Homegrown - Companion planting guide

Companion planting is a must for organic gardeners. We need all the help we can get keeping bugs at bay and helping plants thrive.

With companion planting, one plant can help another, either by deterring the pests that might attack it, or by attracting beneficial insects, or by providing the right nutrients.

Every spring I find myself referring to Xanthe White's lovely book Organic Vegetable Gardening, so I can work out which plants are best grouped together.

Then the other day I had a brainwave.

I should post a list of companion planting tips here so that you can refer to it too, and so that I can find it any time I want to. (Yes, I quite often look up old Craving Fresh posts to check things.)

For all you keen gardeners out there, here's a companion planting A-Z for the most common garden vegetables, as gleaned from Organic Vegetable Gardening :

Asparagus
Likes: Basil
Helps: Tomatoes

Beetroot
Likes: Onions, chives, dwarf beans.
Dislikes: Runner and climbing beans.

Beans
Like: Carrots, cauliflowers, cucumbers, strawberries.
Dislike: Onions.
Help: Cabbages, cucumbers, strawberries, corn, potatoes.
Harm: Beetroot, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbages.

Bok choi
Likes: Celery, dill, chamomile, sage, peppermint, rosemary, onions and potatos. Thyme and hyssop will help repel the white cabbage butterfly.
Harms: Radishes, strawberries, tomatoes.

Broad beans
Like: Carrots, cauliflower, beetroot, corn (broad beans can be grown up corn stalks)
Help: Cucumber, cabbages.
Dislike: Onions and garlic.

Broccoli
Likes: Potatoes, beets, onions, pyrethrum, peppermint and rosemary.
Dislikes: Tomatoes, beans, strawberries.
Harms: Radishes, strawberries, tomatoes.

Brussels sprouts
Like: Dill, celery, chamomile, sage, peppermint, rosemary, potatoes, beets, onions, nasturtium, marigolds, pyrethrum.
Dislike: Strawberries, beans, tomatoes.
Harm: Radishes, strawberries, tomatoes.

Cabbages
Like: Queen Anne's lace, lovage, carrots, alyssum, thyme, rosemary, onion, sage, peppermint, chamomile, potato, marigolds.
Dislike: Strawberries, tomatoes, pole beans.
Help: Potatoes.
Harm: Radishes, strawberries, tomatoes.

Carrots
Like: Onions, chives, black salsify and rosemary (which all deter carrot fly), plus carrots grow well with tomatoes, lettuces and radishes.
Help: Peas, leeks.
Dislike: Dill.

Cauliflower
Likes: Celery.
Dislikes: Strawberries, tomatoes.
Harms: Radishes, strawberries, tomatoes.

Celery
Likes: Leeks, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, bush beans.

Corn
Likes: Potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash, broad beans, sunflowers.
Helps: Melon, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, potatoes.
Dislikes: Tomatoes.

Cucumbers
Like: Beans, peas, radishes, sunflowers.
Dislike: Potatoes, aromatic herbs.
Help: Lettuce

Eggplants (aubergines)
Help: Potatoes

Garlic
Helps: Most plants as it deters many insects that blight the vegetable garden.
Harms: Beans (it inhibits their growth).

Jerusalem artichokes
Like: Sweetcorn.

Kumara
No recommended companions.

Leeks
Like: Marigolds, celery, carrots.

Lettuces
Like: Strawberries, cucumbers, carrots, radishes and onions.

Mesclun lettuce
Likes: Almost everything
Harms: Beetroot

Onions
Like: All brassicas, beets, strawberries, tomatoes, lettuces, summer savory, chamomile.
Dislike: Peas and beans.
Help: Parsnips, shallots, carrots, brassicas, tomatoes.

Parsnips
Like: Onion, peppermint, rosemary.

Peas
Like: Carrots, turnips.
Dislike: Onions, garlic.
Help: Turnips.

Peppers
Like: Basil

Potatoes
Like: Horseradish, beans, corn, cabbage, marigold, eggplant, hemp, nasturtium.
Dislike: Tomatoes, pumpkin, squash, cucumber, raspberry, sunflowers.
Harm: Pumpkins, cucumber, tomatoes.

Pumpkins (squash)
Like: Corn.
Dislike: Potatoes.

Radishes
Like: Nasturtiums, leaf mustard
Dislike: Brassicas.
Help: Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, melons, zucchini, beans, lettuce, kohlrabi.

Shallots
Like: Onions, garlic.
Dislike: Peas, beans.

Silverbeet/Swiss chard
Likes: Strawberries.

Spinach
No recommended companion plants for spinach.

Spring onions
Help: all plants by repelling pests.

Strawberries
Like: Borage, beans, onion, garlic.
Dislike: Brassicas.
Help: Lettuces

Tomatoes
Like: Basil, chives, onion, parsley, garlic, marigolds, nasturtium, carrots.
Dislike: Potatoes, corn, brassicas.

Turnips
Like: Rhubarb leaves or French or African marigolds dug into the soil to deter nematodes.
Help: Peas.

Zucchini
Likes: Radishes.

Note: For a better understanding of why, when and where to plant your vegetables, you're best to refer to Xanthe White's Organic Vegetable Gardening.


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