Reduce or eradicate the need for chemical pest control completely with companion planting!
Companion Planting is an intermixing of aromatic flowers and herbs for the mutual benefit of the plant. For instance…planting Marigolds with your tomatoes will deter a number of insects & caterpillars. In addition to reducing (or replacing!) harsh pesticides by planting beneficial plants together, companion planting has been shown to create a higher crop yield.
Some plants release nutrients into the soil, which prevents the need for fertilizers the following season (For example- Legumes release nitrogen into the soil). This method of gardening is a great way to begin organic gardening!
In addition to being a benefit in growth rates and avoiding the use of chemical pesticides, companion planting also has a tendency to improve the flavor and nutrient content of the fruits and vegetables.
For example, planting sunflowers between cucumber plants not only provide the plant with beneficial shade and natural vining material, the sunflowers also absorb the chemical in cucumbers that can create a bitter flavor, resulting in considerably sweeter cucumbers.
You may have heard of “The 3 Sisters”, planting a combination of corn, pole beans and squash.
As the corn grows tall, it provides a natural trellis for the beans. Corn roots tend to grow fairly shallow, while the roots of beans tend to be much deeper, giving the corn added security and strength. The beans produce and deposit nitrogen into the soil naturally, which the corn and squash both require.
Squash naturally provide a mulch to both the beans and corn which helps them to retain moisture (and reduce the need for additional watering). In addition, the leaves of the squash are quite prickly which create a natural deterrent to many animals that might otherwise make a meal of the plants. These types of natural symbiotic relationships are the key to natural, organic gardening.
Here is a chart that shows some common items, what to plant near them (aka Good Companions) and how they help.
Companion Planting Guide for Your Vegetables |
||
| The following table should act as a guide | ||
| Plant |
Good Companion |
How it Helps |
| Anise | Coriander | Aids the growth and flavor of Anise. |
| Asparagus | Parsley or basil | Controls Asparagus beetles. |
| Basil, Sweet | throughout garden | Enhances the flavor and growth of everything around it. |
| Cantaloupe | Corn | |
| Carrots | Sage, cabbage, chives, leeks, onions, peas, radishes, salsify | Deters carrot (rust) flies. |
| Chamomile | throughout garden | Brings overall health to the garden. Attracts good insects. |
| Chervil | Radishes | One plant requires heavy nutrients while the other requires very little. |
| Chives | Carrots, grapes, roses, and tomatoes | Curb Japanese Beetles, and black spot. |
| Corn | Snap beans or soybeans | Enhances growth of corn. |
| Cosmos | throughout garden | Pest insects won’t come near it, but it will attract pollinating wasps. |
| Cucumbers | Sunflowers, beans, cabbage, corn, radishes | Radishes deter Cucumber beetles, sunflowers absorb the component that creates bitter cucumbers |
| Dill | broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Cucumber, Lettuce, onions |
Greatly enhances flavor & growth of cabbage family plants |
| French Marigolds | throughout garden | Strong odor confuses pests looking for their favorite plant. |
| Garlic | throughout garden | Repels aphids and beetles. |
| Marjoram | All Garden Crops | Stimulates Vegetable Growth |
| Mustard | Alfalfa, Beans, fruit trees, grapes, legumes | One plant requires heavy nutrients while the other requires very little, this stimulates rapid growth |
| Mints | Cabbage, strawberries | Deters aphids and other aphid pests, as well as ants who invade strawberries. |
| Nasturtiums | throughout garden | Repels aphids and white flies. |
| Onions | Carrots | The two combined help to control rust flies and some nematodes. |
| Oregano | all Garden Crops | Deters most insect pests |
| Parsley | Corn, Roses, Tomatoes | |
| Peanuts | Corn | Increases yields of both crops. |
| Peas | Lettuce, spinach, and Chinese cabbage | Benefit from the shade and wind protection peas provide. |
| Potatoes | Horseradish and/or tansy | Plant plenty for maximum benefits in attempt to ward off Colorado Potato Beetles. |
| Radishes | Squash, cucumbers, and/or Carrots | Great deterrent against Cucumber Beetles and Rust flies. Also eliminates diseases spread by these plants. |
| Rue | throughout garden | Disagreeable taste and bad odor sends even persistent pests on their way. |
| Sage | Strawberries, Cabbage, and/or Tomatoes | Deters unwanted pests and benefits each other in garden. |
| Savory | throughout garden | Ideal planting crop. Attracts good insects. |
| Spinach | Beans or tomatoes, strawberries | Benefits from the shade both plants provide. |
| Strawberries | Borage or sage | Enhances flavor of fruit and strengthens plant’s resistance to insects and diseases. |
| Tansy | Cabbage and/or potatoes | Deters Cutworms, Cabbage Worms, and Colorado Potato Beetles. |
| Thyme | Tomatoes and/or cabbage | All three together control Flea Beetles, Cabbage Maggot, White Cabbage Butterflies, Colorado Potato Beetles, and imported Cabbage Worms |
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / swellphotography
i am just starting a garden this year and this is a super list for starting out and trying to do it organically. thank you so much for posting this here!
also, you can add orange peel chopped up to the garden to help resist bugs.
i love the chart – thank you!! i would like to be able to download it though, so i can save it or print it and take it out when i’m planting!
hi liss, below is a link to a more in-depth list for companion planting i just found this morning. i thought you might like to have it.
Companion Planting Guide- pdf
i can attest to the efficacy of tansy. i have tansy planted next to my small garden, and i haven’t had problems with any vegetable pests this year.
i have also heard that you can use tansy for natural dyeing. (i haven’t tried this yet, myself — but it’s on my list of things to do!)
bookmarking this page. i’ve got seedlings started, time to get the tansy.
i’ve been looking for a guide like this, and i don’t want to use anything harmful because of my pets and grandson…i don’t have a “green thumb” like my mother and grandmother did, but i am determined to have live plants and not silk ones! lol.
iso ~ anything non chemical that will drastically reduce the number of sow bugs aka roly-polys, pill bugs from my backyard/ summer flower garden area. i have a nice shady garden area that gets maybe 6 hrs of sun each day and these little monsters quite literally eat any soft plants that are planted. They love petunias.
My garden is simply infested. Any turn of the dirt and you will see tons! They are so brazen they are out in force in full daylight.
Any and all suggestions would be most appreciated.
be careful planting rue next to your beans it will inhibit them. i am going to try a new idea this year. wish i could say it was mine but i read it recently.
i am going to use a 3 ft bed and plant a single row of potatoes in the center with bush beans in a 1 ft wide band on either side of them. I’ve heard this works very well to reduce many of the pests potatoes can get and increases yields. I’ll have to let you know this fall how they did.
this article and all the comments are very informative, we have been trying to get back to organic in our yard and this has helped. i book marked this page as well and will be printing the list out to refer to. anyone have any idea on keeping cardinals or blue jays out of the strawberries?
i never heard of companion planting…guess you’re never too old to learn new stuff!
what can you plant with peppers?
thank you for posting its gonna help me with my garden
i would love to see it but it is completely blocked by ads… too bad
It sounds as though your screen display resolution is off a bit, I am able to load the page without any ad issues whatsoever.
yay, can’t wait to try these!!!