the soil for crops like corn and leafy greens, which need lots of nitrogen to grow.
• Deep-rooted plants like daikon radishes and comfrey dig into compacted soil, breaking it up so water, air, and nutrients can reach the roots of shallower plants like lettuce and strawberries.
• Smart planting reduces pests and disease—without chemicals. Healthy soil is your best defense, and planting the right combinations of crops keeps everything in balance. For example, marigolds release natural compounds that kill root-eating nematodes, helping protect plants from disease and drought.

Popular companion planting combinations

• Tomatoes & Basil: Enhances flavor and repels insects.
• Carrots & Onions: Onions deter carrot flies, while carrots help aerate the soil.
• Corn, Beans & Squash: Corn provides a structure for beans to climb, beans fix nitrogen in the soil, and squash spreads along the ground, preventing weeds.
• Cabbage & Dill: Dill attracts beneficial insects that prey on cabbage pests.
• Strawberries & Beans: Beans are legumes, which means they fix nitrogen in the soil, an essential nutrient for strawberries. Strawberries suppress weeds, which creates a better environment for beans to grow without competition from invasive plants.
• I have included a complete Companion Planting Chart in my Garden Planner. Check it out here! The planner also includes areas to plan out all your garden beds, so you can be ahead of the game when it comes time to plant.

Plants That Should Not Be Paired

While some plants thrive together, others can inhibit each other’s growth. For example:

• Tomatoes & Potatoes: Both are prone to blight and can spread diseases to each other.
• Carrots & Dill: Dill can stunt carrot growth.
• Beans & Onions: Onions can inhibit bean growth.
• Peas & Onions & Garlic: Onions and garlic produce chemicals that can stunt peas growth.
• Mint or Lemon Balm with anything! Both herbs are highly invasive. They should not be planted in garden beds with anything else, or directly in the ground. Due to how quickly they spread, they should be planted in their own containers to avoid taking over other plant life.
• I have included a complete Companion Planting Chart in my Garden Planner. The chart includes both what plants are “friends” and what plants are “foes.”

Getting Started

1. Plan your layout: Research which plants work well together and map out your garden accordingly. I always keep my plans from year to year with notes on what grew well together. Having my garden beds plotted out saves me time when it’s time to get all my seedlings in the ground.
2. Consider plant needs: Match plants with similar sunlight, water, and soil requirements. Soil tests done in late winter or very early spring can help inform you on your soils health and any amendments that need to happen.
3. Rotate crops: Changing plant placements each season helps prevent soil depletion and pest infestations. This is especially important with tomatoes and potatoes (Nightshade plants.) These plants are susceptible to similar pests and diseases, and rotating ensures the prevention of those diseases in the soil.
4. Experiment and observe: Gardening is a learning process, so take notes on what works best in your space! I always refer back to my notes from the previous year when garden planning. I track what I plant, when I started seeds, when I move them to the greenhouse, when I harden them off, plant date and any notes on growth progress or harvest that I observe.

How to start planning the garden

Adding one more step to garden planning can be intimidating, but companion planting is a vital part of the planning process. I have included a thorough Garden Planner in this post. The planner includes a detailed Companion Planting Chart for any and all veggies you may be growing.

By embracing companion planting, you can cultivate a thriving, eco-friendly garden that works with nature rather than against it. Healthier growing conditions lead to larger harvests, so it’s worth the time when plotting out the garden.

Don’t forget to get your copy of my Companion Planting Chart for easy reference when planning your garden. Happy gardening!